Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Get To Know The Amazing Katelyn Larson | Kenny Conversation

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Get To Know The Amazing Katelyn Larson | Kenny Conversation · Kenny Wallace Media

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He is one of the worst St. drivers, so distracted and he
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drives with two feet and I don't know about you.
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I drive with, you know, I switch over, but he drives with two
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feet. So he and he always wants to hit
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his mark. So if it's a red light in front
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of us, he drives to the line and then hits the brake.
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I'm like, my gosh, can we just he's.
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Off a little, it's the Kenny Wallace conversation brought to
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Man, I'm going to tell you what I got goosebumps.
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I can't believe this. There she is.
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Caitlin Larson. Caitlin, how are you doing?
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I'm doing good, happy to be home and settled in for a few weeks.
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You do a lot of traveling. I follow you on Instagram.
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It makes me happy because you and your husband, Kyle Larson,
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remind me of me and my wife. In our early days, we would run
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through those airports with our three girls all over us.
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How do you handle all that? I, I'm not really sure.
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I guess when I'm not given a choice, I just have to do it.
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So I think it actually works out better when there's no other
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option. I just, the kids know that when
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there's when we're just doing it, they behave a little bit
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better when dad's not around and they know mom is just like, OK,
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I got to do it all. It's three against one.
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Let's help mom out. So they're pretty good.
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They travel really well. So we have a lot to get to and I
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have a lot of talking points and I have to be honest, I saw a
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different side of you and your family.
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So as they say in AM radio, let's paint the picture.
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Last week I was in Chico, CA at Silver Dollar Speedway and as we
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all know your husband, yourself, your brother Brad Sweet, You all
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own high limit racing winged dirt Sprint cars and when I
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showed up you were one of the first people to meet me besides
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your dad Don. Don picked me up, but you saw me
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and you put a button on me right away and basically it meant I
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was official to judge a contest. My point is this, you are a
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girly girl, but I see a lot of tomboy in you.
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You all, you all are dirt racers.
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Are you a dirt racer? Absolutely.
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Well, not not actually. Like I tried my hand dirt racing
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this that weekend and it didn't really work.
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I've got bruises all over my body, but a dirt racing fan at
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that for sure. So you you told me that you went
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down to what is that famous little go Kart track?
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Cycle and Speedway. My gosh, the best in racing have
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gone through that racetrack. I've heard, I've heard all about
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it. So you know, we see, we see the
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ladies, you know, run the Bandoleros or the the cars over
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there at their Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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So they said you were pretty good as what you told me, but
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you're bruised up, huh? I was good for two laps and then
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I was not good for the third lap and then our laps together and
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then I would wreck on the third lap.
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I just don't too. I think I'm just too competitive
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to run in the back, so I was trying to make passes that
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weren't that were very good. OK, let let's do the let's do
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the the the family tree a little bit.
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Your dad, you know, Don Sweet, your mother and your brother is
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what I say, the great Bradsweet, 5-6 time World of Outlaw, you
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know, champion. Your brother's great, he's
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really good. Then you marry somebody.
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That's a phenomenon. You marry Kyle Larson and then
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you got his dad, Mike. So you all created this family
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that is quickly becoming one of the greatest racing families of
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all time. And what I saw at Silver Dollar
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Speedways, all of you, all of you were all in.
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I saw your brother's wife, Rachel, you know, with a
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backpack on grabbing the money from, you know, the beer stands.
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And I saw you working hard. And I'm thinking this is
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unbelievable. You know, Kyle Larson's wife is
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all in. So tell me about this dynamic of
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your racing family buying high limit.
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I mean it's do you work there? It looks like you do.
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No, I think there's a full High Limit team.
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I don't really. I'm not too much involved in the
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High Limit racing side of it, more that just the Silver Dollar
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Speedway promotion side of it. Rachel does, I would say most
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everything for Silver Dollar, even the weekly shows.
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But I come for that week and help because it's a, you know,
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our biggest event and because we own the series and the racetrack
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promotion. Like we need all hands on deck
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for that week. And really I'm I'm there to
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support in any way I can if the line, the lines are long, if
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they need help in concession stands, if they need help with
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the pit booth, wherever. But my job that week is to run
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the bikini contest and promote that for Friday night.
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And it's such a big event and such a big hype around it with
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all the crew guys. And it's just, you know, they're
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they have such a long year on the road and that any kind of
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fun entertainment in the middle of their season and after a long
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night of racing to get them to come judge or to come watch,
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drink a beer, whatever, we just try to have fun with it.
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You know, 11 would start kind of snickering, you know, bikini
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contest. But I got to tell you, I'll
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watch that. You take that very seriously.
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You feel responsible for those girls.
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I, I felt like you treated the bikini contest as a business.
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You really keep those girls in check, am I right?
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Yeah. I mean, I think having Brad as
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like a mentor to me and this, I mean, everything that he does is
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a business. So with, you know, with having a
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free entry to this and then selling beer, that's our
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business. That's how we that's how we make
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the money. So we put on this entertainment.
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We I shot Kyle Larson sponsors the event, but it brings the
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people. It's we just want everything to
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grow. Everything is a business to Brad
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and he looks at it that way. So we're just trying to make,
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you know, treat the girls with respect, but also have fun and
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show that that, you know, that we're also, like you said, it's
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a business. We're also trying to make money
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on the other side of it and have fun.
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You are, and we want everybody to know who's just now tuned in.
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You are Kyle Larson's wife. But I want to talk about your
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brother Brad just a little bit. And we're going to get to, you
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know, what's up nowadays. But from what I can tell is you
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and your brother Brad are close. You, you love each other.
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Like, like my brother Mike and my brother Russ and myself.
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We can, we can go at it. But I felt like when I was
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around you too, that you two really love each other.
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Certainly you can go at it. Tell tell me your relationship
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with your brother Brad. Yeah, Brad and I are actually
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six years apart. So growing up we kind of had
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some distance. I was just with his little
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sister. I actually I grew up with three
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older brothers. Brad is my full brother.
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I always tell people I grew up with three older brothers.
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We had my oldest brother is 1/2 brother, my cousin, my parents
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adopted and he lived with us and then Brad.
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So that's where the tomboy I think comes from.
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And my mom also had three older brothers.
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So it's just we've got a lot of competitiveness in in sports in
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us. But but yeah, I've been close
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with Brad. I think just because our paths
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are constantly crossing and we have the same passion and that's
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dirt racing, racing in general, but dirt racing trying to grow
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the sport. But yeah, well, you know, he's
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he's always calling to bounce ideas off of me and he's
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definitely a, a big mentor in my life.
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Like if I have a question about business or even just about
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personal life or, you know, trying to figure out navigate
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marriage and stuff, he's always he always has a positive outlook
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on everything. He's always 1/2 glass fool.
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He's always encouraging and just, you know, life is short,
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let's have fun. But like, let's grind, let's
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get, let's get where we want to be so that we can enjoy it.
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Well, that is true. OK, so we kind of laid the
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groundwork out who you are, who your family is and let let's be
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honest Caitlin, you are extremely popular in my opinion.
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This is me. You are the most famous NASCAR
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wife out there and and here's why because you are fun.
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Your Instagram page is fun. You're a good Mama.
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When you go to Victor Lane, you you made you chugged a beer and
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and and that was like, holy moly, this this is a tomboy.
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She's a bad ass. Everybody loves you be because
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you're a mother of three. You got that tomboy quality to
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you. You go to Victor Lane, you're
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respectful, you you've got a racing family, you're at the
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dirt track. Tell me, how do you feel about
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the way people are such big fans of yours?
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What's that make you feel like? Well, I always laugh when people
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ask my autograph. I just don't quite understand.
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Sometimes I still feel very normal, like you said, I still
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go to the dirt track. I I mean, I grew up going to
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Silver Dollar Speedway, 3 weeks old was my first race.
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So I don't feel any different to this from that time to now and
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seeing the same people that have been fans at these race tracks.
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But when they come up and kind of goo goo Gaga over everything
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and ask for an autograph, I just I'm like, oh, I don't really
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understand. Like I took the beer like that's
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normal like, but I guess that's what people like about me.
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Like you said, I I stay very normal for the most part.
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I mean, I like some bougie stuff, but.
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Yeah, well, you should. You should, Yeah.
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You're a girl. And your Instagram page, I just
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noticed that you all were in Rome.
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Where all did you? Where did you all?
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Did you go over there? We started in Rome for a night
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and did both at the the Coliseum and the Vatican.
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Moving up to Tuscany, it was much slower pace, kind of like
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wine tours, which we've done in Napa many times.
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So it we weren't like a huge fan of that.
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And then we went down to Capri and that was amazing.
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I'm ready to go back already. It was such a cool island and
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just the whole culture and there's so many things to learn
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when you're there. I want to get back to Italy, but
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I want to stay on course here. I hear, yes, I'm a little bit of
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a tomboy, but yes, I like to be bougie.
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And by the way, I've learned that that that phrase for my
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daughter Brittany, and I love it.
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So in NASCAR, you got some old school people like Richard Petty
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and Richard's like, I don't like this dirt racing.
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It takes us back to a time where things were dirty.
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Dirt racing is going backwards. But yet most of our greatest
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talents, whether it's your husband Kyle or Christopher
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Bell, or even going back to Kenny Schrader, Tony Stewart,
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What what is your thoughts? You know, when you when you, you
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hear the old school, you know, we, we don't want anything to do
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with dirt racing because it's dirty.
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You know, they got porta potties.
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What is your thought on that? Yet you're now you're in NASCAR,
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but yet you still go back and forth.
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What what is your thought on that dynamic that dirt is is
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kind of going backwards? I wouldn't say going backwards
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is the correct term. I mean, they're not wrong about
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it being dirty and poor to bodies and all those things, but
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who doesn't love? Like when you go to Knoxville
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there's a place called Dingus. Who doesn't love a dive bar?
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I mean, who doesn't love a dive bar?
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How do you not love 1? And that's what you get.
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That's what you get when you go to a dirt track.
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They're they're coming up more and more little dive bars,
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little communities. And it's just, it's, it's a
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family. I mean, it's a, it's a which I
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guess it is in NASCAR too, but you, oh, it's everything.
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So business buttoned up wise in NASCAR, at least it has maybe
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become more over time. But actually we were me and Kyle
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were watching a Michael Jordan documentary about his his
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motorcycle racing. And I think he said it best
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because he was, you know, he played basketball.
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Who likes? I mean, how does he come out and
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say that he likes racing? He he kept saying in his
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interviews, I have to get my friends here to see it, to
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believe it. They have to come and see it to
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feel it, to believe it. And I think we kind of turned
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that around on him. We were like, Hey, will you come
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to a dirt race? And he's like, Oh no, not for
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me. And I'm like, well, you need to
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see it to believe it. You need to feel it like you
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need to come. You can't just say you don't
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like something. We couldn't.
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We're working on sweets at some at Silver Dollar.
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We're going to put some sweets up with some air conditioning.
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You won't get dirty, but you need to you need to feel it.
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You need to see it, you need to watch it.
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I mean, it's just it's incredible racing and I don't
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know, it's and it's for the fan. To me, it's short races and
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there's in between time to go down and get a beer.
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It's loud, but it's not as loud as NASCAR can be.
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I'm not saying that it's better than NASCAR by any means, but
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it's a it's another, it's diverse, it's different type of
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racing and I think I love all racing.
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You know, I, I went through what you're going through.
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I'm 61 years old and I raced. I always tell everybody it's
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kind of a joke now. I ran 905 NASCAR races and
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before that I was at NASCAR Cup crew chief.
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And now I hear I watch you go through this and I'm kind of
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watching this movie there. There's no doubt that NASCAR is
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very corporate. There's millions and millions of
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dollars involved. So whenever there's that kind of
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money, it it gets pretty intense and, and you got to represent
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everybody. Is it kind of a vacation every
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once in a while just to go to the dirt track just to kind of,
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you know, relax a little bit, or how do you look at that?
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Depends on what kind of vacations you like to go on,
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but. You take all three kids.
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Yeah. But when we go to Knoxville,
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it's, I mean, we move in, we take our motorhome, thankfully,
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and we move in for the week. And yeah, absolutely it's a
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vacation. I nobody, nobody bothers me.
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I mean, they, they'll say hi and whatnot.
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I wouldn't call it a vacation if I have to sell, you know, work
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and sell the T-shirts and stuff, though, because that gets a
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little overwhelming. But no, it's, it's quick, easy
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in for, for the night and out. We're usually in and out like on
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the weekdays and stuff where Kyle will go.
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But I mean, it's, it's what I grew up doing.
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So it no matter what, it's always going to be home and and
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feel like such a good spot to be.
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Yeah, so let's let's talk about the the Victory Lane celebration
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that you made famous. Once again.
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You chug the beer, you celebrate a very big win.
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But now you go to the souvenir trailer and you're helping sell
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souvenirs and the fan, a drunk fan comes up to you and goes
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chug a beer. Come on, chug a beer.
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So. Oh, really?
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OK, so, OK, so this is good. I'm I'm going to the right spot.
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How are you dealing with people that have copped the buzz?
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And they want you to do what you they're you chug a beer.
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And obviously you know, but how do you deal with that?
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Well, a couple years when I was a couple years ago when I was
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like fully doing the souvenir trailer by myself.
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I have to get to the end of the night and be like, yeah, you're
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right. I need to chug a beer.
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So there would be, you know, I would say no all night and
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explain to them if I said yes every time somebody came up, I
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wouldn't be up here selling. I'd be drunk and I would be a
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bad mom. And I would, you know, wouldn't
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be able to, you know, function. And so.
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But every once in a while I would see really intense bands
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and you know, they some young guys or a group of girls and I'd
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be like, you know what, yes, do you have a beer for me?
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And I, we, I'd walk outside, we'd chug a beer.
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It was the greatest day ever for them.
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But like I said, sometimes I needed it by the end of the
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night with just all the questions and all the fans.
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But right now in in this time of my life, I've taken a step back.
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I've had a third kid. I don't work in the souvenir
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haller anymore. And it just gets overwhelming.
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You know, I just, I got, I'm already overwhelmed with life.
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And then when when I have a lot of fans in my ear all the time
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and negativity or because negativity always for some
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reason will outweigh the positivity in my mind.
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Yeah, I've just taken a break. But I brought it back at the
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Brickyard because that was very warranted to chug a beer again
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you. Know I, I listen and what I hear
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out of you, I'm not saying I hear out of you, but where I'd
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like to go with this is you are the wife of the greatest race
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car driver of our era. And, and one would think, Oh my
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God, this is the greatest life in the world.
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They're going to Italy, they're going to the dirt tracks.
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They're, they're winning the biggest NASCAR races.
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They're, they're the billionaires.
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But yet it's this way with everybody, whether it it's, you
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know, Bjorn Borg from Germany, the great tennis player Jimmy
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Connor, you hear from all the great ones that it it is, it
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does become a little overwhelming.
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So how do you that's OK? That happens all the time.
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How do you control that overwhelming negativity?
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Because you're on top. And there's an old saying, when
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you're on top, all they see is your ass.
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So you're at the top, but they, they, they want to pull you down
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in some manner. How do you control that in your
20:05
brain? Well, I think just keeping
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day-to-day life with kids normal helps.
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I mean, I've they're homeschooled, but we have a
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teacher so getting up and making a lunch and just, you know,
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normal day-to-day things don't getting on my or not getting on
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my phone reading comments during the week.
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I mean, life is very, I'm not going to say normal.
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I, I, I don't want to say that, but in my, in my mind, I'm tired
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as heck. I'm changing diapers, making
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bottles, making lunches, cleaning stuff up off the floor.
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We got swim lessons. We're doing ISR swim lessons for
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six weeks. We just started.
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So the neighborhood friends are coming over, pick up from
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school, baseball practice, racing, you know, we just keep
20:55
busy. But I do get overwhelmed,
20:59
especially when I got a pack a bag, unpack a bag, pack a bag
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and pack a bag and do it for 3/3 or four people in the family.
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And laundry. I do have help with laundry.
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I won't say that I do it all. I'm very thankful for Tamra, our
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nanny. She helps with a lot of that.
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But yeah. I want to say this, I want to
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say this. I do have to interrupt you
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because we did the same thing. We spent, we spent too much
21:22
money dry cleaning because we were the same way.
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And, and I'm saying this in defensive view, I want all the
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fans to know that yes, you, you're exactly right.
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When you, when you're leaving Thursday and coming back Sunday
21:37
night and you're leaving Thursday, It's not a normal life
21:40
and we don't complain about it. We love this life.
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Hell, there's been times where Kim and I say can't wait to get
21:46
back in the motorhome. But you do less to clean up.
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You you do have to have a little bit of help.
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I mean, I, I saved, saved ourselves by paying for dry
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cleaning, which I just wanted to say that you're Yeah, I want to
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defend you a little bit for people going.
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Oh well, well, no, it is tough, but we do love it and we got to
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have help. Yeah, I and my family, like you
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see my family all the time, but they still do live in California
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and we're in North Carolina. So the day-to-day things or the
22:20
quick like tomorrow night we have a five team dinner, but our
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nanny's daughter is getting married this weekend.
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So you know, there's just, I don't have family to say other
22:28
than Kyle's sister is actually watching the kids.
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But I don't have somebody just to, you know, hey, can you watch
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the kids for 5 minutes or hey, I'm going to run here Or Kyle
22:35
is, you know, he kind of has an all over the place schedule.
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So I do have help and I'm very thankful for that.
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It's hard to not have family around though.
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Yeah, that's really cool. I'm going to ask you one
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question about your husband, Kyle Larson, and it's the only
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question I'm going to ask because this is about you.
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It's is he, is he obsessed like me?
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Is he addicted like me to racing?
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Because he just won't stop. I believe so.
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I'd say it's passed down straight from his parents
23:14
because they still go to, they still watch every race on every
23:20
subscription. They still go to races in
23:22
California even when Kyle's not racing.
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They, I mean, I think the addiction comes from early on
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and it's just passed right on to him.
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I I had a good time with Kyle's mom and dad.
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They were extremely nice to me. Charlie, my, my Charlie, model
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Charlie. Let's drop that picture in right
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now. Here I am with Kyle's mom and
23:42
dad. And I was amazed that Mike,
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Kyle's dad, he knew everything about me.
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It, it and it was like, you should know some of these
23:51
things. So you're right.
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They they are a study of the sport, aren't they?
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He reads, I mean, I think he has a very daily routine, which I
24:00
always laugh because when it comes to visit boys like, hey,
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it's a three hour time change by the way.
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And we don't eat dinner or lunch at 4:00 in the afternoon.
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So you're going to have to get on this schedule.
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But his schedule consists of reading all of hose heads, all
24:16
of the Newspapers Online. And he just, he is full of
24:19
information on anything really, but mostly I think racing.
24:25
I, I really like Mike Larson, Kyle's dad.
24:28
He was extremely nice to me and so is the mother.
24:30
So OK, I just, I wanted to ask that about Kyle because you
24:36
know, your whole family, all of you are all in.
24:39
So to breathe you, you go on some great vacations and I think
24:46
it's fair game to talk about them because you have a
24:49
wonderful Instagram page. And something that I noticed
24:52
that I thought was in like a all moment, I'm like, Oh my gosh.
24:56
So you're over there in Italy and all of a sudden Michael
25:01
Jordan, the great Michael Jordan, pops up and I see you on
25:06
a yacht with him. Tell me about this encounter
25:09
with Michael Jordan. So it was great.
25:13
Honestly, it was very organic. We kind of knew he was going to
25:16
be there via Denny. And then I think Michael knew
25:20
that we were going to be there as well because Denny had let
25:22
him know. But we were walking around
25:27
looking for or waiting for this club to open.
25:30
It opened at 11:00 PM And I mean, the jet lag was just
25:34
horrible for me. I was up till 3:00 AM every
25:36
single night. I could not, I could not switch.
25:39
But yeah, this club opened at 11:00 PM.
25:42
The whole Capri, everybody in Capri said that's the place to
25:46
go, but you got to be in line kind of first, otherwise you
25:49
won't get a seat. It was a little tiny hole in the
25:51
wall, so we're. Like Dingus.
25:54
Yeah, so we were like, OK, well, we'll go grab a drink upstairs
25:59
above it 'cause it was kind of underground at our hotel.
26:02
So we walked up the stairs and somebody's whistling at us and
26:06
they're Kyle, Kyle. So we go look up and here it is
26:10
Michael Jordan. And he says, hey, come sit with
26:12
us. And we had some great
26:14
conversations and one of the first things I said to him and
26:17
his wife was, yeah, we're just waiting to get in that club down
26:20
there. And she said, oh, we haven't
26:21
been there in like 10 years. And he said that would be a
26:23
disaster if I went. And he had about, I don't know,
26:27
5 bodyguards around him. And well, one thing led to
26:31
another and at one AMI told him the only way we're getting in
26:35
that club now is if you take us. So guess what, we went till
26:39
about 3:00 in the morning and he got us in and he was, we were
26:44
cracking up because they gave us a microphone and we were singing
26:48
and having a good old time. But it was, it was live Italian
26:53
music. So it wasn't like he's like I'm,
26:55
I don't do the house music stuff.
26:56
And I said, oh, neither do I, I'll get a headache.
26:58
So anyway, it was such a blast. And then the next day he's, he's
27:02
such a big race fan. All he talked about the whole
27:05
time was racing and he said come watch the F1 race on my boat
27:09
with me tomorrow. So I went shopping with his wife
27:13
and the boys went over and watched the F1 race and they fed
27:16
us and it was great. My gosh, that is that that is
27:21
incredible. The great Michael Jordan.
27:23
So so your your take away. So you're a very young lady and
27:29
you know all about the great Michael Jordan, the greatest
27:32
basketball player in the history of of earth.
27:36
The man could do phenomenal things.
27:38
So when you were, now this is me, this would be me.
27:43
So you're sitting there, you're within one foot of him and
27:46
you're partying with him. Did it?
27:48
Did it ever enter your brain like Oh my God.
27:55
You know, he was so generous and so normal to us that I didn't
28:02
feel like I don't, I don't really.
28:04
I think I see people do that to Kyle, like cry and kind of freak
28:08
out. So I'm very like, I'm not, I
28:10
don't know. He just was so normal that I
28:12
didn't feel, I know. I mean, I feel like I'm wrong by
28:15
saying this, but he was just one of us.
28:17
I mean, he put you at peace. Yeah, he didn't make us feel
28:20
like he was better or some superior person or some famous
28:24
person. He just said sit down and you
28:26
know, you guys are we're all here together.
28:28
And just like I said, he was a big, he's such a big race fan
28:31
and talked about racing the whole time.
28:33
I just, it was just normal. That's all we talk about in this
28:36
family. And and he's.
28:39
World famous. So he had five bodyguards and
28:43
there was there was a lady crying next to me and she was
28:47
just, she was obnoxious, so. Yeah, but but she was
28:54
overwhelmed. And and Michael Jordan with five
28:57
bodyguards and. And there you are that night.
29:00
What do you think that will be? A memory of a lifetime.
29:04
You'll remember that forever. Yeah, absolutely.
29:06
We had some fun pictures taken and videos and but yeah, it was.
29:13
I'll remember that forever for sure.
29:15
I am going to Italy in January with a dear friend of mine named
29:21
John Scatoni. And my wife, my wife won't go
29:24
with me. She, she's afraid of traveling,
29:28
you know, overseas. And that's, that's fine.
29:30
We love each other very much. But me and John are going to go
29:34
and we got a great list. What is one piece of advice you
29:39
have for me? And we'll probably go to the
29:42
places you've been to, but tell me, give me some advice, just
29:46
one or two things about Italy that I should do.
29:49
Just wear comfortable shoes. I mean you're not probably going
29:53
to go with the cute shoes but like I did, but just wear
29:56
comfortable shoes. And in January, it was so hot
29:59
when we were there over the summer.
30:01
So I'm sure you'll be fine in January.
30:04
But I mean, I would say the Vatican and the Coliseum are a
30:08
must see in realm. I mean, that whole city, we
30:12
learned about it in history. I don't think I appreciated it
30:15
until I saw it. And we did all of the three hour
30:18
tours. And I thought, oh gosh, a three
30:20
hour tour, I'm going to be bored out of my mind.
30:22
But it was amazing, absolutely amazing.
30:26
You said you went to the Vatican.
30:28
Yeah. I have an obsession with the
30:30
Vatican, and here's why. Because Christmas Eve, on
30:36
Christmas Eve, around midnight, I like to watch the Pope.
30:39
Yeah. And it, it puts me in awe.
30:42
What was the Vatican like for you?
30:47
I mean, I don't even know how to describe it.
30:48
It was just massive. Yeah.
30:50
I didn't realize it was a whole city amongst the city.
30:53
That was something I learned. Vatican City, yeah.
30:57
I didn't realize it was, Yeah. I mean, I guess I realize that
31:00
now, but the Pope does come out, I think every Wednesday.
31:05
So if you go there on a Wednesday, he comes out.
31:07
Yeah, that's we were there on a Tuesday.
31:08
So we were. We missed it, but.
31:12
I went ahead kind of in the same realm here.
31:16
You know, once again, I've made this famous.
31:19
You know, I talked to you out in Chico at Silver Dollar Speedway,
31:26
and there was a year that you and Kyle were in that motorhome
31:30
by yourself, maybe with the kids.
31:32
Every once in a while you you will tell me and you said this
31:37
was one of the happiest years of your life.
31:41
It's when you and Kyle had to grow up and, and you and Kyle
31:45
were driving the motorhome by yourself.
31:48
Tell me about that year and why that year meant so much to you.
31:53
Yeah, I think, you know, God gives you challenges in your
31:58
life, but at the time you might not realize are are an
32:04
opportunity to grow. And I think probably a lot of
32:07
people in the year 2020 had some downfall, but for us
32:12
specifically, we lost a lot, but we gained so much more after
32:17
that year. We, we had Owen and Audrey with
32:19
us and two and brand new kittens and we've always had a motorhome
32:23
driver. And you know that that time of
32:26
year we, we took the motorhome by ourselves.
32:29
We've never really cooked in there.
32:31
We've never, you know, clean, but not like deep clean, never
32:35
dumped the sewer, filled it with water, never been aware of all
32:40
those things. I mean, I guess maybe I was a
32:42
little bit just growing up camping with my family, but and
32:46
I'm definitely more the mechanical one in the family.
32:48
So I had to teach Kyle how to do some things or just kind of get,
32:52
you know, tomboy and me and just learning from my parents how to
32:55
get down and dirty a little bit. But watching him be receptive to
33:00
all of that and learn how to do it all and work as a team and
33:04
show our kids that, you know, we could we were able to get out of
33:08
that time and now we can still go do it willingly.
33:14
It was definitely our most favorite summer.
33:16
We were seven weeks on the road in our motorhome and then we had
33:20
a T-shirt trailer as well. So which is crazy because it's
33:23
what a lot of these guys in dirt racing do every year of their
33:27
lives. But it was nice just to you
33:29
know, Kyle always said, I want to take a year off of cup racing
33:33
and go full time outlaw racing. And I don't know if he really
33:36
meant that knowing you know what we it just kind of happened.
33:40
It was like, all right, 2020 happened and that's pretty much
33:44
what we chose to do. So seven weeks, which is a very
33:48
small time compared to what the full time Outlaws and High Limit
33:52
Racing guys do, but we did it. And that, like I said, it was
33:56
the summer of our lives. We grew so much as a family from
33:59
that. There is a a fun joke about Kyle
34:05
and and the joke is he may be the greatest race car driver of
34:08
all time, but he cannot change his spare tire.
34:13
Well, actually. So actually, it's funny, I have
34:15
a picture. It's kind of a crappy situation,
34:19
but in 2020, the day before he let got let go of his job, he
34:26
was, he drove a Chevy Tahoe. He hit a curb, he got a flat
34:29
tire. I was outside in the garage
34:32
changing it with his sister. We had it jacked up.
34:36
It was those big rims, though, so I got the spare out.
34:40
Yeah, we got the spare out. I said, oh, you're going to have
34:43
to call. You're going to have to call
34:44
somebody. The spare does not fit.
34:47
It's not the same rim. Well, then about two days later,
34:50
we just called Chevy and said you can come get the car.
34:55
We're done. The greatest race car driver in
34:58
the world hit a curb and we can't get the tire right.
35:00
I will. He is one of the worst St.
35:02
drivers, so distracted and he drives with two feet and I don't
35:06
know about you. I drive with, you know, I switch
35:08
over, but he drives with two feet.
35:10
So he and he always wants to hit his mark.
35:13
So if it's a red light in front of us, he drives to the line and
35:17
then hits the brake. Like, my gosh, can we just, He's
35:21
off a little, but he's always in race mode, apparently.
35:26
Hey now, I, I told you I'm not going to talk about Kyle and I'm
35:29
not this is about you, but your, your brother tells me an
35:33
interesting story. Brad, Brad, Brad sweet.
35:37
I said to Brad, I said, what makes Kyle so good?
35:41
And, and, and he said everything is in slow motion to Kyle and
35:46
he, he, he says that and, and let me back up a little bit.
35:51
I guess I'm asking you to come out of you're married to Kyle
35:54
and and but I'm asking you to come out of your marriage for a
35:58
little bit and tell me what you think.
36:00
In other words, your brother says that what is real fast to
36:05
us, like us humans, everything that's fast is in slow motion to
36:10
Kyle. He says like Kyle's leading the
36:12
race and he goes, Oh yeah, the scoreboard here and I saw you
36:16
mess up over here. Your your brother tells me that
36:20
story. Why do you think your husband is
36:24
the greatest race car driver in the world?
36:28
Well, I mean, I'm not a racer, so I guess IA race car driver
36:32
anyway, So that part of it I I don't understand, and maybe
36:35
that's where that helps me understand why he's good.
36:40
But I see the other side of it. I see the work that he puts in
36:43
at home. He's works out quite a bit more
36:47
than he ever has, eats healthy, is conscious of everything that
36:51
he's putting in his body where he used to not care.
36:55
He used to just eat, you know, as a dirt racer, Taco Bell in
36:58
and out, whatever was open at the end of the night, he's like,
37:02
Oh no, I need to eat before the race, make sure I get a healthy
37:05
meal. He does a lot of study work with
37:08
Josh Wise and then he's always, always watching a replay of a
37:14
race and SMT and breaking points and he's always asking the other
37:20
guys. I mean, I don't know.
37:21
He's just, from what I see at home, he's always putting in
37:23
extra work on that side. He's really studying his craft.
37:28
Listen up, kids, listen up. The greatest race car driver in
37:33
the world is studying his craft and eating good.
37:36
OK, let's let's set down another path that I've always watched
37:42
through my wife's eyes. So I'm just going to be honest,
37:48
I'm a very proud man. I love my wife immensely.
37:52
I met I met him in the high school we grew up.
37:56
We made it to the NASCAR Cup Series.
37:58
And I'm like, OK, I got to buy the airplane.
38:01
I buy the motorhome, I buy her two carat earrings.
38:05
I get her the, you know, couple big rocks and I and I and my
38:10
wife is all in with me. You know, she goes out to
38:15
driver's introduction with me, but she never went to
38:17
introduction would go to the top of the the pit box and very,
38:23
very proud of you know, my wife and as you as you are a NASCAR
38:30
wife now, what is it like to see maybe Samantha Bush?
38:38
Is there a protocol do you have to represent?
38:43
What is your thought on being a NASCAR wife?
38:46
And and and I went through all this.
38:48
I I just threw myself in so you would feel comfortable
38:52
commenting on. I did it.
38:55
I had an airplane, King Air 200. I had employees.
38:59
I did it all. And it was a wonderful time.
39:02
Yeah, but as I look back on it, I'm like, wow, I.
39:07
Mean, don't get me wrong, it makes life easier to have an
39:11
airplane. I would love to have that
39:14
luxury. But thankfully we have Kyle
39:17
races for one of the best in the sport and that's Mr. Hendrick
39:20
and he's got a great aviation fleet that he generously lets us
39:24
use as we need it. But the pit box, as soon as I
39:29
had kids and they told me that the kids weren't allowed on the
39:31
pit box, it was nap time. So the kids, we just go back to
39:35
the we go back to the motor home or you know, whatever I can to
39:38
watch the kids. I don't take anybody on the road
39:40
with me to watch the kids. That's just there's not really a
39:44
reason. I don't think we're in the
39:46
motorhome. MRO is there for for a little
39:50
bit of free time for me if they want to go play.
39:54
I don't go on the road as much anymore to NASCAR races.
39:57
I feel like Owens racing on the weekends now.
40:01
Audrey's playing baseball and racing.
40:04
But yeah, I think it's great that Samantha goes and sits on
40:08
the pit box and supports. I would, I mean, that's some
40:10
good free time. But I don't even Kyle doesn't
40:14
talk a lot on the radio and I just, I get really bored, if I'm
40:18
being honest. So I'd rather I I'd rather
40:21
listen to the broadcast. I love listening to opinions,
40:24
other opinions outside of actually maybe what's going on
40:27
internally and keeping up that way and keeping up with other
40:33
with some of the other, you know, teams and stuff that's
40:36
going on. Early on, one of my favorite
40:39
things to do was bombard Kyle when he would get out of the car
40:42
and we'd head to the airport, I would just bombard him with, do
40:45
you know what happened to so and so?
40:46
Did you watch that wreck? And he's like, I was in the car.
40:49
No, I don't know what happened. So now the rule is I'm not
40:52
allowed to speak to him for one whole hour until he watches the
40:56
race and kind of gets, you know, settled back down and into or
41:01
out of race mode. It kind of like understands what
41:03
happened throughout the race and catches up and then I'm allowed
41:06
to talk to him about it. Well, I really, I think this is
41:09
my favorite part. This is my favorite part of the
41:12
conversation because you just told me that you're a Mama and
41:18
and actually, you know, there's not any room on the pit box for
41:20
you and your three kids and you get bored.
41:27
And if you do go to the races, you got to watch your three kids
41:31
while this is really good stuff. Listen up, everybody.
41:35
Listen up. Yeah, there.
41:37
There's there's balance in life, don't you think?
41:41
Absolutely, Yeah. I mean, I'm there to support
41:46
Kyle. We're there.
41:47
I think he loves having us there and I love being there to
41:50
support him. And what if something doesn't go
41:53
exactly right on the track? We're there to, you know, just
41:56
comfort him in any way or put him back into reality by all
42:00
right, there's a diaper to be changed or we got to go get
42:03
dinner before we get on this plane or whatever.
42:05
I see Kyle carrying the kids. I see you carrying the kids.
42:12
Yeah. Listen to everybody.
42:14
Go to her Instagram page. It's really good.
42:18
She shows her life right there. Let's talk about Owen, your son.
42:25
I see that you're everywhere racing with Owen.
42:29
Is that Is that your father-in-law, Mike, and maybe
42:32
your dad's job? How does Owen get to these
42:34
races? Well, I would, I've been begging
42:37
both of the grandpas to move to North Carolina so they could
42:40
help out, but they're both very stubborn and just love
42:42
California but complain about it just as much as they love it.
42:48
We Owen races for Chad Boat so oh.
42:52
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we, it's a rental program
42:56
and Chad's great with Owen and Owen's a good kid.
42:59
So we, we just asked him, hey, do you mind if, when there's
43:02
times that I can't go or can't juggle at all and Kyle's off
43:05
racing and Chad will just take Owen with them next weekend.
43:09
He's just riding the holler to Illinois.
43:12
So he's like, man, a 17 hour drive mom.
43:14
And I'm like, you want to go racing?
43:16
It's part of it. So he has his friends with them
43:20
though, so Wyatt Miller and Braxton Flat and the the Flat
43:25
family is from Illinois as well, and they're great.
43:27
So he has fun once he gets there.
43:30
And you know what? That's just that's what we have
43:32
to do. Right now in our.
43:34
Lives. I have a good friend named Nick
43:37
Hoffman and Nick and you, you know, Nick Hoffman.
43:41
Nick, Nick. Well, tell me some things that
43:44
make me laugh. Nick said that that your
43:47
husband, Kyle said well, Owen. Owen was upset.
43:50
He retired from racing last week.
43:52
Then like a month later he goes up.
43:53
He's he's unretired. He's he's going back racing.
43:57
What is? What is Owen like?
44:00
Right now, Well, I think yeah, he just early on in Owen's
44:04
career, it was, you know, he started in 2020 and then 2021
44:09
and 2022 and you've seen your dad up on top of a wing.
44:14
I mean, and he gets in a car and Owen would, you know, he was
44:17
little. He was 6-7 years old and he
44:20
would get out of his car and be like, well, why am I not
44:22
winning? What am I doing?
44:24
Like, I don't understand this. And so he just retired.
44:27
He said, I'm done with this. I, I can't do this.
44:29
I don't really get it. And then you've got, you know,
44:31
Uncle Brad too, and Uncle Brad's winning championships and we're
44:35
watching him win all the time, too.
44:37
So I think in his mind, he just didn't understand it.
44:40
But once. So he played baseball for a
44:42
little bit and then once now he's kind of like, OK, the
44:45
baseball is scary. He's so little for his age.
44:49
So to be playing against these kids that are his age, 9 to 1112
44:53
year olds, they're, I mean, they're young men at this point
44:56
and they're throwing the ball and hitting the ball.
44:58
And he is like, heck no, I'm not out there.
45:01
So we tried racing again and it kind of clicked in it.
45:03
We got him in some faster cars. We moved him up to the box
45:06
stocks and juniors friends. And now he's racing in a
45:09
restricted micro and with more speed the better he is, I think.
45:15
I don't really understand why, but he's getting a lot better.
45:19
And now he's all in. I think he's running up front.
45:22
He's running against Braxton and Braxton, you know, he's racing
45:26
every weekend in different types of cars and and Owens now
45:29
competitive with him. So he's starting to feel better
45:31
about embracing and going to travel with his friends and
45:34
stuff. So he's unretired.
45:38
There there is something about what you just said to showing
45:42
your children there's other things, OK, you don't want to
45:45
race, let's go play baseball, let's go play basketball.
45:48
And you did all that. Do do you think because you
45:51
showed him other things in life then he was able to love racing
45:56
more? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
45:58
I think we fully step. There's never been any pressure
46:01
on him to do any thing. I think especially we, we push,
46:04
we don't push him to do racing because of the pressure that
46:09
even the fans put on him if they're always asking.
46:12
So I when we go to the racetrack, I don't, we don't
46:15
ever push him to do anything. We don't ever yell at him.
46:17
We don't ever, you know, it's just as long as he's having fun.
46:21
I mean, that's what he should be doing.
46:23
Now that he's getting more competitive, you know, we'll
46:26
say, OK, you missed your line, you do realize that, Or I'll be
46:29
like, hey, dude, what were you doing out there?
46:31
Daydreamin or like you, I know you know how to do it.
46:34
But yeah, we just. Yeah, I think giving him other
46:38
opportunities made him realize that it's all equally hard.
46:41
You just have to put the work in.
46:44
Dale Earnhardt, junior and myself.
46:46
We became friends years ago, before he was even a race car
46:50
driver. And the closer we became, we had
46:54
a conversation. We were at Sears Point and he
46:58
didn't qualify good. And I went up to him and he's
47:01
kind of by himself. And I said, what's wrong man?
47:03
You know, as a normal friend, not not the hysteria of the
47:07
famous Dale junior. And he looked at me and he was
47:09
so sincere. He says, well, he said I'm
47:12
supposed to be this great race car driver, you know, because
47:15
I'm Dale's seniors boy and I qualified 25th and he he felt
47:20
that weight on him. So what you're telling me is you
47:23
are aware that this can happen to Owen?
47:27
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it can happen to him.
47:30
And also I don't want him to know that everything's just paid
47:35
for either, because Kyle didn't grow up, you know, with any Kyle
47:40
and my brother, our families, my brother and Kyle both had to
47:44
work to where they are at today. So we also have to try to teach
47:47
him, hey, you're going to have to get up and work hard at this.
47:51
And yes, you have. We have the finances for it at
47:53
the moment and we probably always will, but be thankful.
47:58
Be humble. Don't ever raise your arms at
48:00
anybody. Don't ever use your, you know,
48:04
your voice in the wrong way or flip people off or do any of
48:08
that. Just trying to keep them, you
48:10
know, humble and working hard at it.
48:13
But but not but don't ever feel like you know you have to be
48:18
your dad or you have to be your uncle.
48:20
Yeah, you. You are the Mama.
48:24
Are you the leader? Are you the leader of the
48:26
family? I would say, yeah, Kyle tells me
48:32
that I wear the pants, but I also try to let, I try to let
48:36
him also show some disciplinary and leadership as well.
48:41
I mean, he does, but I'm the one that's here and doing the
48:45
day-to-day things on a consistent basis.
48:48
So I would say yes, I'm the leader.
48:50
Yeah, that's awesome. My wife is.
48:52
Yeah, she, I, I would tell everybody I said my wife's the
48:56
boss, but I'm, I'm the leader. Something something like that,
49:01
man. We're already closing in on an
49:02
hour. I always say that just to remind
49:05
my guest that so we have Owen. How old is Owen?
49:10
He's 9 1/2. His birthday is in December.
49:13
And now, man, you got a little girl that looks like Kyle.
49:19
I mean, So what are the other Two's names?
49:23
Audrey and Cooper. Audrey is 6 years old and Cooper
49:27
is 1 1/2. Oh my God, what are they like?
49:31
Audrey, she's special. She's a Spitfire.
49:35
She's got all the all the attitude.
49:39
I mean all the spunk and all the drive.
49:42
Brad keeps saying she's going to be the one.
49:44
She's going to be the one. She's going to be the next Kyle.
49:48
Well, I mean, you know, Audrey is I guess what I'm talking
49:51
about. It's like a mini me, am I right?
49:54
Doesn't she? Is she a she's a twin to Kyle,
49:58
her face and everything. I think they a lot, yeah.
50:01
She looks most like Kyle's family.
50:02
I think she looks a lot like Kyle's sister and acts a lot
50:06
like Kyle. 'S sister, yeah.
50:07
And and and Owen looks just like your brother Brad.
50:11
He does, yeah. I mean, it's like it looks like,
50:13
Yeah, it's it's strikingly awesome.
50:17
You have have your children look just like your family.
50:21
Yeah. Do you do you think all that
50:23
too? Yeah, I think I've said that.
50:26
I've birthed all of our siblings.
50:28
I have Brad and I have Kyle's sister is Audrey.
50:32
And then our youngest looks like my oldest brother Derek, or my
50:35
dad, so he's a lot of the sweet family too.
50:40
Yeah, this is fantastic, Caitlin.
50:44
It's been wonderful. We've talked about it all.
50:50
You, you got, listen, I got to, I got to tell you this and we'll
50:53
kind of end a little bit like this.
50:55
I've got a, a best friend in life.
50:57
His name is Billy Smith. And Billy, he was my crew chief
51:01
on my dirt car for about 8-9 years.
51:04
And I told Billy, I said, hey, I'm going to have a conversation
51:07
with Caitlin Larson. And he goes, Oh my God, he goes,
51:12
that's unbelievable. And it and it made me realize
51:16
that, you know, a lot of people admire you for what you're
51:22
doing. And I think after this
51:25
conversation, they're going to have a better look in inside
51:29
your life. You're growing up now and you're
51:33
telling us you just can't go to every Cup race.
51:35
You're a Mama and we've learned so much from you.
51:41
Thank you so much. Yeah.
51:43
Thank you. I really appreciate you having
51:44
me on. Yeah, it was awesome.
51:46
OK, what's our what is our next dirt race?
51:48
Do we know? Oh well, Kyle's done racing
51:53
Sprint cars right now and I've kind of banned him from Late
51:58
Models. I told him you got to drop one
52:00
thing. Oh yeah.
52:02
He took a break from Late models because he wasn't as successful
52:05
as he wanted to be and he felt that maybe he needed to be.
52:09
He wanted to be more all in, but right now he can't be all in and
52:14
be running is good. So for Owen, the next dirt race
52:17
is next week in Illinois at Coal County, Coles County.
52:21
And then Kyle's next dirt race will be not till Thanksgiving.
52:25
We're doing Thanksgiving at the beach in Ventura for Turkey.
52:28
It's called Turkey Night. So.
52:31
Another family trip to the racetrack.
52:33
I thought I thought our conversation was over, but this
52:37
is this is breaking news in the garage area.
52:39
So with the NASCAR playoffs coming, that is that the reason
52:44
Kyle is not going to run any wing Sprint cars?
52:47
Correct. Yeah.
52:49
That's good stuff. Yeah, like I said, he's he's he
52:54
did this all on his own. His focus is shifted and
52:58
playoffs are very important. So he's done racing dirt for
53:02
until the offseason. Wow.
53:04
And then the offseason we hit the ground running again.
53:06
It's not really offseason. Yeah, and that Ventura race has
53:09
pretty big. OK well, listen.
53:12
What a wonderful talk. Listen up, everybody.
53:16
We are in podcast form and you can listen to Caitlin on your
53:21
way to work on your way back home.
53:23
We are on Spotify and iTunes. But when you watch it here on
53:27
YouTube, you get to look at or you get to see the pictures that
53:30
Charlie drops in. And until next time, we'll see
53:35
you later all. Right.
53:37
Thank you.