Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / From Junior Dragster to Top Fuel Titan and Beyond: Justin Ashley

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From Junior Dragster to Top Fuel Titan and Beyond: Justin Ashley · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30-minute mini version of the In Wheel Time Car Show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am Central.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: This is the world's favorite place to go for podcasting and live streaming.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: It's the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Ahead NHRA top fuel driver Justin Ashley Mars has this week in auto history.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: We'll get you caught up on the stories making automotive news headlines this week.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Today's program, sponsored by Mecham Auction, houston.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Today is the last day at NRG Center.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Howdy Along with Mike out of this world, mars.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: We always need more.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Jeff Zekin, I'm Don Armstrong.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Glad you could join us on this Saturday Eclipse edition.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, the pre-eclipse edition, not the Mitsubishi.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: No, not the Mitsubishi Eclipse.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: No, it's not the Mitsubishi.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: They don't make that anymore.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I don't believe, do they?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't think so.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Believe do they?
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't think so.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: What do you mean?
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: You don't know, you're the car.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: God, you should know that in that case they don't make it because it's a never mind watch.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Next week you're gonna have one to drive, yeah yeah, an old one.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, justin ashley.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: How are you sir?
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: I'm doing.
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: Great thanks for having me on guys.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: How doing?
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm doing just fine, we all are doing just fine.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: How did you qualify?
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Where are you?
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: So we are nine.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: So we ran one run yesterday, we'll have two more today, so right now we're sitting ninth.
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: We'll see if we can improve upon that this afternoon.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: How's the season going for you?
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: It's been pretty good.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: So we raced two races so far, went to to the quarterfinals in gainesville and then, ironically, we went to the nhra winter nationals in pomona, made it all the way down to the finals.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: We're supposed to race against tony schumacher and something I've never seen in california happen all of a sudden it started hailing.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: So what they decided to do is push the race to this weekend.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Actually, this afternoon, uh, we'll run the final round of the NHRA Winter Nationals in conjunction with the NHRA Arizona Nationals.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: So a lot on the line for us today.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: How in the world do you prepare to run a final round for something that happened a couple of weeks ago in Pomona?
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: How do you do that?
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: How do you mentally do that?
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, this is my final round at Pomona, Not, but it's a final round in Phoenix.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll move it.
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: It's tricky, it's a weird situation because it's so rare you don't get to do something like this only so often, if you ever get to do it all.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Ironically, we had the same thing or something very similar happen to us last year, where we didn't finish the race in Epping.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: We finished the race, the Epping race itself, in bristol, so we ran two races in one and we happened to win both of them.
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: So we have some experience.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: But nonetheless I mean you.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: I think you just have to treat it like every other round, because there's only so much that you can do.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: It.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: Kind of stinks, guys.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: I mean to be honest with you.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: It's tough to wait that long, but it's certainly better than the alternative, which is not to be in the final round at all.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: So we'll take it any way that we can get it.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: The other thing is that at least you're going to have some qualifying before you actually run the race from a couple of weeks ago.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's really helpful.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: I think without that it'd be a very difficult thing to do.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: But we'll have two qualifying runs for Arizona before we actually get to race that final round for Pomona, so that should hopefully give us a good foundation, hopefully give us a good baseline going into that final round.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: What do you feel about the track that you've been down once already?
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: I think it's really good.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: You saw, you know, we did okay last night.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: I think we certainly wanted to run a little bit better, but nonetheless, you saw a lot of cars go down the racetrack and run really fast.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: Uh, high 360s and top fuel and mid to high 380s in funny cars.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: So the track is really fast.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: The track surface itself is really good.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: Um, and in conjunction with the weather here that's been relatively overcast, relatively cool I think you're going to see a lot of really fast times throughout today and throughout race day tomorrow as well.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was my question, because you've qualified two weeks ago, the final is not going to be run, but you've got all the water grains, you've got the ambient temperature, you've got track conditions and then, okay, we're going to move.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: So that's the question.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I mean that's.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that just is not an easy thing to do, especially mentally for me.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I can only imagine, as a driver, what you go through and going okay, now this is the fine.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Okay, this is the final.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I got that and I got that in my brain.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: But does it really change anything when you get to the staging lane?
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Well, I think there's two aspects of it, right.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: I think there's the mental side of it which, more so than anything else, it'll test your patience, right, Because you have that adrenaline going, you're ready to go to the final round.
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: Then all of a sudden everything just stops and now you have to wait two weeks before you run it.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: So I think there's the mental side of it.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: But then the physical side of it, like you said, the water grains, the track surface, track temperature, the air temperature, all that stuff plays a role and, to be honest with you, I think our relationship with Toyota Gazoo Racing North America helps us with that a lot, because they have engineers on site at all these different tracks that help us get the data and information that we need when we go place to place.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: So for us, we're fortunate to be a part of that Toyota family and have that relationship, and I think for us that gives us a healthy advantage and something that we need and gives us something to help to tune off of and build that foundation for us.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Did you change any team members over the winter break?
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: We did not.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: So we all stayed intact, from the crew chiefs, mike Green, tommy DeLago, to the general managers, dustin Davis and everybody in between and you know how it is in this sport there's so much turnover.
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: So I think that was probably the most important thing and obviously, now, being a part of the Skag Racing and Skag Power Equipment family, that was the big change for us and you know we couldn't be more excited about it, couldn't be more happy about it, and it's just been an incredible experience so far.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: So we have a lot of gratitude for the team at Skag Power Equipment for giving us this opportunity to flourish and run their colors on the side of the race car.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: But that's been the norm for the teams over the course of the downtime, over the course of the winter season.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Not a lot of teams did a lot of changes from what I understand?
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: I think for the most part some teams have stayed the same.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: Naturally there's been some movement, especially in the crew chief department that usually happens, obviously, during the wintertime each year.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: But for the most part it's stayed relatively similar, which I think is good for the sport because it breeds good competition.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: The longer the teams are together generally, the better these cars and the better these teams do, so I think it's a good thing when that happens.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: But speaking of your crew combining the two events, does that impact them the way they do things?
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: So it might.
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: In a situation like this it's a little bit different because there's no added runs.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: So when you run situations like this, sometimes there'll be another run in addition to to finish that final round.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: What we're going to do here is the third run of qualifying in Arizona will also count for the NHRA Winter Nationals final, so it'll all be done in that same time period, all within three runs of qualifying.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: A little more to worry about.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: It's probably more mental than anything else, but in terms of physical work because you know how it is guys these guys work so incredibly hard there's no actually added work on top of what they actually do.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Well, there's also the money factor too, because each round costs tens of thousands of dollars, let's face it.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, you run the risk of blowing up a motor or pushing the head gasket out or spinning the tires or whatever, and so it's a whole lot better to have three rather than four rounds.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I'm a little, I'm like I want to race any time we get a chance yeah, definitely, I'm a little.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: I'm like I want to race anytime we get a chance.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: Of course, yeah, opportunity.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: But that's right.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Typical drivers what do you do?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: but for us, no, it makes a lot more sense economically you know, when we, when we talked to you in baytown a couple of years ago, we, uh, we were all thoroughly impressed by you.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I want to know a little bit more about you and your background being, from, uh, plain view, new york.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, how did you get going in racing?
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: The way I got going really is.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: My father raced for many years, so I grew up around the racetrack.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: He raced in Funny Car.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: He raced in Pro Modified, so I spent a lot of time growing up around the racetrack and it's so easy to fall in love with this sport, and that's just what happened.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: So, and it's so easy to fall in love with this sport, and that's just what happened.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: So I got my first junior dragster when I was 11.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: I was going about 30 miles an hour, but at the time when you're 11, I felt like the fastest person on the planet.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: I had my fire suit on, especially being from New York.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: These kids are like what you drive a race car.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, check it out.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: 30 miles an hour, right.
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: I think that kind of bred this foundation for myself, where I just kept falling in love and I went from there to race bracket style, racing in top dragster.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: I did that with a great individual named Barry Brown.
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: That's really where I cut my teeth and learned a lot about what it means to be a good representative, a good race car driver.
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: From there I raced in top alcohol dragster, had a great experience, won a few races there and then was fortunate to partner with Dustin Davis and move into the top fuel rank.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: So it was just a natural progression.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: In every class that I stepped onto, you know, the ultimate goal was always top fuel.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: But you know, I find that I've been very fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of really great people, and without those people we wouldn't be in the position that we are today.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Well, I also think that you're well-spoken and you're a good representative for your sponsor and you know, to me, being a marketing PR guy, that means a lot and I can tell you that it's very impressive what you do because, let's face it, you've got thousands of guys that would give anything to be in your shoes, and some of them, rightly so.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, they're very good race car drivers, let's face it.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: They are, and I think gratitude is so important because I have.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: You know, if you ask me, I have the best job in the world.
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, I get to do something, like you said, that so many people would love to do, and I'm very appreciative.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: I feel very blessed to be able to do what I do, because who else gets to strap into a race car and go over 300 miles per hour in under four seconds?
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: There's so many people that would love to do what I do and, you know, I think the beautiful part about our sport is that it's not about me, it'll never be about me.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: It's about the team.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: It's easy to see the race car roll out there and do what it does, but it's about what it takes from a team to actually put the car in a position to go down the racetrack and do what it does.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: So I love the team aspect of it and, like you said, I'm really fortunate to be able to have this opportunity to be able to drive this race car.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I have to tell you I'm sorry.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, being from New York, do you still live there?
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Do you still have a residence?
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: How does that work?
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: Family.
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: I do so as we get into the winter months, as I get a little bit older, places like Florida tend to look a little different, but for now no.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: You like hanging out with us old people is what you're saying.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: I don't know about old.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: You and I clearly have different definitions of old.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but yeah no.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: I love going to Florida, but I am still in New York.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: I was born and raised in Long Island, new York, and I'm still there, very nice.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I don't remember what I was going to ask you.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: I will tell you that I did watch early, early this morning, couldn't sleep, got up and was watching NHRA TV and saw a race from 2022.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: And you know, I did marketing and PR for a top fuel team, the Valvoline team, back in 2006 with David Powers, and I had an opportunity to get to know the guys on the team that actually were in the pits and got to know them individually and how hard they do work.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And you hear drivers say that, oh, my team, my guys behind me.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: But the only view that you get at home watching on television or going to the race are the guys that come out there from the pit with the car and they're doing their each one their own job, thrashing to get the car staged up there on the starting line.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: And that's just a brief glimpse of what they do, because once that car gets back to the pits, I mean it's gloves off, everybody is all over that car and it's a concert, if you will, of getting that car completely torn down and then put it right back together again and take it out racing again.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: People don't fully understand that, and when you go to an NHRA race and get to visit your pit.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: You get to see that in action and it's truly a miracle the way they do it, because you know, I grew up in the school where, well, let's see, I got the intake manifold on this weekend, this weekend.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: What are you kidding me?
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: These guys do it in two minutes.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's incredible.
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: It's a coordinated dance.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: It really is a concert or a ballet or whatever you want to put it.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: It is something to see.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: It really is incredible.
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: You have eight to 10 guys actually on what we'll call the floor right, working on the race car, taking it apart, putting it back together and sometimes under 55 minutes, and these guys are so competitive.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: We have a clock.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: We have actually, you know the clock to know, right?
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, separate clock just to time ourselves, and each and every time they're trying to beat their best, which they've done before.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: So I know that they've gotten, I believe, close to, if not inside of 45 minutes, uh, between rounds.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: Just incredible to be able to watch what they do and turn this car around.
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: It's something to see.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: And then you drop your 10mm and you've got to find it, but I think that's one of the great things about the NHRA.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: People can go to the pits and stand there and kind of see that kind of action going on.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: You go to NASCAR or someplace.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: You can't do that.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Well, I think NASCAR is getting a little bit better at that F1 is not any better.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Well, we're not talking about that.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: But at NHRA it's a family event, because you can walk the pitch.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: You've got all the merchandise trailers, you've got the drivers, you've got the crew chiefs out there.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: They all sign autographs.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: They're all walking around, they're on their little bikes going to and from and you can stop them and talk to them.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: So do you have any wrenching experience yourself?
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: I do not, to be honest with you, actually, what's fascinated me about racing?
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: You know, there's the engineering and the wrenching side, there's the driving side, but I've always been on not only the driving side but the business and the sponsorship side.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Well, that's me.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Marketing and PR.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I have wrenched on my cars, but that was a long time ago and today I'm pretty much lost.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: I get the general idea of how an engine works.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: I got that from my dad, but you know, everybody has a job to do and when you get to your level and the pro level, it's at a much higher level across the board.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: I know that we had mechanics on the Valvoline team that had been mechanics for years and years and years.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: We had a clutch guy that flew in from San Antonio to wherever we were.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: He was the clutch guy.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: That's all he did and he was very good at his job.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: And I know that you've got the guys just like the parts washer.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, he's a parts washer, that's where you start.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, down at the bottom of the totem pole, but by golly, by the end of the season that guy could wash those parts faster than anybody you could have ever seen.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: You're right, it's all about specialized knowledge.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: Really, everybody, if you want to be successful, everybody has their own individual tasks and collectively as a team, if you each do your job, you're generally going to put yourself in a good position to be successful.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: So for me, like the clutch guy has his job, the to be successful.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: So for me, like the clutch guy has his job, the guy who works on the heads has their job, the guy who works on the bottom end has their job, so on and so forth.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: So for me you know we spoke about that side of the team and the wrenching side but there's also what we'll call like the support staff side, which is the PR and the marketing, which is the sponsor relations, which is hospitality and the actual people that help to make the business side go.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: And that side always intrigued me because there's so much B2C in the sport, but there's also a lot of B2B in the sport and the hospitality part of it, and being a good representative for your brand and your partners is super important.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: So I think that the way the sport is built right now, it has to be business first, because without success off the racetrack, there is no success off the racetrack, there is no success on the racetrack and there's no opportunity to even be on the racetrack competing at a high level.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: So that's kind of where my focus has always been, not only at the racetrack but also during the week, is working with companies like Skag Power Equipment, toyota, philips, lucas Oil, mac Tools to be able to do everything we can to represent their brand in the best light and hopefully generate the return on investment that they're looking for due to their involvement in the sport.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Well listen, if the driving career goes down the toilet, you're going to be great marketing and PR Just offering that up.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: You know what Every NHRA driver does that.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah Well, if they don't, they have somebody that doesn't Right.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: But they're all in tune with their specialty, with their sponsors, with their motivation and with their team.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: So he's spot on.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no doubt OK.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: So what are we going to look for today?
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: How's the weather out there?
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Things looking good.
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it looks really good.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: It'll be a bunch hotter than it was yesterday.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: We are running in the middle of the day, so we're running noon at 230.
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: So I think you'll see something in the mid-70s in terms of air temperature and I think you'll see a bunch of low 70s, maybe even high 360s today out there on the racetrack from the top fuel car.
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: So weather conditions are good, no rain in the forecast, so all should be good today.
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: It'll be nice and fast out there.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Well, it's almost nine o'clock.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: What time you have to be at the track.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Right after this, so I'm going to head over there soon.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: We have a few things to do this morning, but I said listen, before I leave the hotel, got to make sure I speak to you guys.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Hey man, thank you so much for joining.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: I'll let you get to the track.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Best of luck to you.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: We'll be watching and we'll be pulling for you, brother, so you take care of yourself.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: Thanks you too.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: I appreciate you guys having me on.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: Thanks for all that you do.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, justin, ashley yeah.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: He's with the top fuel team.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: It's always fun to talk to the young guys like that.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Well, we talked to him.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Like I said, same down-to-earth young, individual goals set goes fast.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Well-spoken Mike wants to be like him.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, and he's got Mike Green, very successful crew chief, along with Tommy DeLago.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: So those guys, they know what they're doing there.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: But not only that, they've got all the other teams.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: They can bounce information off of the Toyota bunch.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah absolutely.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: That makes a big difference.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: All right, so we've got a choice here.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: This is the Armstrong choice wheel.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Spin the wheel.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Are we going to do Mars 10 microcars or do you want to do Mars auto history?
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: Well, that's up to Mars, because it sounds like it's a Mars day, it is, the microcars will take a little bit longer, okay, well, now's the time.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: So what do?
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: you want to do.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Let's do the microcars.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: So Mars has a little feature that he's going to do on microcars 10 microcars.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of in between cars.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: I'm doing car reviews so we decided to come up with something here.
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: Okay, so the microcars we're talking about smaller, smaller, smaller cars.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: Now, just to set the stage, this first one is a 2025 Mini Cooper, and the reason is that.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: So you kind of get an idea what we're comparing things to.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: This vehicle is 12.7 feet long I was going to say 10.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: 6.4 feet wide and 4.6 feet tall, so it's like two Don Armstrongs long.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: That's right, it's a pocket racer.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: Feet tall, so it's like two Don Armstrongs long.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: That's right, it's a pocket racer.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: All right, so we'll go over here.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Let's go to the next one, number 10.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: Now this is the Scion IQ.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Now it's 10 feet long and 5 feet wide.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: They don't wait a minute, they don't make Scions anymore.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Well, I know Some of these cars are out of production.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: That car is really, really ugly, and it's 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, 2-seater disguised as a 4-seater.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: It's disguised as a semi-truck.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: It had 98 horsepower.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: So then we come to the Fiat 500.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Now, not the Fiat 500, you see, these days, Not the one your mom told you about.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's like 12 feet long.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Now, this is the early version.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: It was actually made from 1957 to 1975.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: And it's 9 feet 9 inches long and it ran on a 479cc cubic engine.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Have you ever been in one?
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Oh my God.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: I've seen one in California on the freeway.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: It's so tiny, I'm 6 foot 1.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: I don't even know how I got in the car.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: I certainly had a hard time getting out.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: It's like they got 12-inch wheels on.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: This is a five-passenger.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: No, all right, then we get to the Dahatsu Fellow Max Dahatsu.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: This was less than 10 feet long, a little more than 4 feet wide, but it had a 356 cubic centimeter engine, nobody cares.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: It had a mole on the hood there.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: It's smaller than most new Honda motorcycles.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: That's a skid tag.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: That's a skid tag.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: The.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Mahindra E20.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: We're moving on Mahindra.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: They make tractors don't they Yep.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: And there is this Mahindra.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Mahindra measures 129 inches long and 59 inches wide.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: What's the wheelbase?
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: Six, 129 inches, so it's a little bit longer.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Oh, okay, that's ugly too, but we're going to step over here to the Riva I think that's how you say it G-Wiz Riva Like.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I said Riva McIntyre, r-v-a oh.
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: Riva G-Wiz jeez, it's less than nine feet long.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's uh built in india.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: It's an electric car.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: It's supposedly it looks like a five, a size, five shoe.
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: Well, supposedly it would hold two adults and two children, probably 600 pounds.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: I would say tub it out, but it would only go 50 miles an hour, miles on a charge.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Dude, can you go around the corner in that thing?
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: We'd tump over.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Then we get to the Renault Twizy.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: That's the Renault, renault, renault.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, I like it.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: It's like a Razor.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Eight-foot electric quadricycle, three doors, and it's still being produced.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: It's 26 miles to one charge.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: But it's eight foot long, that's all.
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: It is Less than a Don.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: No, it's a Don and a quarter.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: So we get to the Buddy Electric Now.
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: This was produced and sold in Norway.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: This car is eight foot long.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: And it comes with a Norwegian accent and it's supposed to.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: It's got a little baby cone.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it sits three people on a bench seat.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, A buddy.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: And it will have the range of 49 miles and it takes six hours to charge for 49 miles.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Getting to the commuter cars toga, toga, commuter cars tango.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: This vehicle is three feet wide, oh well more, and it's eight foot long.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: No, we got two more.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Okay, oh my God.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: And you can charge it on your dryer outlet Now.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: The number two is the Meyers Sparrow.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: This is a two-door hatchback version.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: It's like a high-heeled shoe.
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: It's eight foot long.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: It's a three-wheeler.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: Top speed is 70 miles an hour.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: It'll range to 60 miles Downhill.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: I have a red pump that looks just like that.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: That's what I was thinking Put your hairy leg in it Look good.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: And then we get to the one, the Peel P50.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: What P50.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: It's 54 inches long, 41 inches wide.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: It held the Guinness World Records title of the smallest car for more than 50 years.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: It's got one seat in it.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: No, it's a bench 49 CC goes 28 miles an hour and that vehicle is still legal in the UK.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Oh my, God.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Well, there's something weird with some of those people over there In the UK.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: What can you say?
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: I got a younger uncle from over there it's got wheelbarrow tires on it.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it looked like it had like a park bench as a seat.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, but it ain't long enough for it to be a park bench.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: All right, no it's for one person.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: All right, all right.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Well, are we going to do auto history here?
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Are we going Auto history here?
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: We're going to do that later.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: Your call, okay, we're going to do that later.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: We're not going to do that, we're going to do this first.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: And I guess we played those commercials, huh.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: We're going to break two.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: We're breaking two.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Auto industry designing the cars of tomorrow to be electric, so the cars of Tomorrowland are being electrified too.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: The Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, plans to get rid of the internal combustion engines that, for decades, have filled the air around the Autopia attraction with exhaust fumes.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I knew we were going to go there.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: American Honda has sponsored Autopia since 2016, when it replaced Chevron.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: As part of a 10-year sponsorship deal with Disneyland, the automaker paid for a reimbursement, I'm sorry, a refurbishment that included putting 8.5 horsepower versions of the IGX series engines into the ride's 96 cars, which now wear Honda logos and colors.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: The cars meander along a nearly half-mile track at a maximum speed of 6.5 miles an hour.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Paul Scott, an activist who has complained to the California Air Resources Board about Autopia's fumes, said Disney's choice of powertrains sets a powerful example to its young visitors Go electric.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, fine, there you go.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's something to be said for gasoline engines that have that lawnmower sound to them.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: At least you feel like hey, you know, I'm in a car.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know about an electric car.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: That'd be kind of like driving the golf cart the electric golf cart.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're very quiet and, to be honest, it's been a year since I've been to one of the Disney parks or any place like that, but I don't remember smelling anything.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: No, you put a playing card in the spokes with a yeah, make the noise I used to do that, that and balloons, balloons.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Balloons were good.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Balloons made it sound like a Harley.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: They didn't last very long.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Potato, potato, potato potato Kind of sound like a.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Harley, they didn't last very long.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Potato, potato, potato potato.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: But if you went real fast, then it was a lot of potatoes.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Well, then you blow your balloon.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Well, there's that.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: I hate it when I blow my balloon.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: If you've done that, Sergeant Ward will help you with that and breathalyzer.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: First retail trim of the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: We'll have a longer range and a lower starting price when it goes on sale this year.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: The Silverado EV RST First Edition should go on sale soon with the General Motors estimated 440 miles of range, up from an earlier estimate of 400 miles Chevy said Wednesday.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: The brand also confirmed the RST will start at how much $62,000.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: Mars All electric, all electric, I'll go $62,000.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: Mars, all electric, all electric.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: I'll go to $50,000.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: They're trying to cut the price, okay.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: The brand confirmed that the price will be $96,495 with shipping.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Oh my God.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Less With shipping, less than the $106,895 starting price Chevy previously provided.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: So you're right, they did cut the price.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, who's going to buy that?
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Not me.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I'm still looking for a hot rod.
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I send you these and you don't act on them.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: No, you know your car's been paid for for years.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: I think it's time for you to get into one of the Haggerty I'm sorry, one of the Hemings cars, because I give you all these really cool cars, especially the Cadillacs, yeah, and you never act on it.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I know We'd love to hear from you.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Shoot us an email.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: The address here is info at nwheeltimecom.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Time now for a quick break.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: You're on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show streaming and podcasting around the planet.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Look for us on your favorite provider.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Are you ready?
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: We're going to take this break.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: The original group of Loopy Tortilla restaurants will have you telling your family and friends just what the original recipes mean when it comes to the best fajitas in southeast Texas, founder Stan Holt invites you to visit the original Loopy Tortilla near I-10 and Highway 6.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Here's the original house that inspired the design of all the rest and the original charm that helped make Loopy Tortilla the go-to destination for Houston Tex-Mex.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Speaking of original, nothing can compete with the original lime pepper marinade that everyone will agree makes Loopy Tortilla award-winning beef fajitas the best anywhere.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Loopy Tortilla Katy is another location that gives you the same quality and service Houstonians have come to expect at Loopy's.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: It's located just off I-10 of the Grand Parkway, at Kingsland Boulevard in Katy.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Find yourself in Aggieland Head to the Loopy Tortilla in College Station, located just around the corner from Kyle Field.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: It's a great place to enjoy those famous frozen margaritas before or after the game.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Headed east to Louisiana, stop in at the Loopy Tortilla in Beaumont.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: It too's on I-10, you can't miss it.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: The original group of Loopy Tortilla restaurants invites you in for the best Tex-Mex.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: Anywhere you own a car you love, why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: We promise you'll be impressed.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like-new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nano-ceramic window tint or new windshield protection called ExoShield, gulf Coast Auto Shield is where Houston's car people go.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Curbed your wheels.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Instead of buying new, why not have them repaired?
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield does that too.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back freeway and get a personal tour.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Call them today 832-930-5655 or gcautoshieldcom.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Central on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify Stitcher, iheart Podcast Podcast Addict Tune in.