Latest / Rusty's Garage / Will Power (Part 2)

Transcript

Will Power (Part 2) · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:20
  G'day, it's Rusty here, all set for part two of my podcast with expat Aussie racer Will Power.
• 0:25
  Now, if you haven't already, you should check out part one, the early years, why they breed them tough in Toowoomba, how racing runs in the Power family, and the often uncertain road he walked for many years trying to get a break.
• 0:39
  It's easy to find in our library, and it's all set for you to hit the start button on right now.
• 0:44
  You'll enjoy the discussion coming up here in part two around his historic win at the Indy 500.
• 0:50
  There's also a spine-chilling recollection of a huge crash at Las Vegas back in 2011.
• 0:56
  It left me speechless.
• 0:58
  And what it's like to drive for the captain, Roger Penske.
• 1:03
  We launch back into things beginning this second part by reliving that very first test, that first experience in a champ car and just how removed it was from the F1 ride.
• 1:17
  Yeah, well, it's definitely a different machine to the Formula One as far as you'd certainly move it around a lot more and...
• 1:27
  more of a beastie, obviously a heavier car.
• 1:30
  That car I tested in particular was an understeering car.
• 1:34
  It was a Raynard and Walker was changing literally straight after that to go to the Lola, which is a much better car.
• 1:43
  And so it was a very comfortable car to drive.
• 1:45
  It's this natural state was understeer.
• 1:47
  So, you know, you weren't really getting loose in the fast stuff and,
• 1:53
  but it's just vivid memory in my mind was driving down the backstreet of Portland grabbing 7th gear and going man I could get paid to do this seriously fast and just kept going because of the turbo a lot of power just an awesome machine who wouldn't want to get paid to drive an awesome machine it was just such a cool thing to drive and
• 2:23
  and they were trying to get me to sign a contract.
• 2:26
  I can't believe I even considered it.
• 2:28
  It should have just been the signature straight off the bat.
• 2:30
  But Mark Larkin really helped me out with that contract.
• 2:35
  Expand on that.
• 2:36
  He really helped me get a good paycheck for my first contract.
• 2:42
  season in my first contract.
• 2:45
  The first contract, the way it was structured, I ended up making really good money for the first two years of Champ Car.
• 2:52
  It was all Mark Larkin.
• 2:54
  He helped me out.
• 2:56
  I'm pretty sure he's the one that spoke to Craig Gore and said, this is what this driver should be paid.
• 3:03
  And Craig, he's kind of like, yep, whatever.
• 3:07
  Quark was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on, hang on.
• 3:10
  But it was a deal and yeah, I didn't get paid at all as things went through, but I didn't care.
• 3:18
  It was still good money to drive like what I got paid and yeah,
• 3:24
  And yeah, it was lucky.
• 3:26
  Lucky to have Mark.
• 3:28
  He was very good, very appreciative of what he did for me there.
• 3:33
  And yeah, I still talk to him at that point every few months anyway because I drove the BA supercar with him.
• 3:41
  He was somewhat of a mentor, you could say.
• 3:44
  Definitely.
• 3:44
  And that was kind of my next question about, you know, you've driven the supercar.
• 3:52
  Was that something that was potentially on the horizon like Will Davison or were you just going to absolutely hook into this US dream?
• 4:00
  And maybe in later time now, mate, is there a want to perhaps do some more supercar racing again one day?
• 4:07
  Certainly you'll want to come back and do Bathurst or do the endurance races, but particularly Bathurst.
• 4:14
  It's just so hard with the schedule.
• 4:15
  But at that point, I was absolutely focused on being in Champ Car.
• 4:21
  I mean, I had a contract, so there was no thought of V8 Supercar then.
• 4:27
  I always had, at that point, kept an eye on it because your career is so unsure a lot of the time.
• 4:35
  I had a contract, but...
• 4:37
  There would be times when the funding would dry up for a while and it was unsure whether we'd make this race.
• 4:43
  I just remember going through that with Derek Walker.
• 4:45
  So, yeah, you always had in the back of your mind that fallback plan to potentially come back to Australia and then race V8s.
• 4:53
  But that actually came at the end of 08 when the two series merged back together.
• 5:01
  That was my third year...
• 5:04
  in America.
• 5:05
  You know, did the two years in the champ car.
• 5:08
  Second year was quite successful, very fast, got like six poles and a lot of front rows, starting on the front row, a couple of wins.
• 5:17
  And then looking really forward to the next season, the series rejoined.
• 5:24
  And then obviously out of that, there was some teams that disappeared.
• 5:28
  And one of them was Walker racing.
• 5:30
  Hmm.
• 5:31
  And Craig then did a deal with Kevin Kalkove and Craig Gore to have Team Australia with KV Racing.
• 5:37
  So that was, I did a year there and it was a lot of ovals and,
• 5:41
  I really did not like the mile and a half ovals.
• 5:45
  It's just wide open.
• 5:46
  I felt like it didn't require much talent and it was very high speed and unnerving, inches apart.
• 5:53
  Didn't like it and didn't do very well that year.
• 6:00
  I won Long Beach Grand Prix in 2008 for the final race of Champ Car.
• 6:06
  But for the rest of that season, with the speed that I had on road courses, I really had a bad season.
• 6:13
  It really was a bad season and it pretty much summed it up and finished up at Gold Coast while qualifying on pole, leading by a chunk and then nicking the inside of that wall and pulling a chunk out of the rim and the tire deflated and went in the wall.
• 6:32
  And that was just typical of that season.
• 6:36
  That was kind of my last hope to try and get a drive somewhere.
• 6:40
  So after that, oh, wait, I was done.
• 6:45
  Ross Stone, I can't remember.
• 6:48
  He sent me an email.
• 6:49
  because they were looking for a driver to replace – was that Marcus Ambrose at that point?
• 6:54
  It might have been James Courtney maybe, was it?
• 6:56
  Who was it?
• 6:58
  Russell.
• 6:58
  I think it was James Courtney.
• 7:00
  Yeah, it was.
• 7:01
  Yeah, it was James Courtney.
• 7:03
  They were looking for someone.
• 7:05
  So you were on the radar there?
• 7:06
  Yeah, yeah.
• 7:07
  They sent me an email, Ross Stone.
• 7:10
  And –
• 7:12
  I believe I spoke to him, if I remember correctly, I spoke to him and that was certainly an option.
• 7:17
  And then I think I ummed and ahmed for a long time.
• 7:20
  So at that point, it was so hard for me to give up the open wheel thing or IndyCar and I was speaking to Dryan Reinbold.
• 7:28
  Still KV was kind of just, you know, nothing was going to happen there.
• 7:32
  That was just...
• 7:34
  they just wouldn't give me an answer on like yes just just say no you're not going to be driving we just simply don't have the money for you to drive they're going to take a pay drive they should have just told me from the beginning that they didn't but i kind of read between the lines i was talking to i actually met with michael from ganassi that won't have been the end of oh seven though i met with michael we met at starbucks and that was the seat that
• 7:58
  Dan Weldon took.
• 8:00
  Wow.
• 8:00
  Dario was leaving to NASCAR, if I remember correctly.
• 8:04
  So I'd had a really good year in Champ Car.
• 8:07
  I called Michael and he said, meet me at Starbucks.
• 8:10
  And he talked about, well, you've got to have the chip factor.
• 8:14
  It's called the chip factor of drivers, guys like Montoya, Jimmy Vassa, Zanadi.
• 8:21
  These guys that drove for him.
• 8:24
  So, yeah, I mean, I had a good conversation with him.
• 8:26
  Never heard back.
• 8:28
  Never heard back from those guys.
• 8:29
  Years later, years later when I was absolutely kicking ass, Michael did say our biggest regret was not signing you.
• 8:38
  That was like 2011, I reckon, like after 10-11 or 9, 10-11 when I'd done really well for Pesky.
• 8:45
  But yeah, I did meet with those guys at the end of 07 when we weren't sure.
• 8:52
  I think it was when it was looking like Champ Car might merge or whatever, but...
• 8:56
  Yeah, so I did and I had a conversation with Ross Stone at the end of 08 to potentially drive that car that year.
• 9:04
  But the biggest thing that happened in that season was
• 9:10
  I had actually signed a contract with A1GP and my wife had told me, do not sign that contract.
• 9:18
  What if Penske or Ganassi have a ride at the end of 08, right?
• 9:22
  Like it had a horrible year.
• 9:23
  Yeah.
• 9:24
  And I was done.
• 9:25
  Like I had no ride.
• 9:26
  And I said, that will never happen.
• 9:28
  There is not going to be a seat with Penske or Ganassi, Liz.
• 9:31
  You're crazy.
• 9:33
  And I signed the contract under great stress because of the fighting me and my wife had over it.
• 9:39
  And then I think I was staying at Calcovins and I think I –
• 9:48
  I called them because my wife had just convinced me so much.
• 9:53
  I called them and said, I want out of the contract.
• 9:56
  I don't want it.
• 9:56
  And I got Derek Walker to get me out of it.
• 9:59
  On a whim, with nothing necessarily... No, it was just so much stress for me that I'd had with me and my wife going back and forth, me telling her, you're crazy, there's nothing in IndyCar.
• 10:10
  How's Ganasia Penske going to have a ride?
• 10:12
  It's just not going to happen.
• 10:15
  And then...
• 10:17
  Bloody, you know, I get out of that A1 GP contract and I actually said to her, I said, if I end up with nothing, I don't know what's going to happen.
• 10:26
  You'll never hear the end of it.
• 10:27
  I can't remember what I said.
• 10:28
  It was along the lines of like, I will never forgive you.
• 10:32
  And then Elio Castronevers gets arrested from Penske.
• 10:40
  Elio gets arrested.
• 10:42
  And that was the Penske seat that I would end up getting.
• 10:48
  And I remember coming home, my wife goes, Elio got arrested.
• 10:53
  Not like happy.
• 10:54
  It was like, Elio got arrested kind of happy.
• 10:57
  Can't believe it though.
• 10:58
  Yeah.
• 10:58
  Yeah, can't believe it.
• 10:59
  And Derek Walker happened to be at Road Atlanta where Roger was with Briscoe and Elio who had been taken away, arrested.
• 11:08
  Yeah.
• 11:09
  and Derek Walker was there.
• 11:11
  And I think Liz or myself called Derek, like, hey, LA got arrested and said, go see Roger because Derek Walker knows Roger very well.
• 11:20
  Derek Walker used to run Penske Racing and he went and saw Roger and then goes, oh, yeah, yep.
• 11:31
  I guess put it on his radar.
• 11:32
  I don't know what happened, but, yeah, Roger at that point,
• 11:36
  probably because it was so early in the game, wasn't probably ready to say we're looking for a driver.
• 11:40
  He was probably waiting to see what happened with Elia.
• 11:43
  Elia, yeah.
• 11:44
  And then I called Tim Sindrick and said, I've got nothing for next year.
• 11:49
  And he said, oh, okay, well, we can get you up to see Roger.
• 11:54
  Yeah.
• 11:55
  So I thought, oh, great, straight away.
• 11:58
  So I guess they'd been, you know, looking at other drivers and I went and met with Roger.
• 12:02
  It was turned up suit and tie and clean cut and even had, you know, Liz, my wife and Derek Walker, because Liz was still working for Derek Walker at that point, had given me lessons on how to present myself and, you know, I was a bit rough around the edges because I grew up in Toowoomba.
• 12:25
  Yeah, turned up, suit and tie, ready to go, resumes.
• 12:29
  Nervous as hell when I got there.
• 12:31
  Sat down.
• 12:32
  Tim Sindrick, Bud Danker, who's Roger's right-hand man, and Roger.
• 12:37
  Oh, man.
• 12:39
  And I just was terrible in the interview.
• 12:41
  I really was.
• 12:42
  Terrible.
• 12:44
  In what way?
• 12:45
  I was so nervous.
• 12:46
  I couldn't, you know, like Tim Sindrick said in an interview years later, it's like he was a robot.
• 12:54
  I just answered their questions and they said, we'll pay you this much for six races if you do it.
• 13:00
  And I said, oh yeah, that's very fair.
• 13:02
  I think they're happy that I said, that's very fair because it was pretty good.
• 13:07
  Like, what a deal, drive for Penske, only do some testing.
• 13:12
  Yeah, I think it was like 250 grand.
• 13:17
  I was like, yep, very good deal.
• 13:19
  That was to do however many races to fill in.
• 13:23
  And if I kept going, it'd be a different number.
• 13:27
  And yeah, and I thought I blew the interview.
• 13:32
  Wow.
• 13:32
  I really did.
• 13:33
  I went, I was like, man, I was so nervous.
• 13:35
  I even told Tim after the interview, we were just sitting in the conference room.
• 13:38
  So now I was really nervous and just had a conversation.
• 13:41
  I think Tim was just trying to get a feel for what sort of person I was.
• 13:44
  You know, that's how Tim is.
• 13:46
  He really likes to know the personality of the driver.
• 13:48
  Roger really looks at performance.
• 13:50
  Yeah.
• 13:52
  kind of, you know, he doesn't care much about so much as you might think about presentation.
• 13:58
  He likes a driver that kicks ass.
• 14:00
  He really does.
• 14:01
  That's why I had guys like Paul Troce for a long time.
• 14:03
  And even though Paul, you know, he had lots of incidents and, you know, was sometimes, you know, a bit abrasive, you could say, but...
• 14:12
  Roger likes it just the driver gets in and kicks ass that's what he likes Tim really you know obviously he's running the team so presentation and how you speak and such or just getting a taste of your personality that's what he he likes so
• 14:28
  I don't know how they picked me, but Roger told me that Sindrick was going for Justin Wilson and he was going.
• 14:36
  I don't know whether that's 100% true.
• 14:37
  I think Roger was just giving Tim a hard time.
• 14:39
  Tim called Derek Walker.
• 14:46
  to say we couldn't really get a read on Will because they didn't know that Derek had been giving me lessons on talking or any of this or Derek had anything to do with it.
• 14:55
  They just knew that I drove for Derek.
• 14:57
  Derek worked for Rodgers, so Tim thought, I'll give Derek a call and see what Will's all about.
• 15:01
  And Derek gave him the full sum up.
• 15:04
  Fantastic.
• 15:06
  Yeah.
• 15:07
  And I thought I was – I never heard from him.
• 15:09
  It was really –
• 15:11
  I remember Liz and I actually went to Disney World and was walking around.
• 15:14
  I was a bit miserable.
• 15:15
  I'm like, oh, man.
• 15:17
  Because I so badly wanted that.
• 15:19
  I just so badly wanted that seat because I knew I could do a good job.
• 15:23
  I thought the year before in LA was just such a bad year.
• 15:27
  It didn't show what I could do.
• 15:28
  And I felt like, man, if they could just give me a shot.
• 15:31
  And then the night before I was leaving for Australia, they called.
• 15:36
  My wife's asleep on the couch.
• 15:38
  I get the calls like, hello.
• 15:39
  Hello.
• 15:39
  It's like, yeah, well, it's Tim Sindrick and Roger Penske here.
• 15:43
  I'm calling to tell you we want to give you the ride.
• 15:47
  I was like – and I talked kind of down.
• 15:50
  I didn't sound too excited.
• 15:51
  I was like, oh, yeah, that's great.
• 15:52
  I'm like clicking at least.
• 15:54
  It's fucking –
• 15:57
  It's like we were just, I was just blown away.
• 16:00
  Like what an amazing present to go home with because I'd spent so many Christmases, like just about every Christmas wondering what the hell I'd be doing next year.
• 16:08
  This time I knew.
• 16:11
  They told me and you'd start testing and you'd do the first ray or do whatever until Elio gets back.
• 16:19
  Maybe it was only one tester, I don't know, but I had a foot in the door anyway.
• 16:23
  As I talk to you now, the willpower I know as a young man is very different to the character we talk to now, but still true to your roots and who you are.
• 16:36
  What I'm trying to say is that,
• 16:38
  I guess the surety of working for someone like Roger, the fact that you had cracked it with a big team, was that a relief off your shoulders?
• 16:48
  Okay, there was still things that needed to be ticked from a championship and ultimately an Indy 500 point of view, but that's such a big endorsement for you, mate.
• 16:56
  Oh, man.
• 16:57
  Yeah.
• 16:58
  huge relief.
• 16:59
  It really was.
• 17:00
  A team that you weren't... Because it wasn't all smooth sailing with Team Australia and it wasn't always sure that we'd be able to continue on and whether you get paid and sponsorship was tough.
• 17:13
  Roger, it's there.
• 17:15
  He just has to say it and you know you're there.
• 17:19
  I just remember feeling so good over Christmas, just having that contract.
• 17:24
  and something great to aim for, something great to aim for.
• 17:29
  You're getting a chance to test with Penske and potentially race because at that point you weren't guaranteed anything.
• 17:36
  It was all based on what happened with Elio Castroneves in his trial.
• 17:39
  So...
• 17:42
  It was a huge relief.
• 17:43
  It really was.
• 17:44
  And not only because you're getting the ride, but also let's say I only did get a test or two.
• 17:51
  They chose me and other teams would see that.
• 17:54
  So I reckon that I would have been thinking like,
• 17:58
  you know, if I end up not getting the right and Elliot comes back, other teams would look at that and go, well, Penske picked him so maybe we should give him a try.
• 18:07
  So, you know, it was just a big relief in that respect and you were going to get paid again too but
• 18:15
  You know, funnily enough, when I did my first test for those guys, it was a disaster.
• 18:21
  It really was.
• 18:23
  Why?
• 18:23
  They had something wrong with the master cylinders and the car was really not easy to drive.
• 18:29
  It was really, my KV car was better than that car at that point.
• 18:34
  It felt better, but I was used to being someone who,
• 18:39
  Just new to such a team with such a history, you couldn't tell them like, you probably shouldn't be trimmed out today.
• 18:47
  It was at Sebring.
• 18:49
  They trimmed out and there was no rubber down.
• 18:51
  It was just bloody hard to drive.
• 18:55
  And I didn't like the steering wheel position.
• 18:57
  The seat wasn't right and the brakes.
• 18:59
  I flat-spotted the first set of tires I went out on because I went to hit the brake and they had a really soft brake pedal where I was used to a big master cylinder, which makes you have to push a lot more force to get the brake pressure in the KV car.
• 19:13
  So it went to the first time I went to brake hard, and then it was...
• 19:17
  four tires flat spotted, like hit it that hard.
• 19:20
  So they kind of gave me like a, you know, you could say second test, but they kind of like, well, we did find something wrong with the master cylinder.
• 19:32
  So that's why, because the times were not good.
• 19:35
  And, you know, I was quite nervous of the car.
• 19:38
  I was not comfortable.
• 19:40
  It was very unforgiving.
• 19:42
  The next test was at Homestead.
• 19:45
  And it was an oval.
• 19:46
  And you're thinking, oh, I've done a year with KV and we didn't know anything about ovals.
• 19:51
  And the last oval mile and a half, I got the hang of it and really enjoyed it and finished fourth.
• 19:55
  So this should be easy.
• 19:58
  The car was so nasty to drive.
• 20:02
  It was really uncomfortable.
• 20:03
  Like I didn't even go, like at that point, going wide open was just quite easy in those cars.
• 20:08
  I couldn't go wide open.
• 20:10
  And I was so uncomfortable.
• 20:11
  I asked Briscoe, like, hey, man, and I asked the team, can Briscoe drive my car?
• 20:15
  Because he just went out and was wide open, no problem.
• 20:18
  And he even said to me, he goes, yeah, man, just because they're Penske cars, it doesn't mean they feel solid.
• 20:24
  Like they might be fast, but they might not feel good.
• 20:27
  Because they're very unnerving.
• 20:28
  The rear was just moving around, which is very unnerving on a super speedway because it's such a high speed and these cars do not...
• 20:37
  They were very unforgiving just the way they'd snap and lose their downforce and just hit the wall.
• 20:41
  And the last thing you wanted to do your second test with Penske was wall the thing.
• 20:47
  So I got Briscoe to jump in.
• 20:48
  He went in and went flat.
• 20:51
  So it made me look even worse.
• 20:55
  Ryan just jumped in.
• 20:56
  He's like, yeah, yeah, no, it's fine.
• 20:58
  Wow.
• 20:58
  Yeah, he was...
• 21:03
  very used to that and comfortable with it, I guess, and was just able to do it.
• 21:07
  And I just had a bad test and I was sick too.
• 21:10
  I had a bad cold.
• 21:11
  I didn't tell the team that.
• 21:12
  It was like kind of feverish.
• 21:15
  And Tim called Roger after that test and said, Roger, I don't think this is our guy.
• 21:20
  It's just like, I think it was up to Tim.
• 21:25
  They probably would have said,
• 21:28
  I don't know how, it would have been a conversation between Roger and Tim and probably said, well, we said we'd give him the testing.
• 21:36
  Let's go and see how he does at Barber.
• 21:39
  And then finally at Barber, I was half a second clear of the field.
• 21:42
  Finally got everything right.
• 21:45
  The car was right.
• 21:46
  The setup felt really good and went and tested and was P1 legitimately.
• 21:53
  Like,
• 21:54
  where, you know, it was the first time I felt very comfortable in the car.
• 21:59
  And then, you know, Roger called me and said, congratulations on winning the test type thing.
• 22:03
  So, you know, he was like thinking, okay, you know, we'll continue with this guy, I guess.
• 22:09
  Just being in the framework, I mean, to drive for an automotive icon, huge.
• 22:15
  The resources, the people, the professionalism, I mean –
• 22:22
  relative to anything else you'd done.
• 22:24
  I mean, this was seriously next level, wasn't it?
• 22:28
  It was.
• 22:29
  It was.
• 22:29
  When you go to the workshop and you see the size of it the first time, you see the carbon shop, they have a wind tunnel.
• 22:38
  I think I went to wind tunnel.
• 22:39
  They have an engine shop.
• 22:40
  They were actually in different premises.
• 22:42
  But, yeah, next level.
• 22:46
  Next level in every way.
• 22:48
  including how many suits you get for the season or how many helmets you get for the season.
• 22:53
  Just things that when you were coming up through Europe, through Formula Ford, you'd have the same suit and gloves for two, three years, same helmet.
• 23:06
  You just dream of having multiple helmets and multiple suits and...
• 23:12
  You would see some of those rich kids that came up, had that, had two suits for the weekend.
• 23:17
  That never happened for me.
• 23:19
  So just down to those details, in every way, it's just so professional, so well presented, just everything.
• 23:28
  The attire, the deal they had with Hugo Boss, all that stuff.
• 23:33
  He's actually...
• 23:36
  You know, they had a deal with Hugo Boss.
• 23:38
  You get 10 grand's worth of Hugo Boss, so you just go into a store with a card and, you know, you could always see Alio still got closets full of Hugo Boss stuff because he had so many years with Penske.
• 23:48
  But, yeah, I mean, they were just a, yeah, next-level operation with the best stuff.
• 23:55
  I mean, it was... Not to mention the legends that had been there as well.
• 23:58
  Yeah, I mean, it was just such a dream come true for a driver.
• 24:02
  Like, it really is, I mean...
• 24:04
  And you actually got to keep remembering that as you go along.
• 24:07
  You got to remember your situation because not many people get that, get that opportunity where you get a car and, you know, the team provides you a car that can win week in, week out, the potential to win and win championships and Indy 500 and this sort of thing.
• 24:24
  I mean, it's, you got to remember that before, if you ever get a bit petty about something.
• 24:30
  You've got to know that you're in a very unique and good situation.
• 24:34
  From the success of that Barber test, what was the point, maybe it was an event or a qualifying session or a result of some kind, where, you know, because there's some great names in the championship, some great teams, you've talked about, you know, Ganassi there before and Penske who you were with.
• 24:53
  What was the moment you felt cemented in IndyCar?
• 24:57
  Can you recall that?
• 24:59
  Yeah, I mean, you know, the first race in 2009 after, you know, I think, I know, I think Barber must have been the last test, but the first race in 2009 was St. Pete.
• 25:10
  And actually, I qualified in the top six and hung on, I think, to finish six, but it was just an average race.
• 25:16
  It didn't kind of...
• 25:18
  Someone crashed in front of me and I didn't really get to showcase my speed there.
• 25:22
  You know, I think Ryan, Briscoe outqualified me.
• 25:26
  But I was still in the top six.
• 25:27
  Not bad.
• 25:28
  Just like if, you know, your team owner would just be like, yeah, average, nothing spectacular.
• 25:32
  But the next race was Long Beach.
• 25:35
  And they told me before we went there, there's a chance that Elio may get acquitted.
• 25:43
  um, that weekend.
• 25:45
  So what we're going to do, we're going to bring another car and another truck and we're not going to open it.
• 25:51
  And the people that are going to run the car are going to stay in the hotels if nothing's happening and, um, and keep out of sight.
• 25:58
  So no one knows.
• 26:00
  Uh, and, and if Elliot gets acquitted and then we'll, you can run the weekend.
• 26:05
  So I was very happy about that.
• 26:07
  Um, I wouldn't be kicked out.
• 26:08
  So I, uh,
• 26:12
  finished Friday practice and Tim Sindrick said, well, good news is you're P1.
• 26:17
  Bad news is Elio got acquitted and you're going to have to get out and go to the back of the pit lane.
• 26:22
  It was the very last pit store.
• 26:24
  I was like, okay, yep.
• 26:26
  No problem.
• 26:27
  It was all fitted to me and
• 26:31
  went out and qualified on pole.
• 26:33
  Obviously, Elio hadn't been in the car, so you could never expect him.
• 26:35
  But he out-qualified Ryan and everyone, obviously, and qualified on pole.
• 26:41
  And Roger, because it was the rounds you had to get through, you know, the...
• 26:46
  They split the groups up in the first 12 go and top six out of that goes, it gets to the next round and the next 12 go in the top six out of that round.
• 26:55
  Well, Elio and Ryan were out in the first round.
• 26:59
  So Roger came down to my stand and I think it was John Erickson who was running me that weekend.
• 27:03
  So yeah, I'll take over.
• 27:06
  And it was pretty cool.
• 27:11
  The captain.
• 27:11
  Roger Penske on your stand.
• 27:13
  A bit nerve wracking.
• 27:14
  And I went out.
• 27:16
  Instead of lap, I was like, that's as good a lap as I can do.
• 27:20
  It was pole at the time.
• 27:21
  There's still a few minutes to go and came in and said, yeah, Roger, I don't think I can, I reckon I can go any quicker than that.
• 27:28
  I think that's it.
• 27:30
  Put some tyres on it, send him out, send me out again.
• 27:34
  I was like, and I went down into turn one and locked up and went through the runoff.
• 27:39
  Just park it in there.
• 27:40
  You know, just wait until the session's over.
• 27:42
  Came in and
• 27:46
  once the session was over, came in the piece, he goes, yep, all right, pole position, good job.
• 27:50
  Headset's off, walks off like, you know, that's normal.
• 27:53
  But for me, it was like, yeah, that was, yeah, it was me showing what I could do.
• 27:59
  Like that really was the first, that was the first, apart from Australia, obviously in LA, at the end of LA, I did get pole there.
• 28:06
  Yes.
• 28:07
  But it backed up that speed that I'd shown there and backed up some of the speed I'd shown that year before.
• 28:12
  And, um,
• 28:14
  That race, we actually started on pole, but they forgot to connect the radio.
• 28:20
  So I spent the whole day just saving fuel, not knowing the strategy, and finished second.
• 28:25
  Easy second, but could have easily won that, easily driven away and won that.
• 28:31
  I was really, really conservative.
• 28:33
  But Daria won, and second was good enough, and I was the highest in the team, and I was
• 28:39
  I think at that point they committed to Indianapolis.
• 28:41
  It was after Indy he said, we'll give you another six races.
• 28:45
  So, yeah, it just kind of went from there.
• 28:48
  But it really came down to performing at the time, though.
• 28:52
  Imagine it, you know, at St. Pete and –
• 28:56
  Long Beach, you'd underperformed, you were terrible, you crashed out or you just qualified badly.
• 29:03
  There's no way those guys would have said, we're going to give you another chance.
• 29:07
  They just wouldn't because they expect...
• 29:11
  you know, expect really good results.
• 29:13
  So, you know, I had the pressure, but I knew with the right equipment that I could do it.
• 29:18
  I knew it.
• 29:19
  I knew I had the speed.
• 29:21
  So I didn't feel, I felt pretty confident, especially at Long Beach, because that was the first time that I'd raced there a couple of times and all those other guys hadn't.
• 29:33
  So I felt pretty confident that track.
• 29:45
  What happened to Champ Carl?
• 29:47
  In 2008, Champ Carl was bought by IndyCar and the series were merged.
• 29:52
  Although it is gone, it's definitely not forgotten.
• 29:57
  I want to break down some things in your career now.
• 30:00
  Firstly, let's go to the title win, 2014.
• 30:05
  When you look back over time, the...
• 30:10
  immense raw talent, the way that you went to the wire on various occasions and got so close, to clinch that and to get it done must have been enormously satisfying, knowing all of the backstory you've covered here in the podcast and how close you'd come.
• 30:29
  It was, yeah, a huge weight off my shoulders.
• 30:31
  It was to have finished second three times leading up to that, but being so dominant.
• 30:38
  Like we were just simply so much faster than everyone for those, you know, 10, 11, 12.
• 30:47
  To give up those championships just was just unbelievable.
• 30:51
  We could not finish that off.
• 30:55
  So to finally get it,
• 30:58
  It was just a huge relief.
• 31:00
  The stress leading up to that last race in 2014 was just unbelievable.
• 31:05
  And the contrast from that stress to the next day when you'd won it was just massive.
• 31:12
  What a relief.
• 31:13
  What a great feeling to finally get that championship.
• 31:20
  It was just, yeah, a great feeling.
• 31:22
  Very, very, very satisfying.
• 31:26
  What did you say to your dad?
• 31:28
  Can you remember when you called him or spoke to him?
• 31:30
  I can't remember.
• 31:31
  No, my mother was there.
• 31:32
  It's the only race she ever attended.
• 31:34
  It's the only race she's ever attended.
• 31:36
  Is that right?
• 31:37
  Yeah.
• 31:38
  Yeah, and she was there to see that, which was really cool.
• 31:40
  And she got to – where do we go after that?
• 31:44
  Yeah.
• 31:45
  Oh, she came to the banquet and it was really cool because my mother can't watch.
• 31:49
  She didn't even watch the race.
• 31:51
  She actually sat in the truck with or in the hospitality with a couple of other guys.
• 31:57
  Really?
• 31:58
  Yeah, because it's too nerve-wracking for her.
• 32:02
  I don't know whether she even came out on pit lane at any time, but I did post a video recently.
• 32:07
  I might have been on my personal Facebook of my mother saying,
• 32:11
  Mother there at the celebration.
• 32:12
  It was really, really cool to have my mum there.
• 32:16
  Definitely.
• 32:17
  And in 18, when I won the 500, my brother had just decided to come.
• 32:20
  Like my family really don't come to really any races.
• 32:24
  And he came to that race of all races.
• 32:26
  So it's, yeah, pretty...
• 32:29
  Pretty cool to have a family member there, which, you know, just hasn't been for me.
• 32:34
  It just, yeah.
• 32:35
  That is, you've gone to that next part of the discussion here, winning the greatest spectacle in motor racing.
• 32:45
  First Aussie to do it, 100-odd year history of the race.
• 32:50
  That is mighty.
• 32:52
  That was, yeah, that still, that will go down as a,
• 32:56
  the best racing day of my life.
• 33:00
  I really will.
• 33:01
  Like I will remember that so clearly forever.
• 33:04
  And as I, as I, you know, envisioned it beforehand, you know, visualized it was exactly the day I expected.
• 33:14
  Very perfectly clear, perfectly.
• 33:16
  It was a hot, warm day, full crowd.
• 33:20
  And even I'd envisioned crossing that finish line and going into victory lane.
• 33:25
  Yeah, it was amazing.
• 33:27
  Man, and you just so badly want to do that again.
• 33:31
  Such an event.
• 33:32
  There's nothing like this.
• 33:34
  300,000 people in one place is just an amazing, it's just such an event, such an event with so much history.
• 33:42
  that I didn't appreciate until later in my career.
• 33:46
  I didn't appreciate the first couple of years I did it or first few years I really didn't appreciate it, appreciate the history and the significance of that race or didn't realise the significance of it.
• 33:57
  So it certainly built on me over the years and then when I continually didn't win it,
• 34:06
  If you ever see the victory lane, the expression on my face, it's certainly every emotion you can imagine, even anger in there because that was a question I got for so long with how many races I'd won over that decade.
• 34:19
  Most of anyone, but not that race.
• 34:23
  Yeah, just...
• 34:26
  Yep.
• 34:27
  Very, very cool.
• 34:29
  You posted on social media very recently that car.
• 34:33
  I think it's still at Penske.
• 34:35
  Yeah.
• 34:36
  Does it evoke, I mean, the way that you've just recounted it clearly evokes some special memories.
• 34:41
  It does.
• 34:42
  Yeah.
• 34:43
  Describe it.
• 34:44
  What it was like to drive?
• 34:45
  Because to the uninitiated, the motorsport followers of the podcast will...
• 34:49
  We'll know.
• 34:49
  But I think Dario said to me in a chat we had that, I mean, the technical nature of racing at Indianapolis, the untrained eye looks at it and thinks, how hard can it be?
• 35:00
  Yeah.
• 35:00
  But it is every bit that and more, isn't it?
• 35:03
  It is.
• 35:04
  It's, you know, oval racing, in particular Indianapolis, which really is the fastest, it is the fastest oval we race at, is...
• 35:14
  It's such a different discipline to what you would expect on a road course or something because it's so much about the car, but the feeling and feedback you give to that car and the adjustments you can make in the cockpit and where you run in the air.
• 35:31
  Like where you're running, you know, the wake, understanding the wake well and being able to cross the wake quickly and get half a car on the inside and cross it on the way back out.
• 35:41
  You know, and the closer you get to the wake, the more constant the air is.
• 35:45
  There's less buffeting.
• 35:48
  And just so much, like there's so much feel through the hands.
• 35:52
  Like it's so nuts.
• 35:53
  It looks like you're just driving so slow, but you're just feeling a little pressure points, you know, that footprint that is a grab.
• 36:01
  You know what I mean?
• 36:02
  You just release a little bit of pressure.
• 36:03
  It's almost pressure.
• 36:04
  You know, Rick Mears would talk about that a lot, that sort of thing.
• 36:08
  And it took me years to actually, you know, until later in my career when I started winning ovals,
• 36:16
  that I got really good at that feel and understood exactly what Rick had told me years before, um, um, which yeah, it's just constantly being ahead of the car, understanding where the car's at.
• 36:29
  It's for, it's, I would say for anyone that hadn't raced ovals, um,
• 36:34
  you know, any race car driver, it's a very uncomfortable feeling at first because you don't feel the limit.
• 36:44
  Like when I first did my rookie orientation test there, you kind of, you're getting up to speed and you're just doing 190 and you're like, you know, am I on the limit?
• 36:52
  You don't know because you don't want to push over the limit because that means hitting the wall.
• 36:57
  So it's quite a...
• 36:59
  takes quite a while to get good at ovals the whole the whole package let's say you know you can go out and be fast very far very quickly in a good car which you'll see rookies do but then you'll you'll see them get caught out they always get caught out i watched uh it was felix rosen chris can't remember it was last year or the year before i think it was a year before his rookie year
• 37:22
  Came motoring by me in practice and I watched him like, and he's getting too confident.
• 37:27
  Dude's going to crash.
• 37:29
  Like that was going into turn one.
• 37:30
  Turn two, boom, destroys the car in front of me.
• 37:35
  And you could see that happening.
• 37:36
  I saw he came past me.
• 37:37
  I said in my head, he's going to shunt.
• 37:39
  He's going, you can't.
• 37:41
  You got to respect the place.
• 37:42
  You cannot.
• 37:42
  Yeah.
• 37:43
  You know, you got to be very conscious when you get below that white line or grab a little bit of curb or put a bit too much lock in when the wind's gusty or, I mean, it's just so much experience there.
• 37:55
  You see, I mean, when Alonzo came, you see he got caught out by an understeer moment, not an oversteer moment.
• 38:00
  He got caught out by the front washing away because that's a thing.
• 38:04
  Like it's, it's something, you know, that's one thing I noticed when I first raced in 08.
• 38:08
  I was like, yeah, understeer is a moment.
• 38:10
  Cause it suddenly starts pushing towards the wall at, and you're at a ridiculous speed and you're like, you know, so it's understanding, you know, just, it just comes down to experience.
• 38:22
  It really does.
• 38:23
  You cannot teach someone that, um, to be good on an oval, um,
• 38:28
  And when you've got a bad car in Oval, it's the worst day of your life.
• 38:31
  It just sucks.
• 38:32
  But when you've got a good car, it's just amazing.
• 38:34
  But you get so good at making a good car and staying on top of the tools and understanding what you need in the stop.
• 38:42
  And there's just so much to it that you wouldn't believe
• 38:45
  It's equally as much to it in discipline as there is on a road course, although on a road course the driver can make a bigger difference.
• 38:56
  But in a funny way, on an oval, the driver makes a bigger
• 39:00
  almost as big a difference, but by feedback and adjustments and that sort of thing.
• 39:06
  You're not going to drive through a bad car simply.
• 39:09
  If your car's bad, it doesn't matter who you are, you will not be fast.
• 39:12
  So it comes down to making a good car and understanding what makes a good car.
• 39:17
  Fabulous insights, mate, and highlight and underscore there the word respect for Indianapolis as well.
• 39:24
  It's a game that is as dangerous as it is exhilarating.
• 39:29
  There are some well-documented crashes over time.
• 39:32
  Your book, which I would implore listeners to go and find and read, it's called The Sheer Force of Willpower.
• 39:40
  You open up on October 16, 2011 there, that massive crash at Vegas.
• 39:47
  You were left with broken vertebra, half the field wrecked at 220 mile an hour or something or other.
• 39:54
  And I mean, that was, how do you compartmentalize a day like that?
• 39:59
  You know, I dreaded that day going there.
• 40:03
  I really did.
• 40:04
  I dreaded that style of racing.
• 40:06
  And I had preached for those two years once I became, you know, a regular winner that we shouldn't be racing this way.
• 40:13
  It's just insane.
• 40:15
  Why are we racing this way?
• 40:16
  It requires zero talent.
• 40:18
  Um...
• 40:20
  People are up there that don't deserve to be up there just because their car's fast and it requires less talent and more balls.
• 40:28
  I couldn't stand that.
• 40:33
  We shouldn't have been racing there.
• 40:36
  33, 34 cars on a super speedway is just... After practice, you just realize this is going to be the most insane pack race, insane pack race.
• 40:45
  And what happens in a pack race is...
• 40:48
  You get two or three wide at the front and then the guy behind is two or three deep.
• 40:55
  You can't back off.
• 40:57
  You can't go forward.
• 40:58
  You can't move sideways.
• 41:00
  I mean, it's insane.
• 41:01
  You feel trapped at 220 mile an hour.
• 41:03
  What's that in case?
• 41:04
  350 kilometers per hour.
• 41:05
  Inches apart, like...
• 41:11
  I remember that I fell back quickly because I set the cart way too loose.
• 41:14
  I was actually going for the championship there with Dario.
• 41:18
  I was just like, you know, I have moments constantly.
• 41:20
  So just all the way back, you know, Weldon went past me, you know, a bunch of guys went past.
• 41:25
  And you're so engaged because it's so insane seeing, you know, let's say 25 cars in front of you.
• 41:33
  Then you see little puffs of smoke and you lift like, you're like, oh, it's going to be a...
• 41:38
  It's going to be a crash because... People touching wheels.
• 41:40
  Yeah.
• 41:41
  Yeah.
• 41:42
  You see smoke.
• 41:43
  And then the Weldon incident...
• 41:46
  You know, you're always looking ahead for smoke.
• 41:49
  See smoke.
• 41:50
  Now I'm like, lift?
• 41:51
  Nah, it's all right.
• 41:52
  No smoke.
• 41:53
  And then see big smoke because I touched and then he's collecting and then I think it was Hitchcliffe and Wade Cunningham.
• 42:00
  Big smoke and then all hell breaks loose.
• 42:03
  Like it's just insane.
• 42:05
  The crash that like ensued after that.
• 42:10
  And I went flying up.
• 42:11
  I'm like, oh, I'm going to catch Fenshevier.
• 42:14
  touchdown, I land on top of another car, massive shunt, sliding, then I come sliding to a stop.
• 42:21
  And their car, as I'm sliding, another car slides in front of me.
• 42:25
  And I just thought it went past my head from what I saw because the visor was missing off this, it was Weldon, helmet.
• 42:33
  And I immediately, like, I don't know why, I just said someone was killed in this accident.
• 42:37
  Straight away.
• 42:38
  I just immediately thought that.
• 42:39
  I don't know why I said that or it was just the percentage chances that...
• 42:45
  that we had been taking for so long that it's just inevitable, that that was a thought that went in my head.
• 42:51
  And as I sat there looking at the guy in front of me, not knowing who it was at the time, and I get really screwed up when I talk about it.
• 43:01
  But, yeah, I watched him pull him out and...
• 43:09
  You know, it's just – and I actually didn't move because I knew I broke my back again.
• 43:13
  And Paul Tracy came over and said, you know, you should get out.
• 43:16
  Your car's on fire, man.
• 43:18
  So I got out and, yeah, well, I just told the guys, the group was standing.
• 43:26
  Obviously a big group, something crashed out.
• 43:27
  I said, oh, I said – basically just said, whoever's in that car is dead.
• 43:32
  Said that.
• 43:34
  Man.
• 43:35
  Yeah, because I could see the horrible – yeah, anyway –
• 43:39
  But, yeah, then we went back to the medical center, which is even the worst scene.
• 43:45
  Just a terrible, terrible, you know, we all went to the medical center and obviously there were – Dan was in there.
• 43:53
  Paul Tracy protected you a little bit too, didn't he, mate?
• 43:55
  He asked you not to look at some things or tried to – He said, yeah, he told me, he said, you don't need to look at that because they wheeled him in.
• 44:04
  And yeah, man, it's just PTSD, I guess, when you think about it.
• 44:13
  And I walked out in the waiting room, saw my wife, and actually saw Susie coming in.
• 44:18
  I saw Susie there.
• 44:21
  Went to the hospital for my back.
• 44:22
  Yeah.
• 44:24
  And kept asking, like, how's Dan?
• 44:26
  How's Dan?
• 44:27
  And the nurse, the IndyCar nurse wouldn't tell me.
• 44:31
  And, you know, how's Dan?
• 44:34
  What's going on?
• 44:37
  And my wife said, yeah, sorry, I don't think Dan made it.
• 44:41
  She's just nuts.
• 44:42
  Just surreal to me.
• 44:44
  Yeah.
• 44:47
  And then when we got discharged from the hospital, I actually was just leaving and ended up in the elevator with Susie.
• 44:54
  It was leaving the hospital as well.
• 44:56
  Susie Weldon.
• 44:58
  And, you know, obviously it was like, I can't even remember what I said.
• 45:04
  I was just, you know, so sorry for, you know, for what she would have to go through and, um,
• 45:12
  And, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 45:15
  Nasty situation, man.
• 45:16
  Like a very nasty situation that I, I had kind of just pleaded for us to stop racing this way for, you know, the few years that I had been there because I just thought it was so crazy that we did that.
• 45:33
  In a funny way, though, you got used to it and did at, I guess I could say, when you had a good car, you enjoyed it, like when you had a chance.
• 45:43
  I had some intense epic races.
• 45:46
  Actually, one was with Dan Weldon at Chicagoland, which was like Vegas, just wide open, stacked deep, and I made my way to the front and was just side drafting inches off him for an hour and a half.
• 46:00
  you know, just inches like just squeezing them down.
• 46:02
  And that's how we, that's how you would race.
• 46:05
  And you're so engaged.
• 46:06
  It's insane.
• 46:07
  Because, you know, you're, you're mentally engaged because it's such an insane thing to be doing at that speed with open wheels.
• 46:15
  If you touch just a bit and it's just a massive crash, as you saw in Vegas.
• 46:20
  So,
• 46:22
  If it had been safe, you probably would have somewhat enjoyed it, but you just know in your mind that it can be...
• 46:31
  I did the math in my head.
• 46:33
  I did the math in my head that every four years a driver was killed and every single year a driver was seriously injured in that series.
• 46:42
  I would do the math in my head.
• 46:44
  Then I'd say...
• 46:46
  things to convince myself that it was all right.
• 46:48
  Like, well, you know, you've got to add into that percentage chance that you're in a good team, so you run further at the front, so you have less chance to get caught up in the action.
• 46:56
  You play these sort of games in your mind to justify that you will get back in that car.
• 47:01
  and race, particularly after you've seen, you know, someone killed.
• 47:06
  Um, and then after 15, two people, you know, you knew killed Justin Wilson and, um, uh, uh, Dan, um,
• 47:17
  And you just, man, like it was, there were times I got in that car and I really, you really did not know if you would come back out.
• 47:26
  You really, really thought that.
• 47:28
  You believed it in your heart.
• 47:29
  Like there is a chance, especially, you know, after 2011, after witnessing that, you know, you get a bit of that, you know, I guess you call it PTSD, but getting in that car and knowing that,
• 47:42
  like what the consequences could be, you had that thought.
• 47:46
  You would get in thinking that.
• 47:49
  It's just crazy, but you would.
• 47:50
  But then once everything started rolling, you'd go on with your thing.
• 47:54
  It caused me a lot of anxiety over a long time, a long period, racing in that way because I loved open-wheel racing, obviously loved road course racing.
• 48:06
  I was driving for the best team, but I had this thing, which was having to race on high bank super speedways with this formula of pack racing, which I did not, which I would just have loved not to have done.
• 48:19
  I would have loved to have just a road course series at that point.
• 48:23
  But it got better and I ended up loving ovals and really to the point where I was winning more ovals than road courses.
• 48:30
  So that's when they took the downforce away and they put the driver back in it.
• 48:34
  So, yeah, it was a – let's say I had a lot of anxiety in those years, a lot of anxiety about that, a lot of thought of – I hate to say it, but thought of death.
• 48:44
  Wow.
• 48:45
  And actually kind of got comfortable with it because you'd make –
• 48:49
  you kind of would make things up in your head like, oh, well, you know, life isn't that long anyway.
• 48:55
  You know, I've experienced 30-odd years of it.
• 48:58
  So justified in your mind kind of thing.
• 49:00
  You were always trying to justify it because you had such a good job.
• 49:05
  You had such a good job.
• 49:06
  It was so hard.
• 49:07
  Like if you weren't getting paid and it was not a good job, like clearly you wouldn't do it because you knew the risk and it wasn't that fun for you, like the pack racing for me.
• 49:17
  But, you know, it was this cool job with these road courses in cars I love to drive and something of a discipline I've worked on all my life.
• 49:29
  But you have to do this, which is extremely dangerous.
• 49:32
  You've seen a couple of friends killed.
• 49:35
  Yeah, that played on my mind and I don't know how many other drivers was thinking in that way or how that was for them, but it certainly was for me.
• 49:46
  But I got in and did it.
• 49:48
  I got in and I would still race hard and well.
• 49:52
  got in and did it, I would shut it out.
• 49:54
  Yeah.
• 49:55
  You're to be credited there for sharing.
• 49:58
  Thank you.
• 49:59
  And, you know, maybe talking about it like that is actually quite good tonic in the way that you've been able to move forward.
• 50:07
  Clearly getting on with it, winning the Indy 500 and things like that has been good for you as well, mate.
• 50:14
  Can we touch on a couple of things to finish here?
• 50:18
  Because it's been a fascinating recount.
• 50:22
  It's a game of rivalries too.
• 50:24
  So what has it been like with, you know, like I imagine time.
• 50:29
  I think Dario, when he spoke to me, talked about the fact that, you know, you guys, it was intense between you guys there and, you know, perhaps mind games and sight games.
• 50:39
  But now in his post-race career, you guys have a better relationship, don't you?
• 50:44
  Oh, absolutely.
• 50:46
  Yeah.
• 50:46
  You know, when I raced Dario, he was kind of towards the end of his career.
• 50:51
  And so he was the experienced driver.
• 50:53
  And probably, you know, I was certainly quicker than him on road courses.
• 50:58
  And he was certainly more experienced and better than me on ovals.
• 51:03
  And, um, um, you know, so we actually didn't race, race each other all that often.
• 51:08
  There was a couple of times we did come together when we did, but, you know, I'd often be qualifying on pole and away on the road courses.
• 51:15
  And, um, you know, he would put it all together very well on the ovals, but, um,
• 51:21
  uh, yeah, it was the guy that I was seemed to be racing.
• 51:25
  And though in, you know, in 2010, uh, 10, 11, uh, and in 12, the new car came and didn't really suit that well.
• 51:34
  But, um,
• 51:36
  And yeah, I had some tense battles with him and obviously didn't get along.
• 51:40
  And I would say that I was immature and probably didn't understand respect enough as how you would treat a competitor.
• 51:51
  I was just still young.
• 51:52
  And as you get older, you just have more respect for people in general and just are more respectful the way you act and such.
• 51:59
  So he was older than me and just...
• 52:06
  we get on well now, we really do.
• 52:08
  And, you know, I have tremendous respect for everything he did in the sport, you know, to win four championships and three Indy 500s is amazing.
• 52:18
  And, yeah, he's a legend of the sport and I feel privileged to have
• 52:24
  got to race him hard and battle him in championships.
• 52:28
  So, yeah, just all good stuff.
• 52:31
  All good rivalries.
• 52:32
  Yeah.
• 52:33
  We know you've got another championship in you.
• 52:35
  We know that you've absolutely got the speed, the commitment to hopefully win another Indy 500 as well.
• 52:44
  As we chat to you,
• 52:45
  you are weeks out from turning, I think, the big 4-0.
• 52:49
  Am I right?
• 52:50
  Is the 40th birthday on the approach?
• 52:53
  So you're at an age and stage in life where you've ticked a number of boxes.
• 53:00
  But what does the immediate future hold for Will Power?
• 53:04
  I am as fast as I ever have been.
• 53:06
  I'm obviously very experienced now and know what I need from the car.
• 53:11
  And I have the fire burning as strong as ever.
• 53:16
  You know, I'm still as determined and working as hard as I ever did, but with experience.
• 53:23
  So, you know, I really, really, really want to win a championship before I retire and obviously want to win another 500.
• 53:31
  But, you know, the championship is something that, you know,
• 53:35
  you know, when I look back on my career that I'm disappointed in that I really feel I should have won more.
• 53:42
  I really do.
• 53:43
  When, you know, I look at the number of races I won, the number of poles, the number of laps led, it's more than anyone over, you know, the decade from 2010 to 2020.
• 53:54
  But there's only one championship in there.
• 53:57
  And so, you know, I...
• 54:01
  I've, yeah, more comfortable in my skin than ever in my life.
• 54:06
  And like I said, I'm as quick and as determined as I was in my 20s, but with experience.
• 54:16
  Yeah.
• 54:17
  It is fabulous to hear you talking like that.
• 54:18
  At the beginning of the podcast, you talked about being a father.
• 54:23
  Is there another generation power racer likely to hit the tracks in the years to come?
• 54:29
  Who knows?
• 54:30
  Who knows?
• 54:30
  You don't know what kids will want to do, but if he wants to do it, I'm going to steer it towards golf or tennis.
• 54:37
  It's so much cheaper.
• 54:39
  So much cheaper, less dangerous.
• 54:42
  But yeah, I mean, huge passion of mine.
• 54:45
  So if he shares that, I'll push him in.
• 54:49
  I'll help him.
• 54:49
  I'll help him.
• 54:50
  My dad never pushed me.
• 54:51
  Never.
• 54:53
  He never pushed me.
• 54:55
  He just, I had to want to do it.
• 54:58
  He never pushed me into it.
• 54:59
  So I'll be the same with my son.
• 55:01
  Nice.
• 55:01
  Karting, we've seen you and Scotty McLaughlin having some fun.
• 55:05
  Willpower Karts, this is not just a passion project, something you're quite savvy about from a business point of view too, obviously, by the looks of it.
• 55:13
  Yeah, it came about in 2019.
• 55:18
  I was running the Super Nats in Vegas.
• 55:21
  And that's just a huge race.
• 55:23
  You get a few Aussie guys over there for that, but huge event for karting, kind of like a world championship type event.
• 55:29
  And I was racing there.
• 55:30
  And Billy Vincent, who was my crew chief, what do I say my first crew chief at Penske?
• 55:37
  And now is the competition manager at McLaren IndyCar team.
• 55:42
  He said, man, you need to start your own kart brand.
• 55:44
  I'm like, nah, no one's going to buy my kart.
• 55:47
  I don't want to do that.
• 55:49
  So he got right behind it and he really did all the work for it.
• 55:53
  And then we got hooked up with Kart Republic, which is a very good kart brand and they were keen to do something, to have the willpower kart.
• 56:04
  And it went from there.
• 56:05
  Yeah, we actually sold quite a few karts, more than we expected this year.
• 56:10
  Definitely more than we expected and in Australia.
• 56:14
  A bit of fun because I have a real passion for go-karting.
• 56:17
  I think it's such a great sport and I do not want to see it ever go away.
• 56:23
  I think it's so integral in the stepping stone to becoming a professional driver.
• 56:30
  I think it's so important.
• 56:33
  And I still race them.
• 56:35
  I still race karts.
• 56:36
  I love it.
• 56:38
  Little birdie tells me you've got a 911 GT2 RS tucked in the garage.
• 56:42
  That is a cool little escape machine from time to time.
• 56:46
  Yeah, it's nuts, man.
• 56:48
  It's so fast.
• 56:50
  You can't drive.
• 56:51
  Well, yeah, you wouldn't want to go out in the Australian streets because you'd have it crushed or whatever they do if you get caught.
• 56:59
  But here, they're certainly more lenient, especially, you know, if you're –
• 57:05
  I don't go out go crazy on street, mind you, but they are more needed.
• 57:09
  I'll say that.
• 57:10
  Awesome.
• 57:11
  But yeah, it's a great car.
• 57:13
  Yeah.
• 57:13
  Very, very nice car.
• 57:15
  Very, like it's a race car for the road.
• 57:18
  Super light.
• 57:20
  Yeah.
• 57:20
  Handles really well.
• 57:21
  Massive carbon brakes on it.
• 57:23
  A lot of power.
• 57:24
  Yeah.
• 57:25
  Really, really cool car.
• 57:26
  Final one.
• 57:27
  I got to work with your brother.
• 57:29
  Damien, well-known comedian that people can find on YouTube if they haven't seen him.
• 57:34
  He does some great stand-up stuff.
• 57:35
  He and I spent a year doing different projects together in 2019.
• 57:39
  I think he jokingly says he taught you everything that you now know in motor racing terms.
• 57:45
  And didn't he do a funny piece?
• 57:48
  You might fill the blanks in here for me, but I think he did a funny piece about...
• 57:52
  You talking about the hardships of racing, the tough ladder that you've had to climb.
• 58:00
  And then he finishes it by saying, and then he jumps in his Ferrari and drives him.
• 58:07
  That's a great clip, that one.
• 58:09
  He really sums it up well.
• 58:12
  I think it was after I won the championship he did that one.
• 58:15
  Yeah, you'll find it.
• 58:17
  It's there on YouTube in one of his videos.
• 58:19
  Pretty funny.
• 58:21
  I actually really like that clip.
• 58:23
  He certainly is.
• 58:25
  Yeah, it's about true.
• 58:27
  Well, you know, I actually...
• 58:30
  when you think about a comedian, like they have a similar life to a race car driver.
• 58:34
  Like these dudes live on couches.
• 58:37
  They have, they work their ass off for years to try and get, get a gig, you know, like get a kind of TV spot or, you know, some comedy show or maybe some acting work.
• 58:48
  So, you know, that, that's,
• 58:49
  That's him.
• 58:50
  He's been living on K. He's actually written a, he wrote a TV series and he got picked up by HBO and he's been working with the director in, um, in, in, in Hollywood.
• 59:02
  So, um, and then it obviously has to go through many stages and they, then they do the pilot and yada, yada.
• 59:08
  So, you know, it's, it's, it's a lot of, a lot of hard work, but he does a lot of writing now, but yeah, he's,
• 59:14
  When I look at his career, it's similar the way those guys.
• 59:18
  I mean, it's like that in every discipline.
• 59:20
  But, yeah, it's funny.
• 59:22
  I certainly had plenty of laughs with him in 2019.
• 59:24
  It has been – we've spoken for a couple of hours here and we're immensely grateful for that.
• 59:30
  Thank you so much for the walk down memory lane.
• 59:32
  And from everybody here, congratulations.
• 59:36
  on what you've achieved.
• 59:37
  Some amazing records there.
• 59:39
  We know there's more good stuff to come.
• 59:41
  Go and enjoy it and have a fabulous season.
• 59:43
  Thank you.
• 59:44
  Yeah, awesome.
• 59:45
  Thank you.
• 59:45
  Appreciate that.
• 59:46
  I really do.
• 59:47
  It was a really, really great chat.
• 59:48
  Thank you.
• 1:00:12
  Listener.