Latest / Rusty's Garage / Max Papis' Journey To F1 & Friendship with Ayrton Senna & Building MPI

Transcript

Max Papis' Journey To F1 & Friendship with Ayrton Senna & Building MPI · Rusty's Garage

• 0:00
  Max, we're overdue this chat.
• 0:01
  It's fantastic to get you on.
• 0:03
  Welcome.
• 0:04
  Thank you so much, Greg.
• 0:06
  It's a pleasure to be here and so many memories and I appreciate a lot of you having me.
• 0:11
  Well, we're going to talk about lots of memories and a connection to Australia.
• 0:14
  Can I start with early life for you?
• 0:16
  I have literally in the last few months returned from a family holiday in Como.
• 0:20
  We went to Chenobio there and I know that you grew up sort of in that area somewhere there, not all that far from Monza, beautiful part of the world.
• 0:29
  Tell me about early life for Max Pappas and how the connection to motorsport came about for you.
• 0:36
  Uh, first of all, I'm super excited.
• 0:38
  You went, uh, you know, I was actually born about 10 minutes from Chernobyl, you know, in a, in a, in a, in a small village, uh, near, you know, right on the Swiss border.
• 0:47
  And, uh, the passion from, from the sport came in a very funky way.
• 0:53
  Um, you know, my dad loved the, uh, racing, but now never involved in racing.
• 0:57
  Uh, and we were born on the Swiss border and most of the people there, they had fast cars because what they were doing.
• 1:05
  back in the day, they were smuggling cigarettes and little things in Switzerland.
• 1:11
  Switzerland, there was less taxes.
• 1:13
  And I remember my dad always having this Golf GTI and pretty fast cars, having this passion.
• 1:20
  So most of his friends were like a little, you know,
• 1:24
  know, crazy, I guess, you know, fast cars to run away from the police when they were possibly smuggling something back to Switzerland, back to Italy.
• 1:33
  And how it ended up, it was that the engine tuner for all this, uh, supercars, uh, one of his son used to race a go-kart, uh, one day took me to the, to the local cart and
• 1:49
  And that's where the passion started.
• 1:51
  And it was very, very special for me.
• 1:54
  And it's a hub for karting in that sort of region, I guess, Max, isn't it?
• 1:58
  I mean, from memory, second in your very first race, you start crossing paths as a youngster with people like David Coulthard, Alan McNish, and so on.
• 2:08
  Yeah, but let me tell you something that I think is significant and I don't think many people know.
• 2:14
  After the first experience with karting with this tuner that lived near my house, we moved, you know, in about 20 miles from Como.
• 2:25
  And in the next village from where we moved was this amazingly famous karting engine tuner that actually was Ayrton Senna's mentor.
• 2:38
  This is Diego Modelli, is it not?
• 2:39
  Have I got that right?
• 2:40
  Absolutely.
• 2:41
  Absolutely.
• 2:41
  Wow.
• 2:42
  That's amazing.
• 2:42
  Yeah, yeah.
• 2:43
  It was Diego.
• 2:44
  And Diego ended up becoming my mentor.
• 2:50
  He introduced me to Ayrton.
• 2:52
  Ayrton became my guidance, the person that, you know,
• 2:59
  He was my reference, you know, every time he came to Monza testing with McLaren, he was always coming to my house to see me and my dad and Diego.
• 3:07
  So the early part of my career, everything happened, you know, by chance, many things lined up.
• 3:18
  Obviously, I kind of look back at the fact that
• 3:22
  I had a God gift, things were coming, I was winning races.
• 3:25
  But at the same time, think about how many times in the world you have the next door guy that is this super famous engine tuner
• 3:35
  Besides Ayrton, then Diego Monbelli ended up working with the guys of, I mean, Alonso, Garcia, Fisichella.
• 3:44
  He was really a genius.
• 3:46
  One of the best engine tuners in the world.
• 3:49
  He ended up two MotoGP World Championship with Fausto Grazzini in a garelli.
• 3:56
  Ayrton took a liking to me and he was really, you know, all the way and before racing in Formula One was the person that actually paved my career.
• 4:06
  He made me talk to West Surrey Racing.
• 4:09
  He allowed me to go and run the Fuji Grand Prix with them.
• 4:14
  So I was very well guided, you know, and I had...
• 4:20
  and I had a tremendous will to make things happen.
• 4:23
  I think that's the two parts of your story, Max, is that you talked about being in fortuitous moments with the people you met, but you also worked incredibly hard to make the most of those opportunities, and we'll come to more of that in this conversation.
• 4:40
  People will be intrigued about the Senna connection.
• 4:43
  Can I just explore that for a little moment, if you don't mind?
• 4:46
  I mean...
• 4:47
  You talk about him as though he was a little bit like a brother, a really positive influence.
• 4:53
  You were there for some significant moments for him too.
• 4:56
  I mean, fans listening to the pod will vividly remember, Max, the race in the rain at Monaco for him.
• 5:03
  And you were there, weren't you?
• 5:05
  Absolutely.
• 5:06
  You know, I called Diego Monbelli, you know, and...
• 5:12
  I told him I was going to, my, uh, with dad, we were going to go to Monaco.
• 5:16
  It's like four hour drive from, uh, took the golf GTI of my dad.
• 5:21
  And, uh, I remember like yesterday it was me, my brother, you know, on the side of this guy that nobody really knew who he was.
• 5:29
  I remember Ayrton with this suit tagged on the bottom there around this Tolemon and, uh.
• 5:36
  I even bought a video camera, but I was too shy.
• 5:39
  I told my dad, my dad kept telling, oh, just ask a couple of things to Ayrton so we can give it back to Diego.
• 5:47
  And I wish I had that memory.
• 5:49
  But anyway, the long story short, Ayrton puts up this master drive.
• 5:57
  He finished second.
• 5:59
  And we had agreed with him to, after the race, to see each other at the paddock.
• 6:03
  And I was, we were going to drive him back to, to his apartment and then we were going to go home.
• 6:09
  And, uh, I remember vividly, uh, we show up with our white golf GTI in the paddock.
• 6:19
  This, uh, young kid comes in Senna, uh, my dad is there open the door.
• 6:29
  I sit in the back, Ayrton gives me his helmet that he just raced with, you know, and I sit in the back and Dad and Ayrton, they're sitting on the front and Ayrton says, I'm pissed.
• 6:40
  You know, these French people, they stole it to me.
• 6:44
  And I remember Dad saying, you know, to Ayrton, hey, I have a feeling that this might not be the only race you're going to have a shot to win.
• 6:51
  And I...
• 6:54
  We left it like that and after that, so many special memories, you know, I, he was just my friend, you know, like, you know, you know, every time he came over, he tried to help and guide me.
• 7:05
  So I realize now how fortunate I was, you know, of having such an icon, you know, but because I met him through this special person that was my mentor, Diego Monbelli, for me was just a year.
• 7:22
  I remember spending time with him and his dad in Monza when Ayrton was testing the McLaren MP12, I believe, with the V10.
• 7:32
  And me and his dad just having some gelato and talking about stuff.
• 7:36
  So it was very special.
• 7:39
  And I feel very fortunate to have met him, to have had the opportunity to have some guidance from him.
• 7:48
  And...
• 7:50
  I, maybe before the end of the conversation, I have one thing here of him.
• 7:56
  I don't know if you want me to get it.
• 7:59
  It's the 1990 helmet, I'm told.
• 8:00
  Is this right?
• 8:01
  And it's very special.
• 8:02
  Yeah.
• 8:03
  Awesome.
• 8:04
  He's going to go while we're doing this podcast here and grab the helmet.
• 8:08
  So we'll try and show you a little bit of this in a social media clip as well.
• 8:13
  Here he is, all boxed up.
• 8:15
  That is beautiful.
• 8:16
  Beautiful.
• 8:17
  So...
• 8:18
  Ayrton, he came to our house one day in 1990 and he just presented that, you know, we got it, he signed it, you know, it's here.
• 8:30
  I kept it, you know.
• 8:32
  In his iconic colors, the yellow, green, and black.
• 8:35
  Yeah, I mean, that's him.
• 8:37
  Like he wrote that for Massimiliano with French, with Con Amicitia, Ayrton Senna.
• 8:45
  3-0-0-8-90.
• 8:47
  Just tell people what that means in English.
• 8:49
  What does that mean in English?
• 8:51
  What is he written there?
• 8:52
  For Max, with friendship, Ayrton, Monza, and the chicane, because me and him, we were always going to watch the Monza.
• 9:02
  He always took me to turn one.
• 9:04
  And to watch.
• 9:05
  Yeah, when...
• 9:08
  when we wanted to go and see, and the car was out and all, it made me jump in the car.
• 9:12
  We went there behind the barrier in turn one.
• 9:15
  So awesome.
• 9:15
  So yeah.
• 9:16
  Awesome.
• 9:16
  Yeah.
• 9:17
  So yeah, I'm glad I was able to show you that.
• 9:19
  So thank you.
• 9:20
  Thank you.
• 9:20
  You know, very fortunate, very, very, very fortunate to have had this opportunity.
• 9:25
  And, uh, I carry his legacy and his knowledge with me behind my helmet.
• 9:31
  Uh, there, there is a sticker.
• 9:33
  I don't know if it's here.
• 9:36
  Yeah.
• 9:37
  Behind every of my helmet, there is a sticker that since he passed away, it's a tribute to his helmet collar and written for you per te in Italian.
• 9:50
  And I kept those little things behind my helmet since he passed away and has been with me in all my successes.
• 9:56
  So in a little bit, his legacy is with me.
• 10:02
  And just being able to talk about what he did and how he helped me, I think I'm just very fortunate.
• 10:08
  We're fortunate to have heard those stories.
• 10:10
  Thank you for sharing those.
• 10:12
  Can I come to a couple of other quick carding stories before we move on in your career?
• 10:15
  Firstly, you get to race against Michael Schumacher, Jos Verstappen.
• 10:20
  You've spoken about this on the Spinning Wheels podcast, I think, where you talked about your work ethic earlier.
• 10:26
  against those guys and what an asset that was for you, the way you worked so hard off track as well in your preparation in order to bring your best to the table when you were racing that sort of calibre of driver in karts?
• 10:45
  I realised very early that talent...
• 10:53
  would have not been enough if I would have not squeezed every ounces of the lemon that I had in my hand.
• 11:03
  And maybe through the example of Senna around me,
• 11:13
  watching guys like Michael Schumacher racing and see how focused he was, how committed he was.
• 11:23
  I just realized that if I wanted to make it at any level, I had to have at least that level of commitment.
• 11:35
  I guess that being surrounded in an era where you race karting against a guy like David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Joss Verstappen, if you can even see them or if you can battle with them, it's pretty special because those guys were incredible.
• 11:58
  I always say that I realized later on that
• 12:06
  especially people like those geniuses like Schumacher or Joss, maybe they had 3%, 5% more God gift, pure speed that I had.
• 12:22
  And in order to try to keep up with them, I had to dig deep in every resources I had.
• 12:36
  at my best day, you know, with the best of my preparation, you know, when they slipped a little bit, I could compete with them.
• 12:44
  And then at the best day of a gentleman like Michael Schumacher with the same level of commitment that, uh, that I had or more, uh, and, uh,
• 12:57
  maybe those three, 4% of extra talent, the guy was winning and I'm maybe gonna, I was finishing fifth, six, you know, but I was still being part of, of the hunt.
• 13:09
  So what I just realized it was that, uh, I saw the level of commitment of some of these great people.
• 13:17
  And, uh, I learned that if I had to do something in life, I had to dig very deep because they were.
• 13:24
  And I did that in every aspect of my life, in everything I could, you know, from off track preparation.
• 13:32
  I was one of the first person that I, uh, I had a trainer, you know, and again, people think about it.
• 13:40
  Uh, he was one of a friend of mine.
• 13:43
  There was an athletic trainer.
• 13:45
  He was not, uh, nothing that you think about it nowadays with all this fancy stuff, but,
• 13:52
  I was always, I always, I was always a little bit ahead of the curve, you know, in many, many things I did.
• 13:57
  And because I wanted to find an edge and I wanted to be able to, the normal for me was never enough.
• 14:06
  You know, the, was never enough.
• 14:09
  Was it maybe because I didn't have that ultimate talent that some of this great genius had?
• 14:18
  I don't know.
• 14:19
  Was it just because this inner fire that I always had maybe was a combination of the two.
• 14:29
  I know that it worked for me.
• 14:31
  Definitely.
• 14:32
  I love the drive, Max, and that is reflected in MPI and what you do now, the precision around that, which we'll get to.
• 14:39
  In wrapping up a little bit of the karting, you clearly were good because you come to Australia to race at Orin Park.
• 14:47
  You battle with someone who's been on my pod before in Russell Ingle.
• 14:50
  That was a good memory for you too, wasn't it?
• 14:52
  Wow.
• 14:54
  Absolutely.
• 14:55
  Absolutely.
• 14:56
  Oh, Russell.
• 14:57
  I didn't know who he was.
• 14:58
  You know, for me, it was just another guy that had to kick his butt.
• 15:01
  And, uh, um, I remember I erected him in the final at the, at the Castro grand Prix in Orton park.
• 15:13
  And, uh, uh, I erect them.
• 15:17
  Um, and, uh, in retaliation, I believe.
• 15:24
  Yeah, actually, I remember exactly what happened.
• 15:27
  In the pre-final, I'm leading.
• 15:30
  Blow up the engine.
• 15:31
  I have to start last in the final.
• 15:33
  I'm driving through the field.
• 15:38
  I arrived behind him.
• 15:40
  Boom, I moved him.
• 15:43
  Went by.
• 15:44
  And then I go and race with him again in Hong Kong at the end of the year.
• 15:52
  And I see this maniac in the rain that just run me over, put me in the barrier.
• 15:58
  And then he went and said, you remember Olin Park?
• 16:00
  Yeah, I remember.
• 16:01
  I like the, I like, it was super hot.
• 16:04
  I really like the watermelon.
• 16:06
  No, no.
• 16:07
  He said, you don't remember.
• 16:08
  And that was my relationship with, that was my relationship with Russell.
• 16:13
  And we became friends after that, you know, but it was like, my God, you have him.
• 16:16
  long memory memory i didn't even remember like he basically waited six months to give it i forgot in a different country you know hong kong grand prix you know in november you know these things happen in jan whatever january february the castro grand prix in orange park was early in the season love it and it was my first time in australia i loved it i loved everything of your country and is uh yeah amazing memories
• 16:44
  So in your late teens, you're immersed in karting.
• 16:47
  I think you even had a contract with Vega back then.
• 16:49
  It seemed like you were really happy, and that may have been your life.
• 16:55
  But where did the first car race experience kind of come about?
• 16:58
  Where were you for that, and how did that shift into gear?
• 17:04
  Greg, we had no ambitions as family.
• 17:08
  You know, my dad had no ambitions to go any further than karting because
• 17:13
  yeah, my family had, you know, some means, you know, but not means to take me all the way forward.
• 17:22
  And so like, we were just competing.
• 17:25
  I was happy.
• 17:26
  You know, we were racing for PCR.
• 17:28
  I had a little contract that was making money.
• 17:31
  And then something happened that I
• 17:40
  Yeah, I got an opportunity to test something that was very similar to a Formula Ford in Monza.
• 17:48
  I jumped in the car.
• 17:50
  You know, I was very competitive.
• 17:53
  Uh, I don't remember exactly what I did, but I remember I ran all the time, top two or three, I run some local races at the short track in Monza, you know, like a, where basically it's almost like an oval, you know, before going in the first chicane, you turn back, you're on the parabolic and they put two chicane on the front stretch.
• 18:11
  Nice.
• 18:12
  And, uh, the, the worst, this guy, you know, the car had a 500 CC engine.
• 18:16
  It was almost like a formula Ford.
• 18:18
  Um, and, uh.
• 18:23
  That gave an opportunity later on to do a test in a Formula 3 car in Misano.
• 18:35
  And because my dad in that period
• 18:42
  I remember him and one of his friends somehow put together something like 40, $50,000 to give a help to Alex and Hardy, you know, in formula three.
• 18:55
  Uh, cause Alex was a really good friend of our family.
• 18:58
  Uh, at the moment when Alex could give back, he invited me to do a test in the same car in formula three and, uh, I did really well and the things started lining up and
• 19:10
  In order to make it happen, I still remember, you know, I have it at home.
• 19:15
  I picked up the yellow pages and I picked, I called or actually faxed every company within a couple of hundred miles where I lived that I thought they had something to do with racing or they could sponsor me.
• 19:32
  And out of all these thousands of mine, I remember boxes like this or faxes, I was able to find the three generous people.
• 19:40
  that they supported my career.
• 19:43
  And they went all the way to start paying 60% of the Formula 3 budget.
• 19:50
  Then I won races and there was no need to bring 100% of the budget.
• 19:56
  The team made me race with 50%.
• 20:00
  of the budget.
• 20:00
  Then the last year of the Formula 3, I raced basically bringing 10% of the budget.
• 20:06
  So I saved all the money that I had for sponsorship and I utilized them to race in Formula 2 the first year.
• 20:13
  So it was by no mean, I spent more miles and kilometers sitting in the car, going and visit people, trying to find the money to make it happen than the miles I had in the car.
• 20:28
  But,
• 20:28
  I had to do it.
• 20:29
  I did it.
• 20:30
  And I learned tremendous in my life about that.
• 20:34
  Tremendous.
• 20:35
  Neil Crompton in commentary often talks about the university of motor racing and what it does right.
• 20:41
  And that has been, at a very young age for you, a great skill that permeates everything you do now.
• 20:46
  You have a reputation for longevity around relationships.
• 20:51
  I mean, that was so important to ultimately helping this car racing career, wasn't it?
• 20:59
  I believe that you plant a seed and you reap the benefit of the seed you plant a year after.
• 21:12
  I give you a humble and simple example.
• 21:17
  Arai Helmet, they've been helping me since I'm 16 years old.
• 21:22
  I've been with them all my life.
• 21:26
  uh, for 40 years.
• 21:28
  Uh, did I have offer to change?
• 21:30
  Yes.
• 21:32
  Uh, my loyalty towards people that have been helping me if it's been the utmost loyalty I could have same things for a pine star, you know, a pine star they've been guiding me Gabriele, you know, me and him, we designed one of the first racing shoes in 96 and long beach Grand Prix.
• 21:51
  And, uh,
• 21:52
  I, for me, loyalty is everything.
• 21:54
  And, uh, I like to pay people back in the same way that, uh, they helped me.
• 21:59
  And, uh, mm, mm.
• 22:02
  And I learned that early days, you know, like, uh, going around, spent miles in the car, trying to, I always try to give, I always try to give back more than what I collected.
• 22:16
  And, uh, mm, that's my nature.
• 22:20
  And I applied that way modem operandi in everything I do in my career, my life, and it seems to work quite okay.
• 22:30
  We had so many valuable takeaways here, Max.
• 22:33
  As you're climbing, and in that era in Italy and Europe, I mean, there are some gun racing drivers all trying to make it to the top of wherever they're headed, right?
• 22:45
  Invariably, that must have meant rivalries for you too.
• 22:47
  Were there people that...
• 22:50
  We got to know the emotive Mad Max later on in your career, particularly in America.
• 22:58
  But early on, when you were younger, were there rivals too that you were trying to beat to get to that next stage, that next phase?
• 23:10
  Absolutely.
• 23:13
  Internally, I remember that...
• 23:20
  there were, you know, point of reference for my formula, uh, formula 3000 first year was David Coulthard.
• 23:28
  Wow.
• 23:29
  He was, uh, driving for Pulse 2 racing, uh, surrounded by great people and, um, you know, being able to, he was always my point of reference and, uh, um, but again, you know, it's, I could name, uh,
• 23:46
  You know, in, in Karting, you know, I, when I started, you know, there were some of the most tremendous people out there.
• 23:55
  Like, you know, if I look back at the level of talent, I'm trying to just trying to recollect, think about my first Formula 3000 year, you know, Olivier Panisse, Luca Badouer, David Coulthard,
• 24:17
  I mean, I can point out their name.
• 24:21
  I mean, people that they won races in F1, won races in Le Mans, created history.
• 24:30
  He was...
• 24:32
  not a walk in the park, even qualifying 15, 16 in F2, in F3000, was a big challenge.
• 24:40
  And finishing fourth in my first race at fourth, fifth, I don't know, whatever, finished in Donington, it was like, I went like, oh, I'm pretty good.
• 24:52
  Yeah.
• 24:53
  Yeah.
• 24:53
  Yeah.
• 24:54
  But it was, yeah, it was, when I look back, thank you for letting me reflect on that because
• 25:00
  I, yeah, I miss it.
• 25:03
  Yeah, I mean, what you drew from that.
• 25:05
  I mean, the American part of your life represents the majority of your racing life in many respects, but I want to touch on Formula One before we get to the US.
• 25:14
  Firstly, the chance to drive an F1 car, if I'm right, in your CV, was it with Lotus?
• 25:20
  Who gave you the first ever drive?
• 25:22
  Where were you?
• 25:23
  What was that like and what feeling did that leave you with?
• 25:28
  Again, talking about planting a good seed and ripping the benefit.
• 25:33
  Alex, uh, was the race driver, Zanardi was the race driver of Lotus.
• 25:38
  Uh, my dad helped him, you know, we stayed in touch.
• 25:42
  We were always very good friend.
• 25:45
  And, uh, after I won my first formula 3000 race in Barcelona, uh, Peter Collins, uh, asked Alex, uh, some names and he gave, uh, he gave my name.
• 25:57
  I still remember I went to Ketteringham Hall and they made me sit.
• 26:03
  I had no idea what was happening there, but I learned that later.
• 26:06
  It was the same chair, you know, that Colin Chapman had all his driver sitting in it.
• 26:14
  He made me wait for 30 minutes.
• 26:15
  I had an interview.
• 26:19
  They poured a seat in a car that was designed for Johnny Herbert that is like,
• 26:27
  25 centimeters shorter than me.
• 26:30
  Yeah.
• 26:31
  And I remember, like yesterday, talking to the mechanic that was put in the seat, I said, like, you know, even if we don't need to put a seat, I don't care.
• 26:45
  Don't go and tell Peter that I cannot fit the car.
• 26:49
  I don't care.
• 26:50
  And I squeezed into the car and I showed up in, uh, in Silverstone the first time in August, I think it was August, uh, 12, uh, you know, 1994.
• 27:02
  And, uh, I mean, had a Mugen V 10 behind.
• 27:06
  It was, uh, uh, I mean, can you just imagine it was a dream coming through and, uh, I felt that, uh, uh,
• 27:18
  that would have been a great opportunity for me.
• 27:20
  You know, everything was lined up to join Lotus the year after.
• 27:23
  Unfortunately, Lotus folded up.
• 27:27
  And so nothing happened on that side.
• 27:31
  But Peter Collins, that was the team owner of Lotus back then, then he managed me.
• 27:44
  And he helped me to sign a contract with Aros Grand Prix.
• 27:47
  And through those years, I built relationships that are still very valuable.
• 27:51
  Like I know we were on the car on that Lotus was Tommy Hilfiger, that back then was owned by Laurence Stroll, current Aston Martin boss.
• 28:02
  I got to know Laurence, where I kept a great relationship.
• 28:06
  Uh, I been, I seen Lance, uh, almost been born.
• 28:10
  Uh, so things happen for a lot of reasons.
• 28:14
  Good things happen for a good reason.
• 28:15
  So, you know, as I said, you know, um, maybe I didn't achieve, uh, you know, maybe it was a little bit of a disappointment by formula one time because, uh, uh, the quality of people that I had around, uh, and I was very mature as well.
• 28:32
  You know, Ayrton was gone.
• 28:34
  Uh, my family had no racing background, but kind of lost a little bit.
• 28:38
  And, uh, you know, don't just blame me around the people.
• 28:42
  You know, I just looked at me first, you know, and, uh, it was an experience.
• 28:48
  Um, I learned a lot.
• 28:51
  I'm proud to say that I went all the way to racing Formula one.
• 28:54
  I have nine JP.
• 28:56
  I'm a little pissed at the fact that, uh, in my own grand Prix, I was, uh, in the
• 29:01
  point until one lap to go and uh jules bullion passed me on the last lap uh because we never changed tires i was out there with the same tire from lap one that still burns you know because they were only giving away point to the top six so i finished seven uh and but it's okay you know i uh
• 29:25
  it made me be a better person and that, you know, opened the door to come to us and create a new life in your career.
• 29:32
  Can I just, just finish this with a little bit of context for the listeners.
• 29:36
  I mean, you put an unbelievable business package together for, for the drive with footwork.
• 29:41
  I think you put all of your money that you had at the time into it.
• 29:45
  You, you feel on reflection that it wasn't perhaps the best timing for you.
• 29:50
  And Etten had said to you about timing, timing being everything and, and,
• 29:54
  And their objectives as a business, if you like, perhaps didn't align with yours and what you were doing at the time.
• 30:03
  But I love how with the benefit of time, Max, you look back on that now as something that taught you a lot, for as heartbreaking as that must have been.
• 30:14
  And I think you basically – did you not retire?
• 30:17
  You called time, I think, at the end of that, didn't you?
• 30:20
  Ayrton had not long been gone.
• 30:21
  That experience had not gone –
• 30:23
  the way you wanted it to and i think you basically stopped didn't you yeah i did you know you're 100 right you know you put things in a great context because uh i was alone you know my fa i spent every penny i had basically you know through all the saving i had my dad helped me you know we were i remember going to see mr minardi
• 30:47
  And after the meeting, I drove back and talked to Dad and I told him, hey, Dad, the best case scenario, we need to find a way to find a million-dollar sponsorship or something like that.
• 31:06
  And for what?
• 31:07
  We're going to be last.
• 31:09
  And I said, listen, we tried.
• 31:11
  We did everything we could.
• 31:13
  Ertan is not here anymore.
• 31:15
  That's it.
• 31:16
  finished, you know, I, the stop and, uh, it was, uh, 1995 and, uh, a few days before Christmas, I got a phone call from, uh, Mr. Mario Becky.
• 31:33
  That was very close friend with Piero Ferrari.
• 31:39
  And he was my advisor.
• 31:41
  Mario used to be the team manager of Lamborghini in F1, Scuderia Italia.
• 31:47
  And he was like a second father for me.
• 31:49
  And Mario told me, listen, I talked to Piero.
• 31:54
  They created this sports car.
• 31:57
  They have a Ferrari 333 SP.
• 32:00
  You know, there is maybe an opportunity for you to drive it at Daytona.
• 32:07
  And I went, okay, what do I need to do?
• 32:11
  And say, how much money will cost?
• 32:13
  I said, no, no, you can just drive it.
• 32:15
  And I went, all right.
• 32:16
  So I packed my stuff.
• 32:21
  First week of January, I showed up at Daytona by myself.
• 32:27
  I think I showed up a week before everything.
• 32:30
  I was one week too early.
• 32:32
  Nobody was there.
• 32:34
  And I...
• 32:38
  basically put my bud in that car.
• 32:41
  And back, I think to put things in context that I think people need to understand, sports car back then was a retirement plan.
• 32:49
  Like the youngest guy that was driving in that car was Mikel Alborato.
• 32:55
  There was, uh, I mean, I was 25, 26 and Michele was 40 something.
• 33:01
  Yeah.
• 33:02
  And, uh, so sports car was something that people did after achieving tremendous things in their life.
• 33:08
  There was nobody 24 running sports.
• 33:10
  I mean, like, no, I don't think nobody.
• 33:12
  And, but I, the law for the sport, I went all the way there and, uh, uh, I had this opportunity to drive the Ferrari 33 SP and, uh.
• 33:25
  that changed my life it was a defining moment wasn't it in some ways you're not defined by that moment but it helped launch you to the American audience it typified who you were as a racer people can look back on that you can correct me if I'm wrong here there's an epic fight back from you, a battle with Wayne Taylor and we saw Mad Max didn't we?
• 33:53
  Yeah, listen, you know, to summarize it is like this.
• 33:58
  They didn't want to have me sitting in the car because they were concerned that I was going to break it.
• 34:03
  Okay.
• 34:04
  Because in sports car, you know, the team owner was so concerned because you had to drive it at a pace if you drove the car too hard.
• 34:13
  You know, it's not like nowadays that every, you know, endurance racing is a,
• 34:21
  a bunch of super fast stint one after another.
• 34:25
  You had to know how to nurture the car and everything.
• 34:27
  And they, and they, they said, now this kid, you know, comes from Formula One.
• 34:31
  He's going to sit in the car.
• 34:32
  He's going to disintegrate my car.
• 34:33
  So they made me drive the minimum necessary.
• 34:38
  And then when Bob Bollick, uh, had basically collected another car in the bus stop, we went down four laps and they went, all right, we screwed, put him in the car.
• 34:52
  And it was about three hours to go, I believe, three, four hours to go.
• 34:56
  And I remember vividly, I went, Max, this is your shot.
• 35:03
  You know, show them who you are.
• 35:07
  And I asked them if I could push.
• 35:10
  And they told me, yes, we made up two laps to Wayne Taylor.
• 35:17
  We finished 37 seconds behind the leader.
• 35:20
  That back then was the closest ever finish in the history of the ITERNAL 24-hour.
• 35:26
  And coming out of the car on the phone with Montezemolo and...
• 35:36
  I got an interview from ESPN, Bob Varsha.
• 35:40
  He was like, hey, Max Pappis.
• 35:42
  And I went, sir, my name is Max Pappis.
• 35:49
  P-A-P-I-S. And maybe people thought I was arrogant.
• 35:56
  I don't know.
• 35:56
  But like, you know, I wanted so bad not just to be a number.
• 36:02
  Mm-hmm.
• 36:04
  that I would have done anything.
• 36:06
  And then I won races with a Ferrari and that opened door to my entire career in America.
• 36:18
  And I grabbed the opportunity with two hands because I knew that...
• 36:27
  I just had a feeling when I came to US, people were really
• 36:33
  looking for the talent.
• 36:36
  They were looking for the personality.
• 36:38
  They were praising the fact that maybe I was a little more, I was a genuine person.
• 36:49
  We saw your character.
• 36:50
  We saw your personality, didn't we?
• 36:52
  Yeah.
• 36:53
  And I felt that that was a perfect combination.
• 36:57
  I felt that being myself was actually positive, while sometimes in Europe I got criticized because you,
• 37:04
  You wanted to have the picture perfect person of what is a race car driver.
• 37:08
  And sometimes I'm a little bit outside that the parameter and it allowed my career to, you know, to become what it is and make a living, being able to, to have a lot of satisfaction and, uh, you know, and, uh, it was maybe the only one time in my life that, uh, I didn't
• 37:33
  planned for something, but it actually happened by itself.
• 37:37
  So pretty amazing.
• 37:41
  Yeah, pretty amazing.
• 37:42
  I mean, it didn't happen by osmosis though, Max, because what you brought to the table in that moment opened a whole new door for you, a whole new chapter.
• 37:51
  And then you, I mean, even in recent weeks before we recorded this podcast, you've been at Daytona, you keep, you know, you had a wonderful connection with that place and even a bit of sports car racing.
• 38:03
  Can I come to Champ Car, though?
• 38:06
  Where was the first time you drove one of those things?
• 38:09
  How did that opportunity come about?
• 38:11
  I mean, that opportunity came from a very tragic moment that I wasn't aware of it.
• 38:22
  So Jeff Krasnoff used to drive for Toyota at PPI.
• 38:27
  He had a tremendous accident in Toronto past PPI.
• 38:31
  Uh, and, uh, I was doing my sports car career.
• 38:35
  I was driving for Ferrari.
• 38:37
  Um, and I remember on the way back, uh, uh, I, I don't know if you erase Lime Rock or whatever.
• 38:45
  I flew back to Italy and the phone rings and is this gentleman called the Gordon Coppock.
• 38:53
  that is a legend.
• 38:55
  First time he called and he said, I'm Gordon Coppock.
• 38:57
  And I put the phone down.
• 39:00
  This is a joke.
• 39:02
  Yeah.
• 39:02
  I thought it was a friend of mine pranking me.
• 39:04
  Then he called me again.
• 39:05
  And I went, I, I remember saying, Luca, just stop with this BS, dude.
• 39:12
  Stop.
• 39:13
  Anyway, no, go Gordon, but very British.
• 39:17
  No, no, no, no, Max is actually Gordon Coppock.
• 39:21
  I'm like, Gordon Coppock?
• 39:24
  Yeah, I'm the team principal of PPI in IndyCar.
• 39:29
  I remember I stopped the car.
• 39:30
  I was on the highway.
• 39:32
  I stopped and I went, all right.
• 39:34
  I went and they said, Max, the long story short was they invited me to Mid-Ohio.
• 39:43
  The reason why they invited me, it was because it was between me and Eddie Lawson.
• 39:52
  in, uh, that we used to driving in the car and, uh, and, and actually me at the Lawson and Marco Picella, uh, Marco Picella was a very good friend of, of, of, um, of Krasnoff, uh, but Marco somehow, I don't know why we didn't, or he couldn't do it.
• 40:10
  He couldn't come, you know, we didn't show interest.
• 40:14
  And, uh, and I remember the old guys at PPI telling me.
• 40:18
  that I was maybe the only one of the few driver that didn't call them after Jeff passed in order to try to get the right job.
• 40:27
  And, uh, and I went, uh, okay.
• 40:31
  I said, I don't know.
• 40:31
  I didn't even, uh, I, I, I didn't, that's not my character.
• 40:38
  I would have not done it.
• 40:40
  I showed up in mid Ohio.
• 40:41
  They test me.
• 40:43
  I qualified fastest Toyota driver.
• 40:45
  You know, that was a Toyota was the beginning of the, that was actually the first ever experience for Toyota and motorsport after sports car racing with Dan Gurney.
• 40:55
  And, uh, I remember the lock me away.
• 40:58
  They took, they flew me to Los Angeles until, uh, I found all these things later on, you know, but basically Penske, uh,
• 41:09
  They had Emerson Filippaldi that had a crash.
• 41:11
  They were looking for a driver.
• 41:13
  They had Jan Magnussen.
• 41:14
  He showed up in mid Ohio as well.
• 41:16
  He didn't perform as well.
• 41:18
  So PPI, they locked me away.
• 41:22
  Back then, cell phones were not a real option.
• 41:24
  So they did that until I signed a contract for three and a half years.
• 41:30
  And I remember calling my dad and saying, dad, these people are
• 41:37
  these people are actually gonna pay me a salary and they're gonna pay me this for this year, that for the year.
• 41:47
  And then I remember saying, Max, pretend that it's not enough.
• 41:54
  So I went in there, say, yeah, it's a good offer.
• 41:57
  I appreciate it.
• 41:58
  I was expecting a little bit more.
• 42:00
  And I remember they came up with a bonus or something.
• 42:05
  But, you know, my life changed in that moment, my life changed.
• 42:08
  And, uh, uh, I joined the Toyota family.
• 42:11
  Uh, I drove in Chemcar.
• 42:14
  I drove for Toyota for a few years.
• 42:17
  Then Bobby Ray, how retired, uh, I had a conversation with Bobby during an appearance and I asked him if he had found someone to replace him.
• 42:27
  He told me, no, uh, came and visit me, uh, signed the contract with Ray Hall.
• 42:34
  had the opportunity to join a super competitive team, won a lot of races, really cemented the fact that, you know, in my 113 IndyCar start, you know, three race win, nine podium, I don't know how many top 10 we had, you know, about a lot.
• 42:54
  So I took the opportunity to do everything I could with the ride that I had.
• 43:01
  And fortunately back then,
• 43:05
  an IRL came to a halt.
• 43:08
  So, you know, there was a split between the two series and, uh,
• 43:14
  there was no opportunity for me to go further in open wheels, so I went to another part of my career.
• 43:18
  Career.
• 43:19
  Just quickly, I mean, this underscores your ability to look after relationships, right?
• 43:25
  Because from memory, you know, the Miller car, Cosworth Power, you'd had a great and you keep a great relationship with Toyota despite all that.
• 43:35
  Was that thing like when it was wound up, was that thing like 1,000 horsepower?
• 43:39
  And what was that thing like to drive?
• 43:41
  Mega.
• 43:41
  Mega.
• 43:43
  I would say the dream car.
• 43:47
  Chem car was a dream car.
• 43:50
  Fastest car, driver could make a big difference, manual gearbox, no power steering, 1000 horsepower.
• 44:00
  I believe that the lap in Elkhart Lake is still, Chem car still has the lap record.
• 44:10
  of that track after 20 years, whatever it is, it was amazing, you know, and it was talent could emerge and it was just an amazing opportunity.
• 44:22
  So absolutely to me, that was the ultimate real race car driver car and it made a
• 44:30
  There was a reason why Nigel Mansell went over and racing champ car.
• 44:35
  They were amazing talent.
• 44:37
  And, yeah, so you're 100% right.
• 44:40
  Great period for you.
• 44:41
  You formed some wonderful friendships too.
• 44:43
  They affectionately called it the Brat Pack.
• 44:45
  I mean, Dario Franchitti, who is godfather to one of your children, Tony Canaan, the late Greg Moore, who is much missed.
• 44:52
  Why did you guys kind of click?
• 44:54
  And did that come about because of natural young racer races
• 44:59
  rivalry almost, like you're all trying to climb the ladder at the same point and that ends up, you end up respecting that in the same moment.
• 45:06
  Is that how that all kind of came about?
• 45:10
  I like to think that we knew that those cars were very dangerous.
• 45:19
  We knew that the risks that we took were immense and there was an inner respect with each other.
• 45:29
  uh, uh, that, uh, created a special bond amongst us, you know, between Greg, me, Dario, Tony.
• 45:40
  Um, and, uh, we were really able to create a true friendship outside the racetrack, uh,
• 45:52
  that totally disappeared when you walked on the track because uh it was uh tough very tough you know like you know very very tough but that did not prevent us from being uh from really you know being true friend all the way up to today and and i i really believe of the fact that we share common goals uh we respected each other but we
• 46:21
  the sport allowed us to be ourselves.
• 46:24
  Yeah.
• 46:25
  And they didn't look at that as a lack of professionality, but they looked at the fact that, look at this, there is a group of people that, well, a bit like, I make up a bit like Lando Norris and Max Verstappen nowadays, in a way.
• 46:40
  Like, you know, they, I'm sure they're battle on the track tremendously, but
• 46:46
  Then they do iRacing together, they go on vacation together, they do certain things.
• 46:51
  So hopefully this shows to the young generation that you can be a tremendous competitor on track, but off track, you can compensate that with being an open...
• 47:07
  Harder person.
• 47:08
  Person.
• 47:09
  In closing the Champ Car part of your career here, can we reflect on the Gold Coast?
• 47:14
  I have very vivid memories of that race.
• 47:17
  I was very fortunate for the first time to chat with Mario Andretti on the pit wall there.
• 47:21
  It was this iconic race for so long in the offering of big events in Australia.
• 47:29
  Yeah.
• 47:30
  What was that like?
• 47:31
  And am I right in saying that that is perhaps where you met your wife, Tatiana Fittipaldi?
• 47:37
  Is that right?
• 47:38
  Did you meet her there?
• 47:40
  Yeah.
• 47:41
  Like, Australia was the place that we were all looking forward to go.
• 47:48
  It was the event, the organizer, crusher event.
• 47:55
  They were just amazing.
• 47:59
  Great track too.
• 48:02
  The racetrack was insane.
• 48:07
  One of the best layout possible.
• 48:08
  You really felt like a king when you were coming to the Gold Coast.
• 48:12
  Because hundreds of thousands of spectators, it was...
• 48:23
  Yeah, you felt that you were a king when you were there.
• 48:25
  Whatever you went, a lot of
• 48:30
  you know, great welcoming and the welcoming spirit of the Australian linked with an amazing race track, a tremendous event supported by the government and supported by all the local people.
• 48:44
  Uh, we, we made a place that everyone wanted to go, wanted to win at.
• 48:49
  And, um, I was fortunate enough to finish on the podium, um, then have great races and, uh, then create amazing friendship.
• 48:58
  that they're still last nowadays.
• 49:01
  And the memory that I have of that place is, you know, they're unbelievable.
• 49:10
  They are straight in my brain, you know, and I'm looking forward, you know, I went back a couple of times and I'm looking forward to go back other times for different reason, because it's,
• 49:25
  When you combine great memories with amazing racing, great people, fantastic sceneries, what do you want more than that?
• 49:35
  Exactly.
• 49:36
  I want to come to MPI and NASCAR very briefly.
• 49:38
  But to wrap up talking about Gold Coast there, that naturally leads us to supercars.
• 49:46
  how hard did you try to get a ride there?
• 49:49
  Max, Max Wilson, who's been on the pod before has, uh, you know, done some seasons in supercars and so on.
• 49:55
  Was that something?
• 49:56
  And how far did you get with that?
• 50:00
  So, uh, I always admired, uh, uh, the guys in supercar.
• 50:04
  Every time we race there with a chem car, I think they were racing with us.
• 50:10
  Uh, and, uh,
• 50:12
  I mean, I remember watching Russell Ingo, you know, racing, you know, going to the paddock, watching, talking.
• 50:18
  And so one of my aspirations was always trying to join the supercar field.
• 50:26
  I tried to do that maybe a little bit too late when I was...
• 50:35
  when I was still driving sports car, uh, but I'm still proud that I did, uh, the, one of the possible, the last Gold Coast race, the invitational race.
• 50:45
  And, uh, and, uh, my admiration for, uh, for the supercar is the fact that, uh, they were amazing racers, uh, very specialized, uh, and, uh, the country really loved, uh, what they were doing.
• 51:04
  I,
• 51:05
  I showed up a couple of times.
• 51:07
  I went to Bathurst with James Courtney.
• 51:11
  I got a couple of tests lined up.
• 51:15
  But again, everything happened for a reason.
• 51:23
  Things didn't line up exactly in the right way, but I'm fortunate that I had the experience.
• 51:28
  I drove the car a couple of times.
• 51:29
  And I tell you, my friend Paul Morris warned me
• 51:35
  of how difficult those cars were i never felt such an idiot really drive like they were so difficult like driving the car around and you have to be so specialized i like i still remember after the gold coast race going to melbourne
• 52:01
  Phillip Island and the jump in the car with James Courtney and Garth Tander when they did two-seat ride.
• 52:10
  And being in the car with them, I went, I got it.
• 52:14
  I see how they do it because basically with the spool on the back, they were driving in really straight in the corner, V in the corner, coming out.
• 52:25
  And, uh, uh, he was basically the opposite of what I did, you know, when I drove in the car, you know, because in stock car, you turn a little bit early, the car, they don't turn you to anticipate the turning in.
• 52:37
  And let me tell you, it was a very humbling experience.
• 52:40
  I'm proud I did it.
• 52:42
  I'm not very proud of the results, but it's something you learn.
• 52:48
  Very cool thing on your CV.
• 52:50
  Owen Kelly is a friend and a friend of the podcast.
• 52:53
  You've been spending a bit of time with him recently around karting and so on.
• 52:57
  He reminded me about your NASCAR chapter.
• 53:01
  I don't know whether this statistic has been beaten, but I think you have or held the most wins or most sort of starts, rather, of any European driver.
• 53:11
  Sorry, thank you for correcting me.
• 53:13
  And you, you know...
• 53:16
  You came along at a time where Marcus Ambrose was coming through and NASCAR was sort of pushing for diversity.
• 53:24
  We got to see that personality you were talking about before.
• 53:26
  It was good timing.
• 53:29
  I know they're a very different race car, Max, but what was that chapter like for you?
• 53:37
  I mean, uh, you said it right.
• 53:38
  You know, I have, uh, under my belt, uh, hundred and, uh, 45 NASCAR starts between cup Xfinity and truck.
• 53:46
  Uh, most of them not with a super competitive equipment, you know, some of them with the great equipment.
• 53:53
  Uh, and what I took out of that, uh, opportunity and the lesson was the fact that, um, the
• 54:05
  You, this NASCAR boys are amazing talent.
• 54:10
  They are capable of improvising with precision.
• 54:14
  Unfortunately, how I ended up in NASCAR was not the right path because I left Corbett Racing.
• 54:23
  I signed a contract to drive the Xfinity for a couple of years in order to learn.
• 54:30
  But unfortunately, when I joined the Xfinity, there was a contract clause.
• 54:35
  where the car was sponsored by Geico, the insurance.
• 54:40
  And actually, it was not called Xfinity.
• 54:41
  It was called Nationwide.
• 54:44
  There was another insurance.
• 54:46
  Therefore, Ah, you've got competing sponsors.
• 54:49
  Is that what you're saying?
• 54:51
  Okay.
• 54:52
  Yeah.
• 54:53
  And the two-year of contract that I had with Geico, where I was supposed to race in Xfinity, they transformed themselves in a half season of a cup car.
• 55:06
  two half season.
• 55:08
  And that was it would be exactly like showing up in Formula One with a form with a Formula Four experience.
• 55:17
  OK, similar level.
• 55:19
  Very, very difficult, very difficult car, super complicated.
• 55:22
  No data, no nothing I could see.
• 55:25
  So it was a really big challenge, but I was still able to run very well on road courses, allowed myself to show my talent there, being able to prove that I belong to the sport, at least on the road course side.
• 55:40
  And that opened tremendous relationship all the way to arrive.
• 55:44
  You know, I almost won a race in Montreal in Xfinity, those few times when I had the chance to drive a very competitive car.
• 55:54
  Uh, and, uh, I build a tremendous relationship.
• 55:58
  I learned a lot about myself.
• 55:59
  I learned all about the cars and, uh, that allowed me to transfer this relationship, uh, to be the performance advisor of, uh, Austin, Dylan and Ty Dillon when I was racing in Xfinity.
• 56:13
  Uh, and I went, uh, after, you know, situation change in racing and where I was not driving really full time, I was able to guide this young fella.
• 56:25
  His name is William Byron.
• 56:26
  I got to know William when I was 17 and I've been his advisor and his mentor all the way until this year, guiding him through all his successes.
• 56:38
  And again, what NASCAR did, what all my career did gave me the opportunity
• 56:46
  to learn a lot about myself i might have maybe not achieved every single goal that i wanted but i achieved a lot coming from a 800 people village and uh starting from nowhere and uh but i i've been able to transfer a lot of them a lot of my knowledge to a lot of great people including william byron and uh and uh a bit of
• 57:13
  when this to close the circle a little bit, I believe what Ayrton was doing with me when I was a kid.
• 57:20
  Yeah, unfortunately, you're paying that forward now.
• 57:22
  Is that what you're doing here?
• 57:23
  Yeah, he passed away when I'm sure he would have been a he would have loved to give me a really good guidance back then, you know, when I was about to be in F1.
• 57:35
  But in a way, that circle is closed and I can give back to the sport, to the people that deserve the best of myself and working with great guys like Henry Motorsport, testing their car, guiding William Byron, being the steward of IndyCar.
• 57:57
  So doing a lot of things.
• 57:59
  And as Owen told you,
• 58:03
  being a very mediocre mechanic at the go-kart track with me, son.
• 58:08
  I doubt you are mediocre.
• 58:09
  I doubt you're mediocre.
• 58:11
  People can go and have a look for some of that NASCAR stuff on YouTube.
• 58:16
  They'll remember fondly, for example, when you subbed for Tony Stewart, who was injured from a sprint car crash when you were at Watkins Glen.
• 58:23
  We got to see
• 58:24
  your emotion when you got out of the truck at times and so on.
• 58:27
  I want to come to now MPI.
• 58:30
  You're wearing the shirt.
• 58:31
  You're at HQ there in Charlottet, North Carolina.
• 58:35
  What you have built here is world-class, Max, right?
• 58:38
  So can you tell people what was the genesis moment for this?
• 58:43
  Where did this come from, the idea to pursue this?
• 58:46
  And then give us a sense of what you've created and where you're going with it.
• 58:54
  Yeah, thank you for bringing this up.
• 58:55
  You know, as much proud as I am of my racing and successes, I tell that I had another life.
• 59:05
  I had a first life as a competitor on a race car and now I have a life as a competitor in business.
• 59:11
  Yes.
• 59:13
  How it happened?
• 59:15
  It happened by chance.
• 59:18
  It was not planned.
• 59:20
  I was driving and testing in NASCAR, testing the new generation car.
• 59:27
  I had an accident in Kentucky where I got hurt.
• 59:32
  I broke my wrist.
• 59:35
  It was difficult to understand why I got hurt because the impact was not really bad.
• 59:40
  But putting some...
• 59:43
  thought on that, we realized that back then stocker, they were using a very antiquated style steering wheel.
• 59:53
  I was testing, I was friends with, you know, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, the junior, you know, people that I was testing for, and that was part of the, of the sport.
• 1:00:09
  it came to mind to say, let's make the problem better.
• 1:00:12
  Let's create a safer steering wheel.
• 1:00:15
  I worked with NASCAR.
• 1:00:16
  I went back to Italy, you know, worked with people that I knew in the sport.
• 1:00:21
  And we created a, I would say, we reinvented the wheel.
• 1:00:28
  We created a steering wheel, you know, and we put technology into a very simple product where the wheel deformed with about,
• 1:00:39
  you know, 400 pounds of load that is, you know, 200 kilos.
• 1:00:43
  That is the weight of your arm in a 5G impact.
• 1:00:47
  We came up with a lot of testing.
• 1:00:49
  I did this testing with Terry Trammell, the doctor of IndyCar, getting his knowledge, getting his help, the test with NASCAR.
• 1:00:58
  And we basically built a safer product, you know, for four or five drivers in NASCAR.
• 1:01:05
  After 13 years, now...
• 1:01:09
  We sell over 15,000 steering wheel a year.
• 1:01:13
  We are the motorsport market leader.
• 1:01:14
  We have 200 different products.
• 1:01:20
  We took this from a simple servicing the sport to a business.
• 1:01:26
  And it proved that when you do something good for your sport, when you plant a good seed,
• 1:01:33
  good things come back.
• 1:01:35
  And, uh, obviously everything was organic, you know, was, uh, you know, we helped NASCAR, we helped the driver to be safer.
• 1:01:42
  Then after a few years, 90% of the garage has our steering wheel.
• 1:01:47
  Then we moved into dirt racing.
• 1:01:50
  Uh, then, uh, I heard about the opportunity of, uh,
• 1:01:54
  a supercar, you know, five, six years ago, you know, maybe more actually seven years ago.
• 1:01:59
  I was looking to JC.
• 1:02:01
  They said, Max, they're going to go to a new, they're going to go to a new car.
• 1:02:05
  There might be, there might be an interest.
• 1:02:07
  And what I did, you know, exactly like I did in racing, you know, I, I got on the phone.
• 1:02:14
  I talked to the people in charge of supercar.
• 1:02:18
  I asked them, can we bid for it?
• 1:02:21
  Can we create a better product?
• 1:02:23
  They gave me the opportunity.
• 1:02:25
  Actually, yeah, here we go.
• 1:02:26
  We created the control steering wheel that is in the supercar.
• 1:02:32
  And we created this unit with all the knowledge that we have, you know, all the love that we have for the sport.
• 1:02:40
  We tried to place it on the market in a way that, you know, it was not hurting the pocket of the teams.
• 1:02:50
  And mainly in a way
• 1:02:52
  know, I did this to create a marketing tool to be able to eventually one day enter in Australia with other product saying that if you can service the best of the best in supercar, you know, why can't you create other product?
• 1:03:08
  Why can't you be the best in other side?
• 1:03:10
  And and the long story short is exactly the example of my life.
• 1:03:15
  You know, nothing is too small.
• 1:03:17
  Nothing is too big.
• 1:03:18
  You know, we created a real business
• 1:03:22
  now branching it out in Australia, you know, with a supercar, with cool drive, with distribution here and there, and doing it in a very organic way.
• 1:03:36
  You know, servicing the sport, make the product better, and pretty much like what I learned from other people where
• 1:03:46
  You try to excel in what you do.
• 1:03:48
  You create a great product and then you find a way to take your idea and provide other services to...
• 1:04:01
  areas like we are in the marine industry, we are in the UTV industry, things that has nothing to do with competition.
• 1:04:08
  But you can apply it.
• 1:04:10
  Absolutely.
• 1:04:11
  And I apply the same value that helped me to achieve my dreams and my goals in racing.
• 1:04:16
  And it's a huge pride for me to be able to go from, hey, this is Max Pappas'
• 1:04:28
  And this is MPI.
• 1:04:30
  Yeah, Max Pappas is the owner of MPI to MPI being a business and a brand that stands on its own.
• 1:04:39
  On its own.
• 1:04:40
  Now, sometimes they say, oh, look at this great MPI steering wheel.
• 1:04:45
  And then people say, do you know who is the guy that created the business?
• 1:04:49
  Max Pappas.
• 1:04:50
  Wow.
• 1:04:50
  It's not the opposite.
• 1:04:51
  In the beginning, it was Max Pappas that made a steering wheel that was called MPI.
• 1:04:57
  And that prides me a lot.
• 1:04:59
  Yeah.
• 1:04:59
  It prides me tremendously.
• 1:05:01
  And, you know, as I said, you know, we took a dream that could and created a business.
• 1:05:07
  And we are winning here and we want to win more.
• 1:05:12
  You should be immensely proud, Max.
• 1:05:14
  And I love the fact that you've taken a moment there to shine a light on the Australian portion of this business because I feel at times like we don't fully appreciate that.
• 1:05:28
  I mean, it is such a great product in supercars and I love the fact that you're in the Aussie market.
• 1:05:32
  I think that's brilliant.
• 1:05:35
  Before we wrap this up,
• 1:05:36
  you do have in the but let me tell you something you know i want to tell you something that is a that is that is exactly the philosophy that i used the over in us yes we are the supercar the king of the king the top of the top but as well what we did we created an agreement with excel series fantastic
• 1:05:56
  And with the Trans Am cars.
• 1:06:00
  Why?
• 1:06:00
  Because I was one of them.
• 1:06:03
  I was one of the guys that started down there in the Excel series.
• 1:06:06
  So why can't you have the same safety and ability to provide a great product no matter where you are?
• 1:06:14
  At that level.
• 1:06:14
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:06:15
  And that kind of like, I did that.
• 1:06:19
  It's not a publicity stunt, but it's more just to kind of show you a little bit how
• 1:06:24
  how we think yeah yes it's it's awesome to work with the best of the best but as well there are a lot of little guys that could that need to be serviced and that they there is a reason why they race that is a lot of love and and we don't forget about that that passion that you have is so infectious max you have in the showroom a a kind of wall of champions don't you with some of the success that mpi has had just just give us a snapshot of that
• 1:06:52
  You know, what we did, you know, with MPI, we tried to create a legacy and I basically collected all this big steering wheel.
• 1:07:03
  Every champion, every guy that wants something for us, you know, we collected their steering wheel, we collected their car.
• 1:07:11
  And...
• 1:07:12
  I mean, I can turn the camera here and just give you a little shot, a couple of things.
• 1:07:18
  If you look at this, this is the wheel.
• 1:07:23
  And actually, the reason why the orange stripe that is a trademark for MPI, it comes from Richard Petty.
• 1:07:32
  You know, because I remember I asked if you if you see most of the steering wheel, they have a yellow stripe.
• 1:07:38
  Yes.
• 1:07:38
  So I was involved in NASCAR and I asked Richard, I wanted to go with the to the king.
• 1:07:43
  And I told him, what do you remember about your wheel?
• 1:07:46
  something that I can use.
• 1:07:47
  And he told me that after he crashed in Daytona, he found himself in the infield.
• 1:07:52
  He couldn't get the steering wheel straight.
• 1:07:54
  And he went back home and he put a piece of electric tape in the middle and it was an orange tape.
• 1:08:00
  I asked Richard if I could use that.
• 1:08:02
  And now this has became a big trademark for our business.
• 1:08:06
  So every time you see the orange marker, it's NPI and it's Richard Paddy.
• 1:08:09
  I love that.
• 1:08:10
  I mean, can you believe that?
• 1:08:11
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:08:11
  And so we have a lot of memories.
• 1:08:14
  the Daytona 500 trophy from William Byron from the steer, our IndyCar steering wheel.
• 1:08:22
  And we have in the other side a few other things.
• 1:08:27
  I will take you guys around for a second.
• 1:08:29
  Then I go back to my place.
• 1:08:31
  So here, all the steering wheel, or most of the steering wheel of our champions, you can see some pretty amazing custom-made products
• 1:08:44
  know, very proud of, you know, to have serviced and won, I think MPI now has won 14 NASCAR championship or something like that.
• 1:08:53
  And can you believe?
• 1:08:55
  So, you know, it's, it's a dream coming through.
• 1:08:59
  And, and I hope that this gives motivations to other to achieve their goal and their dream, because nothing is too small, nothing is too big.
• 1:09:10
  I love, I have really enjoyed this chat, Max, and not just for the cars you've driven and what you have achieved in that domain.
• 1:09:19
  It is what you are bringing from that to this venture now.
• 1:09:24
  Can we finish with, you talked a bit of karting there before, is there going to be another generation Pappas racer?
• 1:09:30
  You can tell us about that.
• 1:09:31
  And I'd love you to finish with a little message for the younger racers who are listening here.
• 1:09:37
  And I've heard you speak of this in other places, right?
• 1:09:39
  Where...
• 1:09:40
  You've said, almost jokingly, McDonald's was a plan B.
• 1:09:43
  So that was a big driver for you to make sure that you achieved plan A.
• 1:09:48
  And that racing is just one part of life.
• 1:09:52
  Now what you're doing with MPI is a reflection of that statement, isn't it?
• 1:09:59
  Yeah, let's say like this.
• 1:10:02
  The reason why we are talking is Owen Kelly.
• 1:10:05
  Yes.
• 1:10:06
  We were both together.
• 1:10:08
  in Daytona for the karting race, where I was actually a little bit better mechanic than Owen.
• 1:10:14
  No, I'm kidding.
• 1:10:15
  Sorry, Owen.
• 1:10:16
  I love you.
• 1:10:19
  But his son went for the first time on the podium in the US.
• 1:10:23
  Hudson.
• 1:10:24
  In a karting race.
• 1:10:25
  Hudson, yeah.
• 1:10:26
  Hudson, I love him.
• 1:10:28
  And I gave him a pair of gloves.
• 1:10:30
  He was super happy, a pair of MPI gloves.
• 1:10:32
  At the same time, my son, Matteo Pappas, he raced in the KA100.
• 1:10:38
  He had, you know, basically is, you know, he has about 30% win ratios.
• 1:10:42
  You know, he just won a couple of races in the Legends car on the road course.
• 1:10:46
  And he's showing that he deserves.
• 1:10:49
  So might be a future for another, you know, for another person of my family.
• 1:10:54
  Yeah.
• 1:10:56
  And I will repeat what you just said.
• 1:10:58
  You know, what I tell Matteo, what I tell Marco, my 18 years old, and I tell that to every single person.
• 1:11:06
  father and kid that come over and ask me, you know, what do I need to do?
• 1:11:12
  In my career, plan B was working at McDonald's.
• 1:11:18
  I didn't want, I had no plan B. I had plenty.
• 1:11:23
  Yeah.
• 1:11:26
  Was I the best of the best?
• 1:11:28
  No.
• 1:11:29
  Were they people better than me?
• 1:11:30
  Yes.
• 1:11:32
  Did I outwork the majority?
• 1:11:36
  of these people that they had a little bit more talent than me yes uh did i get was i did i compete against guys that they had similar drive to me with three percent more talent yes they became multiple time war champion
• 1:11:59
  you know, but I was there.
• 1:12:01
  I was not far.
• 1:12:02
  I was not far.
• 1:12:04
  I worked very hard.
• 1:12:05
  I'm extremely proud of my, of my achievement.
• 1:12:09
  Uh, but the main things I never left any stone unturned.
• 1:12:16
  Mm-hmm .
• 1:12:17
  I, uh, I never accepted mediocrity.
• 1:12:21
  I walked up earlier than, uh, than what was necessary.
• 1:12:24
  Uh, I, I, uh,
• 1:12:29
  I was, I took the God gift that I had and I made the best of what I could with it.
• 1:12:39
  I have no regret.
• 1:12:40
  I have zero regret, you know, zero regret of everything I've done.
• 1:12:44
  And I tell all the kids out there watching and if I've done something like this, anyone can do even better.
• 1:12:52
  You know, you just need to apply yourself and
• 1:12:57
  Really do it, not say that you want to do it, but do it for real.
• 1:13:03
  Am I a little sad that my family is 10 hours by playing for me?
• 1:13:07
  Of course, they're in Italy.
• 1:13:10
  Did I, my Italian, my brother, my sister, my mom, they're over there?
• 1:13:14
  Yeah, of course.
• 1:13:16
  Am I proud that I'm here in US and I created this great legacy?
• 1:13:23
  Of course, my dad would have been extremely proud of what I've done.
• 1:13:28
  Don't let anyone tell you who you are.
• 1:13:32
  You know inside who you are.
• 1:13:34
  And no matter what level, go out there and give everything you have.
• 1:13:40
  Usually good things happen when you do that.
• 1:13:42
  Well done.
• 1:13:43
  We are keeping you from your own family, so we'll wrap it there.
• 1:13:47
  Thank you so much for sharing some brilliant stories, Max.
• 1:13:51
  I love what you're doing with MPI.
• 1:13:54
  I can't wait to see what is next for that.
• 1:13:56
  It is the same energy, drive, passion that you brought to the table in racing that you are now succeeding within business.
• 1:14:04
  We'll put the link for MPI's site in our app description.
• 1:14:08
  And for Australian listeners, you can find out more at Cool Drive.
• 1:14:11
  Obviously, we wish you continued success and thank you so much for coming on today.
• 1:14:15
  This has been a fabulous chat.
• 1:14:18
  Greg, you are a hero of mine.
• 1:14:20
  I follow you with a tremendous passion because you're a rock star on the track and off the track.
• 1:14:28
  It's an honor to be even recognized and have a conversation with you guys.
• 1:14:33
  So my goal is being able to send love to everyone out there and show that a dream can come through if you put your effort in it.
• 1:14:44
  So I'm looking forward.
• 1:14:46
  I want to send my best to all the people down in Australia, New Zealand.
• 1:14:51
  And looking forward to come down and see you guys.
• 1:14:54
  Who knows?
• 1:14:55
  Maybe one of the next supercar races.