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Transcript

The Motorsport Brief: Will Power at the Indy 500 · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  It's Thursday, the 23rd of May, 2024.
• 0:09
  The greatest spectacle in motor racing is just days away now.
• 0:12
  We'll cross to Indianapolis in a moment to talk about it with one of the sport's modern day stars, an Aussie with the right stuff who knows that incredibly special feeling of drinking the winner's milk in Victory Lane.
• 0:26
  G'day everybody, Rusty here.
• 0:27
  Welcome to another ep of the Garage Shortcast.
• 0:30
  Willpower is standing by.
• 0:32
  Been a couple of years since we've had him on the pod.
• 0:34
  It's going to be nice to catch up.
• 0:36
  Quick plug for the latest feature episode of Rusty's Garage.
• 0:39
  It's out now with former RPM reporter Alison Droher, who was there when Channel 10 launched into a special period of motorsport coverage in the late 90s.
• 0:48
  It was a chapter...
• 0:49
  that we're unlikely to see again.
• 0:51
  The network was a true home of motorsport with everything from MotoGP, World Rally, and of course played an important part in the rise of supercars.
• 1:01
  From working with legendary Triple M announcer Doug Mulray
• 1:04
  leaving Neil Crompton speechless on Target Tasmania, learning to navigate in rallies, marrying into a famous Australian rally family, and the commitment to help her son chase the supercar's dream.
• 1:16
  Zach Bates starred in Toyota 86.
• 1:19
  He's a leading light in Super 2 now.
• 1:21
  Just won the recent round in WA.
• 1:23
  Great stuff.
• 1:24
  Some good laughs in that two-part feature episode that I know you will enjoy.
• 1:28
  Go searching for that later.
• 1:30
  The build-up to the 108th running of the Indy 500, it's in full swing.
• 1:35
  Practice qualifying, the fast 12, they're all done.
• 1:37
  Scott McLaughlin grabbed pole with a record-breaking run.
• 1:41
  Spine-tingling call of that too, that special sporting moment by my buddy Lee Diffie and the NBC team.
• 1:47
  It is an all-Penski front row, with last year's winner Joseph Newgarden out of three.
• 1:52
  And in between them...
• 1:54
  2018 winner, Will Power, who was a feature episode guest in our library.
• 1:59
  You can find that.
• 1:59
  It's a great chat, that one.
• 2:01
  Have a look a little bit later.
• 2:02
  He's on the line.
• 2:03
  G'day, mate.
• 2:04
  Welcome back to Rusty's Garage.
• 2:05
  Hey, Rusty.
• 2:06
  How are you?
• 2:07
  Mate, I'm great.
• 2:08
  You just missed out on pole.
• 2:11
  You were gracious, but I could tell when you jumped off the pit wall, you were gutted at the same time, weren't you?
• 2:17
  Oh, yeah.
• 2:17
  No, it's a long two days, three days really when they turn the boost up on Friday and you start doing those runs.
• 2:26
  Sometimes it's just unbelievably uncomfortable when the car's not working well and it's a bit loose.
• 2:34
  Even push, like if you understeer up towards all those speeds, sometimes the railway understeer is real nasty too.
• 2:40
  So, yeah.
• 2:42
  A lot of stress over those two days and to have to do it.
• 2:46
  We do three runs and we do the fast 12 and then have to make it to the 6.
• 2:50
  But at the end of the day, when I did my run, I realized that it was so consistent and I had the potential to trim a lot more and I just knew I was in trouble.
• 3:05
  But three laps into my run, Scott would have been telling his team take two or three turns out of the rear wing just based on my speed.
• 3:13
  Hardly any drop-off.
• 3:14
  It's just funny how that condition changed so quickly.
• 3:17
  you know, at that time of the day, sort of 5.45, Shadowstar coming out of the track, track 10 cools, and just suddenly it just gets easier.
• 3:26
  Looking back on it, you've got an amazing qualifying record, whatever it is, 70 poles, the most in the history of IndyCar, but the 500, those racing gods you've talked about, they haven't been kind, mate, have they?
• 3:38
  Yeah, I had a few chances at pole, and it just doesn't line up.
• 3:44
  Literally, in the fast 12 to make it to the six, I was on track on the last lap to be quicker than Scott, which would have meant I went last, which would have made things much more interesting, because I would have been able to watch his run and then react to whether he was consistent or not, what downfalls to run.
• 4:05
  It was a gust of wind on the back straight.
• 4:07
  Literally looking at data, it's just like, yeah, you're on track and you just got a gust of wind.
• 4:10
  And it was so tight between him and I.
• 4:13
  And that's the difference.
• 4:14
  But it's been those sorts of things that have happened over the time of that place.
• 4:19
  It's just incredibly difficult to be in the fastest team of that year and have the fastest car with the best engine.
• 4:28
  All those things line up.
• 4:30
  But I will say our cars were incredibly close in performance.
• 4:35
  I don't think there was a difference.
• 4:36
  I think we all had the same sort of opportunity.
• 4:39
  So it just sort of shows how I think far we've come, you know, with quality control and being able to build.
• 4:47
  comparable cars basically which is very difficult at those speeds like you know the way the body work move everything is just so important to get right and uh it's very hard to build two cars the same does it normalize for you like 234 mile an hour whatever that is 376 k's an hour that does that feel not like that sort of speed for guys like you i mean for the rest of us it would feel mind-blowing
• 5:14
  Yeah, it only feels like that when you have a moment or you start heading to the wall or you hit the wall.
• 5:22
  But yeah.
• 5:24
  Yeah, it certainly slows down, I will say.
• 5:27
  It does for me.
• 5:30
  Because it is a calm discipline in the way you drive it.
• 5:34
  It's very gentle, steering applications.
• 5:39
  Everything's done really slow and smooth.
• 5:42
  So you're getting that rhythm.
• 5:44
  That is somewhat a slow pace.
• 5:46
  But just when things happen, it just happens so quick, the reaction of a crash in front or...
• 5:54
  you know, when you get a gust of wind, yeah, that's when you realize how fast you're going.
• 5:59
  Like, yeah, the closing speeds, when you're coming into the pits to break down to 60 mile an hour.
• 6:04
  So, but yeah, it can be deceiving, can be deceiving.
• 6:09
  Like you got to know and respect that speed, the things that can happen, you know, when you're racing amongst the pack, you got to really respect the speeds that we're doing and what can happen.
• 6:22
  carb day to come, then the big one, the race itself.
• 6:24
  Do you feel like it's a good race car?
• 6:26
  It is.
• 6:27
  Yeah.
• 6:28
  I will say that last practice is the best I've felt all month.
• 6:31
  So conditions change, obviously.
• 6:34
  So we'll watch the wind and the temperature for race day.
• 6:37
  But
• 6:38
  Yeah, very comfortable.
• 6:39
  Very, very comfortable.
• 6:41
  I'm always apprehensive because you can have great practices for an oval car and then you get in a race and it's completely different, but you just got to be on top of those adjusters and know what you want in the pit stop exchange, whether you need to add downforce or take it out, add front wing or play with the weight jacker and bars while you're out there.
• 7:01
  You just got to keep
• 7:03
  Right on top of it, but just straight out, yeah, I feel pretty good.
• 7:07
  I feel pretty good.
• 7:08
  It really matters where you're running in the pack, how the car's set up.
• 7:11
  If you're running at the front...
• 7:12
  you know, you have a lot more front downforce.
• 7:16
  So you've got to kind of work around that.
• 7:18
  If you're leading, you'll certainly get a lot looser than if you're three deep and four deep or way back in the pack.
• 7:25
  What transpires from the three of you on the front row from kind of the moment the race gets going?
• 7:31
  Do you just do your own thing and providing you stay out of the way of each other, it's all fair play?
• 7:38
  What happens there?
• 7:39
  Yeah, it's...
• 7:42
  I'll guarantee you Roger talks to us about the start, and I'll just say, you boys need to just fall in line, but you've got the second row coming as well.
• 7:51
  But by rise, you should be wide open through turn one and two if you're at the front of the pack there, because you're not going to be... You're going to be a few mile an hour slower than normal when you get there, so...
• 8:07
  Yeah, I've been used to starting back in the pack the last few years, so I don't know what it's like to start in the front row.
• 8:11
  I can't remember, but it should be easy.
• 8:14
  Not in all that turbulent air.
• 8:16
  I usually roll the outside for the first lap to get some clean air and get around some people, but fall in line and just start...
• 8:25
  Spending, like Rick Mears always said, spend the first half getting to the second half.
• 8:30
  You know, it's really those last 20 laps that matter.
• 8:34
  It's the last 20 laps.
• 8:35
  You must be in the top two.
• 8:37
  It's the only way it's going to work.
• 8:40
  You've got to be switching back and forth with that guy who's, you know, first and second.
• 8:45
  That's just how it's going to play.
• 8:48
  A quick break here on Rusty's Garage.
• 8:49
  Stick around.
• 8:50
  More with Will Power right after this.
• 8:55
  You're listening to the Motorsport Brief, a quick catch-up with Will Power in Indianapolis ahead of the Indy 500.
• 9:02
  Let's get back to the convo now.
• 9:05
  Have you been surprised about the form, I guess, of Honda throughout the months so far relative to the Chevys?
• 9:12
  The Chevys seem to have the upper hand.
• 9:13
  And will that be indicative of the race or will they still be a factor?
• 9:17
  Because, I mean, lots can happen in that race, can't it?
• 9:20
  Oh, yeah, they'll absolutely be a factor.
• 9:22
  I don't count them out at all.
• 9:24
  I mean, I wasn't surprised at our performance.
• 9:28
  I wasn't at all.
• 9:29
  I said it back in Long Beach.
• 9:30
  I said I would not be surprised if we got a front row lookout, but I'd be shocked if we weren't fighting for the pole.
• 9:35
  So I knew the gains that we made, or Chevy made, and then I knew the gains that we made on the team front.
• 9:42
  So, yeah.
• 9:44
  Yeah, but the race is a different story.
• 9:46
  The race is certainly a different story.
• 9:48
  You can have the fastest car and circumstances don't play out.
• 9:55
  You know, the car's going to work well.
• 9:57
  Yeah.
• 9:59
  I would say if you're a Chevy and you're fighting a Honda for the win, it's going to be easier if you're in a Chevy.
• 10:04
  You're going to be able to most probably tow by them by start finish where they may not.
• 10:10
  So that would really matter where you place yourself on the last lap.
• 10:15
  And that would be based on is it a Chevy or is it a Honda and you'd be just watching that as the laps roll down.
• 10:20
  Yeah.
• 10:21
  Interesting that Kyle Larson is in the game.
• 10:24
  He's qualified super well.
• 10:25
  What kind of impressions have you got of him and the first month of May that he's enjoyed as far as a 500 is concerned?
• 10:35
  As soon as they said he was running, I was like, it would not surprise me if that guy's fighting for the win at the end.
• 10:44
  Just because it's his wheelhouse, I mean, it's ovals.
• 10:47
  That's all they do.
• 10:48
  I know he races NASCAR.
• 10:51
  He's obviously top sprint car driver, very good at NASCAR, and just one of those exceptional talents with just really natural abilities.
• 11:04
  He'll be right in the game.
• 11:06
  The only thing that would catch him out is understanding, you know, how much can you yore in IndyCup.
• 11:14
  Like, he can catch you out when you're not sure.
• 11:16
  I saw it happen to Kurt Busch right in front of me.
• 11:20
  I think it might have been Cub.
• 11:21
  No, I think it was at last practice.
• 11:24
  But those guys, they shunt so often.
• 11:26
  Kurt Busch came back, just lost no confidence, straight into it.
• 11:30
  Yeah, but when you're not racing ovals all the time and you get caught out to have a big hit, that easy takes it.
• 11:38
  I don't think it would even affect him if he crashed before the race in this last practice, but he will be a contender.
• 11:45
  He will be, if everything runs well for him, he will be an absolute contender.
• 11:50
  It's what he does every week.
• 11:52
  He's on the oval every week.
• 11:55
  In IndyCar, only a third of the races are over.
• 11:59
  And only one of them is a super speedway.
• 12:02
  although we get a lot of miles on but it's right in his wheelhouse yeah i mean he's just one of those guys that will will is capable of being right there yeah cool probably don't need to reflect on it on it too much obviously there's been some stuff in the in the headlines bit of a tough month with some key members on the bench for for penske um how have you kind of coped with that the shuffle of people and so on and how important was it kind of locking out the front row to put everything else in the rearview mirror
• 12:28
  It was, yeah, I think any sort of nice finish, like at Barber when we got a 1-2, when that was all pretty fresh, I'm just sort of silencing some of the comments.
• 12:43
  But yeah, just an unfortunate thing.
• 12:49
  You know, a piece of software that was left in.
• 12:51
  I know the guy that put it in there, one of the best guys we've got.
• 12:55
  And I was the one testing the car when it was put in.
• 12:57
  We were trying to make the hybrid...
• 13:02
  work by using the push-to-pass button.
• 13:04
  We just happened to be using that button, that mechanism to deploy the hybrid engine.
• 13:11
  And that software was written to just get through that test day and it just stayed in there.
• 13:18
  And then it was sort of a copy-paste thing to the ECU or whatever the control box they have now.
• 13:25
  It stayed there.
• 13:26
  It's just an unfortunate thing.
• 13:28
  But, yeah, getting the front row at Indy is...
• 13:33
  a pretty good statement, considering we lost some key guys off the stand.
• 13:38
  You know, I've already had a race without Ron Razewski, who's my strategist, and Robbie Atkinson, who's, you know, the data engineer.
• 13:47
  So got very quality people in that team.
• 13:52
  So it wasn't hard to move people around and still, you know, run very efficiently.
• 13:59
  Second in three of the races in the championship so far this year.
• 14:04
  You're in great form from a points perspective.
• 14:08
  How competitive is this game right now to all of us watching on?
• 14:12
  It's so exciting to watch, but it must be enormously tough from a competitor perspective.
• 14:17
  Yeah, it's unbelievably tough.
• 14:20
  You cannot make the smallest of mistakes during a qualifying run on the road course or street courses.
• 14:30
  Or you just simply want to transfer to the next round.
• 14:33
  I saw Indy Road Courses, like 17 cars covered by three-tenths in practice.
• 14:39
  And you're just like, man, you've just got to be absolutely on your game.
• 14:43
  You've got to be very good with the feedback to get the car to work in that specific condition and for the soft tyres.
• 14:52
  So it's great to be a part of.
• 14:55
  I really enjoy that level of competition and...
• 14:58
  I enjoy racing against a lot of great young drivers that are going to be legends in the sport over the next decade or so.
• 15:06
  So, yeah.
• 15:07
  I'm enjoying it.
• 15:08
  I'm driving the best I ever have.
• 15:10
  I've never stopped working hard on improving my craft.
• 15:16
  And I still have a fire burning in the belly.
• 15:20
  I'm still ultra competitive and still fit.
• 15:22
  And still, yeah, I'll stop.
• 15:25
  If I can't win races, that's when I'll stop.
• 15:27
  As long as I'm knocking on that door and I'm capable of doing it, I'll keep going.
• 15:32
  I've always been able to sense that in the little messaging about how much A, you love it and B, the hunger.
• 15:37
  Quickly to finish here, do you have a race day ritual of some kind and have you got various members of the power family there to kind of support you?
• 15:46
  I just have my wife and my son, mother-in-law as well.
• 15:49
  Nice.
• 15:50
  No, not really.
• 15:53
  I do actually have a wife listed a little beyond this.
• 16:00
  She says Flavor Flav.
• 16:01
  Flavor Flav is, you'd know who Flavor Flav is from Public Enemy, right?
• 16:05
  Well, he's coming as my guest.
• 16:08
  He calls me all the time.
• 16:10
  He's a great guy, but he's my hype man.
• 16:12
  So, yeah, Flavor Flavor will be there.
• 16:16
  That's the one thing that will be entertaining for me.
• 16:21
  I'm a pretty quiet guy, so I like to keep low-key.
• 16:26
  I don't expel too much energy talking and interacting with people, but he does, so he can be the guy doing that for me.
• 16:34
  Um, pretty straightforward for me.
• 16:36
  Uh, I don't really have any superstitions or anything.
• 16:39
  I just, um...
• 16:41
  Just try to go on the race knowing I'm going to do the best job I can and use all my experience to the best of my ability.
• 16:47
  I mean, that's all you can do.
• 16:49
  Just tick those boxes before you get in the car, and when you're in the car, make sure you tick all the boxes as well.
• 16:54
  Good stuff.
• 16:55
  Go well.
• 16:55
  That advice from Rick Mears is awesome, mate.
• 16:58
  You know what it takes to taste that winner's milk.
• 17:00
  You did that in 2018, and we hope that Sunday's a good day for you at the Brickyard.
• 17:05
  Thank you very much for talking to us.
• 17:07
  Excellent.
• 17:07
  Thanks for having me on.
• 17:08
  Appreciate it.
• 17:10
  We actually chatted a little longer after the record stopped while the audio was uploading.
• 17:15
  I actually wish I'd kept that.
• 17:17
  He is mentally in the strongest shape ever.
• 17:21
  Not through coaches or anything like that, but just kind of life and the school of sport and motor racing and what that intensity, that pinnacle level of competition teaches you.
• 17:32
  That should be an epic race on Monday morning our time.
• 17:35
  The drive, the commitment, that experience will serve Will Power well.
• 17:40
  And we are grateful in a busy schedule during a rare bit of time off this week that he was able to give us a bit of time for you to enjoy as well.
• 17:49
  And that was time away from his wife Liz and family that we're very conscious of.
• 17:53
  Thank you, mate.
• 17:54
  While we are talking about people in the US, wanted to say well done to Jess Dane, who's picked up a plum job with Chevy.
• 18:00
  Having had experience on the team management side with Triple Eight, where she retains a stakeholding in supercars, Jess completed her legal studies in recent years and is now Motorsports.
• 18:11
  integration manager for Chevrolet based in North Carolina.
• 18:15
  From memory, the schedule for her is full gas straight away with the Indy 500, Detroit Grand Prix and the Le Mans 24-hour all over the next month or so.
• 18:25
  Good stuff.
• 18:25
  Well done, Jess.
• 18:27
  We will get her on the garage at some stage.
• 18:29
  I promise she'll duck and die, but we will get to her.
• 18:31
  We'll be right back.
• 18:31
  Despite being told no in January, Michael Andretti isn't easing off the throttle in his bid to join the Formula One grid.
• 18:38
  Andretti Cadillac has hired Pat Simmons, who's been the sports chief technical officer in more recent time, and played key roles at Benetton and Renault, as you know.
• 18:47
  After some gardening leave, he'll work as executive engineering consultant for them.
• 18:53
  Impressive fight back from Harry Bates and Coral Taylor to win the second round of the Australian Rally Championship in that cool new Toyota Yaris Rally 2 car of theirs.
• 19:02
  Harry put his hand up after an unsighted hit in Stage 1.
• 19:06
  Scott Petter and Glenn McNeil won the first heat as Harry and Coral kept clawing their way back.
• 19:12
  Worth having a look at the highlights of that on 7 Plus or you can find it online.
• 19:16
  Alex Rulo and Lewis Bates, also stage winners, a bit went on in that Forest Rally.
• 19:23
  We've been raving about the silly season F1 moves.
• 19:26
  What about MotoGP?
• 19:27
  Good yarn on the Fox Sports website by Matt Clayton.
• 19:31
  Less than 25% of the current grid have a ride sorted for next year.
• 19:36
  So that's 18 who are trying to square things away.
• 19:40
  The most sought-after ride at Ducati alongside Peko Bagnaia is set to be decided by the Mugello round this year with Marc Marquez, Jorge Martín and Anaya Bastianini all in the running.
• 19:52
  And what will KTM do?
• 19:54
  Jack Miller has had a tough run this year while Pedro Acosta keeps impressing on the sister gas-gas machine.
• 20:01
  We hope that Jack lands a good ride for 25.
• 20:05
  We'll be chatting with former racer turned NBC expert caller Townsend Bell over the next few days with a special short cast edition as we continue the build up to the Indy 500.
• 20:16
  And I recorded a new feature ep while I was in WA with two-time Australian rally champion Rob Herridge.
• 20:22
  Some good laughs in that.
• 20:24
  He's been involved in all sorts of things.
• 20:26
  Barefoot water skiing, offshore power boating I should say.
• 20:30
  And keeps his eye in these days with some clay target shooting.
• 20:34
  Look out for notifications on that in the days ahead.
• 20:37
  That is it for this edition.
• 20:38
  As always, thank you for listening.
• 20:40
  Let your motorsport mates know about Rusty's Garage, if they don't already.
• 20:44
  And if your mum and dad aren't necessarily into pods, but they like their motorsport, give them a quick tour.
• 20:50
  Show them around.
• 20:51
  Hopefully they'll find some guests that they like in our library.
• 20:55
  Enjoy.
• 20:55
  Get ready for one of the biggest weekends in motorsport.
• 20:59
  MotoGP in Catalonia, Monaco Grand Prix for Formula One and the Indy 500.
• 21:04
  Get that late-to-work excuse ready for Monday.
• 21:07
  Bye for now.