Latest / Dos Amigos / Be the First with Daniel Suárez

Transcript

Be the First with Daniel Suárez · Dos Amigos

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, This is Freddie Rodriguez and.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: I'm Wilmer Balderama. Welcome to now. We're really we're really
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: privileged that you're here. And it's never lost in me
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: how rare these opportunities can be for someone that has,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: you know, such a such a demand like our guests.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: You know, if you're watching, you're in for a treat.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: If you're listening, you're gonna go through quite a journey.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: And uh, but I'm very very proud to introduce Y
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: who's here. Yeah, well he exists. He's an EDMANO, but
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: he's also an icon for all of our community. Uh,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: one of NASCAR's uh pride and enjoys and the guy
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: who changed the game. For changing the game introduced to
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: those engines.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you to someone you guys, Thank you someone for
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: having me. Thank you for the introduction as well. It's amazing,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: super happy to be here with you guys.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely so we well you know how much I love cars, right,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: so we're gonna start. I'm gonna start an arthodie. We
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: can normally start at the beginning, but I'm going to
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: go with your collection first. We're talking about collection car collections.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: So when you grow up. You're like, when I grew up,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I want that car?
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: What what was the car that you were?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Like?
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: When I when I came to tie myself a car.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: We're talking about you at like seven, you at like
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: eight nine?
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: What was the car?
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: So it's funny that you mentioned that wore that. Okay,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: we're gonna go to the end, because to me, it's
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: actually the very beginning. Because a lot of people don't
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: know this about me, but but I didn't grow up
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: in a racing family or anything like that. I actually
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: grew up in my dad's shop. My dad is a
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: mechanic shop. He has a mechanic shop, so he fixes
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: classic cars for living. So since I was very young,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I always had this passion about all cars, everything vintage
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and things like that. If you if you guys were
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: meeting the Adenniel Suarez of eight years old and you
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: were asking this kid, Hey, what do you want to
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: do for a living? I was going to tell you
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I wanted to be a mechanics That's actually what I wanted. Yeah, exactly.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: That's you know my father here, my hero, right like,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I wanted to be like him. So I remember perfect,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: you know, when I was in a in elementary school,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: middle school, hanging out with my bodies, and everyone was like, Hey,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: what is your dream car? Everyone was like, Oh, a
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Porch or a Ferrari or this. For me, I wanted
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: at twenty three window both baying boss, one of.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Those kippy bosses.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: That was my dream recarm It's great. And the reason
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: of that is because I used to see these cars
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: being fixed at my dad's shop and they were like icons, right,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Like they were like super cool cars, which, by the way,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: this bosses here in California, they are all, Yeah, you
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: have the compter one, you have the pickup ones that
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: are kind of like more industrial. Do you have the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: one with a lot of windows that are more like
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: for families? So you have everything on this thing they have.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: They are all different kind of styffs. So so, answering
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: your question, you know, when I was a young kid,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I wanted to have one of these bosses.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: But not nothing fast, nothing cool.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: You wanted a v WO that was very So when
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: you were introduced to an engine and you said, this
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: thing a man built, goes inside this metal.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Case and it takes you places, when did you decide, Oh,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I wonder what happens when I like, I go, yeah.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: So I was. I was around ten years old when
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I got really interested in in a speed. I would say,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the more kids boys, You know, when when you grew
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: up in a shop with cars, you start getting in
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: love with the mechanics of it. How can I drive it?
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: How can I go fast? And it was It's kind
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: of crazy how destiny works sometimes. But my dad had
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: one customer that my dad used to sell parts, and
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: this customer had a son that was into racing, and
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: once in a while they were stopping by the shop
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: to buy parts. Another more perfectly like this was yesterday
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: one Saturday, they stopped by the shop. They were they
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: were on their way to a racetrack. They were with
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: a little car with a mini trailer with a gokarn
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: on the trailer. And I was working in the shop
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: with my dad on a Saturday, you know, just hanging
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: out and enjoying the weekend. Pulls up and then dad
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: thing pulls up and we and my dad's customer with
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: his son, and I'm like and they see me working
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: on carsh and this customer of my dad asked me, hey,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: do you do you like do you like racing? They're like,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, or would you like to drive one of
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: these things?
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I would love that. Oh we're actually going to a race.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Stat And I'm like, or really, yeah, we have a
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: go car in there, Oh, come here so we can
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: see it. So I was I was staying eleven years
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: old the time, so I want to see the GoCar
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and I thought, man, this thing is super cool. And
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: he told me we go every Saturday. So if next
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Saturay you want to come with us, just make sure
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: you bring a jean jacket and some jeans and you
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: come with us.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: That's there's the Mexican races. Oh yeah, the.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Mexican ra, the Mexican Raser, jean jacket, a Canadian taxa
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: exactly right. And next week Friday night, Man, Friday night,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I had my jean jacket, my jeans, my shoes, everything. Wow,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: plan chow. I could not sleep. I was so excited
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and I either a bloing. We practice all day and
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I was just having fun. Right like this kid that
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: now he's one of my best friends. He was already
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: raising for a couple of years. Uh, and I was
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: just having fun. I did you know, I never driven
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: a Goka before. And I turned out to be very good,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: and this customer and my dad went to my dad say, hey,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: so Sore, where your son has been he's driven anything before,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: like any other Gokar stuff. I said, no, I mean
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: a couple of times in rentals, you know, and they're
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: doing the in the pizza places and things like that,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: like just little mini racetracks. He said, man, your son
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: is actually very good. Like if we if if you
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: let me take him to a few more weekends, I
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: think that he's going to be extremely good.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: So you went, so you went to have fun and
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: you're like, Okay, I think I know where to hit
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: the brakes at this turn. And I think like you're
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: like the science started just making sense, Like.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: What does that mean to be good? It's not just
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: about I go faster?
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Now now I understand. Back then I didn't understand, but
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: nobody told me what to do. They just told me
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: the other race. This is the break, this is the gospel.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: Go.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: And there is some kids that they just have something
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: that they can just.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Go their feels something exactly is by Phil.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: You don't know what you don't know. There is some
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: kids are more cautious and then they just go a
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: little bit little. I wasn't doing it. I was just
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: going fast and nothing was moving. And then I was
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: looking on at a bit, and then I was going
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: again and I was just going by Phil and and
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: that's what he saw. And then he mentioned that to
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: my dad. And by the second Saturday that I went,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: I was just as fast as he's on and then
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: and then and then they started to say hey ma
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and support him. And then everything started from there and uh,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and it's already has been a beautiful journey. It wasn't
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: easy because since my dad had his mechanics shop, we
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: didn't have money, so it was very very tough for
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: us to really understand what we needed made it's expensive.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Racing is expensive. You need that tires, you need the engine, fuel,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: all these different things.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: You needed your own go card at that and then we.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Bought our on go card. It was a used one
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: and that's how we can. We got rolling at first,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: but even we use stuff, it was just expensive.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: The helmet, I remember, I remember provid I still have
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: this helmet. My dad and I we went to a
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: place where they sell motor cycles and I needed I
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: needed to buy a helmet. So we went to check
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the check out the helmets, and they had the wall
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: full of helmets and they were very expensive. I remember
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: perfect there were like two thousand pestles, which at the
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: time was a lot of money. And then they had
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: right next door, like around the corner. They had the
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: clearance they always So we went to the area and
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: we spent like five hundred pesos, which is like twenty
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: for a helmet, and I grabbed the helmet man, and
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: I love it so much. I brought it home and
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I stopped putting it on and once, you know, I
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: was putting all the helmet and I said that something
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: is happening.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Well they let.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Because it was because because it was so old.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: The heaven was so exactly you know you know what
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, cracket and they're dry.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: And exactly every time was going on around my favor
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: was full of sponge. So we have to put newest
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: points in the helmets. So these things that I still have,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the helmet, I raised with that helmet for like four years.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: You know, I know that story so well because because
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: you know, when when you grow up in a Latin
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: American countries and they buy you something, you wear it
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: and totally like disintegreees, you know, what I mean, you
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: don't buy new helmets. They're like, oh, it's still good.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: I just take it. Yeah, there's always black tape.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: There's got a whole shoes put duct tape, this trap
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: old shoes.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, totally agree. So so that's kind of like, how
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: how my my my career, Well, I say career now,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: but at the time, I didn't know it was going
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: to get to this point, Like I never thought I
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: was gonna get to this level.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: So when you were racing, we're you're still thinking like, oh,
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: I can always be a mechanic like my dad.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: When I started racing. I'm gonna tell you this is
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: this is why the support from parents is extremely important.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: When I was raising, I was just raising for fun,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: and yes, I wanted to be a mechanic, and I
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: was just I was good and I was winning and
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: I was doing all these different things. And there was
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: one time that I was already like twelve, it was
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: maybe a year or two after I started racing, and
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: we just won the race and my dad came to
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: me and he said, hey, Daniel, do you would you
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: like to be a professional racing driver One day? And
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I told my dad, So, Dad, I'm already a professional
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: racing driver. My dad laughed a little bit and he said, well,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: they're very good. But if you work hard, if you're
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: a discipline, you can actually do this as a job,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: like the cars that we see on TV. So at
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the time, I used to watch a lot of races
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: on TV and NASCAR from a one in the car,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: and I used to see all those drivers like superheroes,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: like something that wasn't really real, right, And and when
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: he told me that, when my dad opened that door
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: for me, for me to understand that it was a
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: possibility for me to be like those guys, that changed
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: my life because at that moment, I told in my mind,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: if I work hard, I can be like that, and.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: That's what I want to have to do the math,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: the work and actually can have yes.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: But but before that little comment, I thought that it
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: was impossible. But it's crazy because my dad that that
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: conversation that had with my dad, he has a stake
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: stuck with me for the rest of for for the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: last twenty years. Of course, my dad doesn't even remember
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the conversation.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: He doesn't even remember, so I literally have to same
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: they were, you know, my dad, my dad told me
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: you know, I think I had good grades in school,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: so I was like, yeah, I think I want to
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: do this acting thing. It's like okay, cool, and and
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: he's like what are your let me see your report card?
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: And like I was pretty good ba's you know at
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the beginning, and then uh and then I lost my
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: module in school very quickly. But but he when he
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: when I said I think I can do this thing,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: my Dad's like, okay, ma, I think you can do it.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: You know, it's always like this weird moment where it's
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: just like he kind of gave me permission to think
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: that way, like he opened the door. Then you're like, oh, okay,
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: well if my dad thinks I can do this, then
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: like how hard can it be? Yeah? And speaking about
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: how heart can it be? So that so it opens
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: the paradigm for you and you're thinking like, oh maybe
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I can be that guy. So like what do I
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: need to do next? Like how how what was that
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: transition into getting into a position where you had the shot?
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah? So ob really it was. It was a journey.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Right when I was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years old, I
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: was already we didn't have money, so I already had
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to be in the position where I have to look
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: for responsors. I have to work as a mechanic of
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: gogers to pay for my view, for my inscription for
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the race, for my tires, and things like that. So
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: I always had this thing that I had to work
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to stay in racing. And then eventually I got to
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: a point where, you know, more people wanted for me, like, hey,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: can you train my kid? And I pay you. And
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I was using that money to pay for my racing
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and stuff. So in a way, I was using that
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: to help my dad not to have to, you know,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: completely break his business. But I always had this thing
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that I always felt a little bit not a little bit,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: but quite unlucky or unfortunate because I used to see
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: all this. So the kids in racing, and all of
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: them were in private schools, they were had super nice cars,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the best go cars. They were living in the very
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: very nice neighborhoods in Mexico, and all these different things.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: And I and I and I felt that almost like
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: if I was a stranger because I went to public school.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: You know, if I was telling these kids what school
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I was going to, they had no idea which school
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: it was. My neighborhood, no idea, my friends, no friends
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: in common. It was like two completely different words. So
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: at that point, I always felt very unlucky because I thought, man,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: what's a shame that my dad doesn't have the means
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: to give me a nice go card or these kind
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: of things. Because I always felt like I had to
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: work extra hard to be able to compete with them.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: I had all I have a five seven year old
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Gokra and they had like two new ones, one primary,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: one backup. So I always had to work extra hard,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and I always talked to myself, Man, how unlucky I am,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: you know, to have all these different things. And as
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I start growing, you know, a lot of sacrifices went
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: into it. My dad sold his business to support me,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: put a mortgage my dad. If I didn't have the
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: dad that I have, I would have not make it.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I was not gonna make it because because my dad
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: he went all in. Like we're talking about Jessica, right,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Like my dad when he saw something in me and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: he said, man, I'm gonna go all in on this kid,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: and he saw his business. We still needed a little
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: bit more. Morning, he put a mortgage on the family home.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: We were only in and you know, fast forward. Eventually
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I came to us and all these things, and I
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: started maturing, and I started to realize that all those
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: moments of having a difficult time because I had all
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: their stuff, because my go car was breaking, and all
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: these different things, life was preparing me for something bigger. Right.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: The reason why I'm the first Mexican to do this,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: the first non American to do that in all this world, Oscar,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: I can almost guarantee you that if I didn't have
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the past that I had, I was not gonna make
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: it because I wasn't gonna be tough enough. You know,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: my mind wasn't gonna be tough enough. The pressure wasn't
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna be able to hold the pressure the
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: way that I do. So I believe that that background,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: that tough background, really built the person that you guys
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: know now to be able to do to raise.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Any thing people people don't realize. You know that that mentality,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: you know that that immigrant mentality, which I think about
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: the immigrant world as like a state of mind. Right,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: you know you're gonna go to a different place. You
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: know you're gonna do things that are far removed from
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: who you are, but you always better on yourself because
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: that's what we do as a culture. That's what Latinos do.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: We figure it out, you know. And if they opened
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: the door a little bit this week, bro, just open
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the whole thing up. Let's go, you know. And I
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: think there's something to be said about your hustle, your
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: appreciation for your story, the way your dad wanted the
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: best for his son, you know, he wanted to put
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: him in the best shot, and the fact that your
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: dad like sold the business, got you know, the funding
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: that you needed, you know, to just get you a proximity.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: I heard somebody said, I think it was Viola Davis.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: I just you know, received an award, and she said, like,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: what separates you know, her community, you know, from winning
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: an Oscar, winning an Emmy is proximity opportunity. You know.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: If you have an opportunity and you can get with
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: him striking distance and you put it on a Latino's hens,
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: guess what's gonna happen. It's gonna get done. It's gonna
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: get done, you know. And I think, and I want
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: to say this so much because our audience, you know,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: we have such an incredibly diverse of audiences. You know,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: they're from all over the place and all over the world,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: and a big supporter of our podcast is obviously our
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Latino community, you know, and sometimes there are there is
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: a young kid out there, or most of the time
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: it's a young kid or a young adult who's waiting
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: to either have the universe tell them the one ingredient
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: they need. What is that one thing they need to
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: hear for them to lock in in these conversations, and
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: your story, you know, really can unlock that possibility for
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: some other young Daniel Suarez, you know, some kid out
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: there who's like, oh my God, like hear his story
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: and be like, that's where I'm at. I can do
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: that too.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what it is, man, because it's everything about
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: being a good example of a good role model and
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: be able to to always tell people, you know, representation
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: is extremely important. If I can represent my people, my
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: community in the sport and NASCAR, more people is gonna
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: want to come to this world or inspire them to
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: say hey, if they know they didn't speak English, they
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: didn't have money, and he was able to make it
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: to that point, I can do it too. And it
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter if it's soccer, baseball, acting, whatever that may be.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Because something that I've learned is that the ingredients for
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: success they are the same for whatever it is that
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: you want to do, right, it doesn't matter what it is.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean it's been important for me to
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: really realize that, relate that message, and make people realize
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: that that they can do it. They can do it.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: So one moment did you realize, oh, ship, I'm doing it?
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: What was that one moment that you were like, you
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: put on the suit, you pran a helmet, and you're
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: at the track. Yeah, You're like, like, what was that
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: transition to that?
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: Because it doesn't just go from a gold card to that, right,
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: I mean, that must have been this whole period in
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: between that.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: You know. That's a great question, But I don't think
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: that there's only one race, because it's almost like it's
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the steps. Like for example, when I when when my
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: family sold the business and the house and everything, I
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: was able to make it to the biggest series in Mexico.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: My dad's goal was for me to make it with
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: the biggest team in Mexico, National National Mexico, and and
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: you know, do well make a little bit of money
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: and and I have an okay life. Well, everything was
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: going well until I got to that point. I was
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: already with the biggest team, with a good sponsor, everything,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: and then six months later somebody said, hey, I think
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: you're two good men. I think you should go to
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the United States. So what happens then? You know, the
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: journey is still all over again. So I thought that
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: my family was going to be able to see that
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and relaxed a little bit, and here we go again
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: for another journey. So it's one like every step has
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: a different thing, you know. I remember when I won
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the championship in twenty sixteen. I became the first non
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: American to win a championship in the NASCAR Series. I mean,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: you know, like I felt like I was on top
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of the world right, like the president of Mexico, Richia
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: like everything. It was like super cool. Yeah, but guess
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: what the next year, I got moved from that series
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: to the highest level of NASCAR because I was that
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: was the second division. So I went to the highest
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: level and you have to start.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: The journey all over again. So it's someone like, yes,
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: you have about all the guys racing video, You're like,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: there're also at that level too, like really your leveling up,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: your mentality and your skills also have to continue to
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: grow the place.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's someone like, yes, I don't feel like
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: there was one particular race, but it's someone like that
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: is a journey, right, Like you make one step. I
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: always tell people that when you get to the top
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: of the mountain, it's only the beginning of the next one, right,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: And I felt like when I was making it to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: the top of the mountain, we enjoy it, but I
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: was back in back in base one, right Bay zero
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: and uh, but definitely winning the championship. I felt like
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: that here in the United States, that's what put me
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: on the map, and everyone wanted to be you know,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: associated with me at the time and doing all these
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: different things. And I felt like we started working to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: bring Latinos to racetracks and this kind of stuff.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: So, so what was that journey like when when you
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: were in Mexico and you were killing it and you
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: were winning the races, and then they were like, you
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: got to go to the United States, right, and then
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: you made that decision.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: What was that journey like from Mexico to the United States.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: Because you can't just say I'm going to become a
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: NASCAR and then and then show up to the office
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: and say, hey, I'm a driver, right like, so, like,
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: what's that journey to go. I'm a big shot the
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: I'm the big fish in the small pond in Mexico
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: and now I want to come to the United States
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: and I want to become a professional driver.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: That's one of the toughest decisions I have had to
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: make in my life. Because my family, just like every
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Latino family, we're very tight, you know, We're very very
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: family oriented kind of people. And my mom, my mom
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: at the time, she has never been in a plane before.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: My sisters, you know, you know, they're young, and we
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: were just starting to kind of like it'starting to get
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: a little bit better because when I'm telling you that
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I grew up in a very humble family ten years ago,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: I was very ashamed to share these kind of things.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: But now I'm very proud because what I am today.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: But like, we grew up in a two bedroom house,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: one bedroom, uh, sharing the bedroom with my with both
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: my sisters. Man, I got these images in my in
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: my mind when when the person that I don't know
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: the words in the electricity company. They came to a
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: house to call the electricity because it was due. The
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: same thing with the water, like all these different things,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: like we grew up like strolling. And when I decided
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: to come to the United States, I didn't want to
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: do it. Well, when I said I decided, when when
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: the opportunity came for me to come to the United States,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to do it because my family was
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: in a very compromise position and I was finally able
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: to be a little bit more stable myself and I
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: was trying to support them a little bit, and coming
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: to the United States it was like starting the journey
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: all over again. And I didn't speak the language. I
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: didn't speak English, I didn't have anything, so to me
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the odds of making it. And this is the other
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: thing is that in Mexico, nine out of ten people
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: that wanted me to be successful, they were telling me, Daniel,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: stay in Mexico and be the best driver in Mexico
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: because in the United States, you're not going to have
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: a real opportunity, like he's going to be.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Very ever seen anyone ever do it exactly.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Like they were telling me Daniel, for a Mexican driver
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to be successful in NASCAR in the United States. It's
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: very tough. Nobody has done it before. And you will
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: never believe who was the only person that told me, Daniel,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: let's do it man, your father. That was my dad.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: He was the one that said, maybe all that and
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: if it was a war, you can always come back.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: You're so good, you can always come back. You're gonna
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: have a seat here. So we went over there. I
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: grabbed the car that I had, the only car I had,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: a nineteen eighty four Beetle, which I also have. We
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: drove all the way from Montre, Mexico to Charlotte, North Carolina,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: in the snow. In Atlanta, it was, oh, yeah, you
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: talk about journey.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: That's really yeah, the lower the rings journey.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And when I said nineteen eighty four Beetles, I'm
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: not talking about the new Beetles, like the old one,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the metal ones.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: And I started the journey man. And at the time,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: you know, I couldn't even run that apartment. I think
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: have sub security, so I couldn't run an apartment. I
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: was living for like six months. I was living with
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: friends of friends and just starting and then trying to
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: learn the language. Because I didn't speak English. I had
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: to learn English English by washing cartoons. And I'm always yeah, because.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: This story it's crazy because it's like speaking to me
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: in so many ways. There's so many people that are
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: listening right now that are just like, man, either that's
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: where I am, That's where I was, that's what it happened, like,
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: it's a it's a it's a beautiful story of of
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: I really could.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: What cartoon in particular, if I.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Mean SpongeBob, you know, you know, you know, you know
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: something that I learned. Is that the reason why I
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: pick cartoons. Sometimes it was easier for me to understand
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: cartoons over movies because they speak very slow and they're
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: better for kids. So I was learning more in cartoons.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: But I had the cartoons in English, but with sotatles
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: in Spanish, so I can I knew kind of what
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: they were saying. And then once I knew, because there
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: were some movies I wasched like fifty times, and once
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: I already knew what they were saying, I put the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: sub tatos in English as well, so I can learn
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the how to smell things. Name one, my favorite movie
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: is Gone in six Seconds. Of course, yes, of course question, yeah,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: gone in second, I love that movie, and I just
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: you know, that's kind of like how I learned. And
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: then then just thinks started working out slowly, but it
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: was tough when I moved to US. It was in
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: twenty eleven. From twenty eleven all the way to twenty
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: thirteen the most difficult years of my life because I
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: was alone. I didn't have money, I was struggling. My
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: family couldn't come visit me because it was expensive. It
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: was hard. It was very, very bad. I had a
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: horrible time, and at times I was like, man, I
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: just this is not for me, Like I don't want
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: to be out of my country with.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: My my family. I kept you holding on the.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Sacrifices that my family did for me. Since since the beginning,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: that has been my fire, because to me, it was
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: like I cannot give up, Like my family has give
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: up so much for me. I'm not giving up. I
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: have to make it work, and I always kept moving.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: It was tough, and then one day I was down,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: but then I was like, thinking about these sacrifices, the mortgage.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: My dad said his winness, I'm like, I'm not staying
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the road and I just kept
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: going and kept going. And I'm going to tell you this,
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the biggest, the biggest pleasure I have ever had in
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: life is that once I met it in twenty fifteen sixteen,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I started doing well. I started I got my first
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: big contract and stuff. Once I start making money, you know,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: I was living in an apartment. I didn't need a
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: lot of money to live because I was always living
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: with nothing. So once I started making money, I was like,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: what am I going to do? So the very first
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: thing I did was to give my dad his shot
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: back and I buy my house. And that's for me,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: the biggest thing, because you have to always remember where
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: you came from and the people that gave you a
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: hand when nobody else even knew you. So for me, yeah,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: so my dad, my dad didn't have his shop at
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: the time. He was just working some other things with
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: some people. And uh, and I told my dad say, hey, uh,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: let's let's go together and we partner and let's put
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: your shop back the one that you sold them and
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: we did it. Where is it he has now? That's
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: what he does for living in Mexican and Mexico told
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: a Mexican.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Because you know the thing about Latino dads is that
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: they don't ever want to retire.
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: No, no, no, this guy, I actually I was It's
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: funny you mentioned that because just a few months ago
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: I was talking to him I said that you maybe
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: choose slowan a bit in the shop and you may
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: come to some races or do something else, because yeah.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I man, I'm working on it. I'm trying to sit on.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: But the guy doesn't. I mean, he's the kind of
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: guy that he's cleaning the car and he's he's wiping
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the floor, he's just doing everything.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: You know. Yeah, yeah, he's.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: The kind of guy that he's micromanaging the whole thing.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: And how does he know? He's young? My dad is
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: uh fifty six, that's correct, Yeah, he RETI no, no, no, no,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: he has plenty of energy.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Oh the guy is super free. Now the guys. Yeah,
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: here's a stump.
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: So so you you make the journey, You're in your VW,
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: You're you're here, you're learning English, watching SpongeBob and gone
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: in sixty seconds.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: How does someone in your position?
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: I would imagine that you have your record behind you write,
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: your record that you brought from Mexico. Right, So how
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: does someone like you walk into the offices of NASCAR
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: and say, I want to raise for NASCAR.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: Well, because the average person can't do that.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well neither. I was able to do that because
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: the way it works is that NASCAR probably is kind
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: of like it's kind of like the league rights like
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the NFL, but then you have all the teams. So
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: even though the NASCAR wanted to help me, the one
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: that I actually they were actually going to harm me
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: were the teams. So NASCAR was trying to help help
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: me a little bit to the Drive for Diversity program
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and and helping me with some support, some media training
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and things like that, but I needed the teams to
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: hurt me and uh and that's.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: When I needed to be drafted exactly.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: So that's kind of like how it works. And a
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: NASCAR was always good because NASCAR really wanted a Latino
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: in in in in Oscar, especially a Mexican right because
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of Mexicans here. So so I feel
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: like that that helped a little bit. But something that
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: I also realized is that once I start making it
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: into National Series, which is the National Series, we have
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: three series in NASCAR. The cop level, which is the
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: highest one, and then you have the rally series, which
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: is the one that I won the championship with, and
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: then you have the truck series. So to make it
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: into these three series is very difficult because there is
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: just thousands and thousands of drivers are trying to go
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: into this into this funnel. And when what I started
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: to realize is that it wasn't easy to get to
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: this series. And then once I got there and I won,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: and I went to the copy level, the best of
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the best are in the coup level. The best drivers,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: the best engineers, the best mechanics, the best of the best.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: And in my mind, I'm like, I'm just as talented
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: as anyone else, so I'm gonna be just fine. But
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: this is where the lack of experience of not having
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: that maybe a dad or an uncle or a grandpa
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: with racing experience kicking because once I met into a
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: cop level, I started to I thought that my talent
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: and my work and everything think was going to be
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: plenty of you to be able to get to that point.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: But I started to realize that if you didn't have
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: a good group of people around you, you're not going
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: to win. So I start to realize that in the
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: cup level. It's not enough to be a very good driver.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: You have to be a very good leader. You have
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: to have good contacts. You have to have good a
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: good team around you. And that's the part I struggle
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the most.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: For years.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: I struggled because as a Mexican driver, I didn't have
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: the contacts. I didn't have the relationships.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: You know, I was going to it's a little political.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit of a country club.
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: It's always it's almost like like, yes, we want you
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: to be there. I have a little bit of success,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: not a lot, you know, pay yeah, a little bit.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: So for me, it was always a little difficult to
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: be able to to to kill it because I wanted
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: to kill it, but there were always be patient and
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: said no, but we have to get these people. And
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: I just always always but for a long time I
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: liked the express in some relationship with the people to
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: be able to put things around just like everything right. Yeah,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: And that's the part of that took me a long
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: time to figure it out. Because once you get to
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: a level, you're as good other people around you.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: So I remember when you when you got to the league,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: I you know, I used I was such an askcar
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: friend for so many years, and I would go to
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: the because they had such interest in Latinos watching and
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: being part of the sport. They always invited me. They're like,
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: you know, can you do this in Spanish and English?
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: You know, like always the media it was like can
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: you do this with an A And I always was
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: like yes. So like I think Latino should discover that
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: this is for them too, because I just think it
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: was such an exciting new moment. And so when you
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: around or remember immediately as soon as I got to
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: this race and if you remember this, so so there
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: was a little bit of nervous energy and they were
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: like they're like, we really love for you to work
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: with us over to uh this activation. We have our
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: Mexican driver that we love for you to take a
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: picture with. And when I was like no, but it
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: was like they were so excited to like bring like
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: you know, you know, whether it's an actor, whether it's
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: a musician whatever, to be like we have one, you know.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: And NASCAR was so proud to have their their Latino driver,
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: and they were doing all kinds of activations. Obviously the sinko, the.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Miles and no thing like it's great.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: So it was great and they had like a whole
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: activation for for dinner when I went there, you know,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: they had us meet and I was I was just
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: filled with so much pride. And I think you should
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: know that as someone who who loves NASCAR and loves
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: racing and loves the sport and all loves cars, that
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: was a big moment for me personally, because, you know,
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: because we understand what is all so like to be
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: the only Latino in the room, you know, and as artists,
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: we've always been the one brown person either in the
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: movie or in the TV show or producing or directing,
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: like we don't have a you know, we we at
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: that time when we first started, there was no such
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: thing as a community. I can only imagine, but you
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: know what you're experiencing in a community that's like you're literally,
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: quite literally the only one. But I think the idea
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: that you know that you were giving, you know, you
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: were giving such a platform to kind of uplift and
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: inspired and to pioneer was a great deal of pride
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: for all of us, you know, and I think you
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: know that moment it was like now I'm really watching
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: that and I remember I was there one of the
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: races when you wanted and like and it was just
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, like my father in law like started email me,
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: you know, because that texted me because he was watching
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: it at home. My dad was watching her home, and
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: everyone was calling me, and I'm like celebrating. My phone's
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: ringing people at home. So you know, like I was
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: there and people are going crazy and I got to
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: like put out a tweet and put out an Instagram.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: They're like Latinos one this thing too, you know, and
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: it was like it was such a moment in alignment,
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: but like celebrating there and then having the Patriots and
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: the Latinos in my family called me because they were
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: so proud to see you win from home and there
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: weren't even other rays. But it's like, imagine how you're
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: connecting the Latin American in the United States who's never
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: thought that was their sport and said like now I'm in, Like, yeah,
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: it's a really interesting So now NASCAR, I think has
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: a great deal of pride for that. They really are excited,
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: they appreciate you, and I think they're really investing in that,
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: and I think it's been it's been beautiful to see
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: if you see that by have you felt that energy?
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Man? First of all, I want to say this the
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: biggest pride and the biggest honor that I would be
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: forever thankful with life. I'm very I feel extremely blessed
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: is to be Mexican and to be able to represent
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: not just Mexico but Latin American sport. I feel like
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: that's the one thing that I wouldn't trade for anything.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: I would give up all my wings, everything, that thing.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I will never tread it because for me, you have
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: no idea how many people comes to me every single
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: week to tell me in Spanish Daniel Bemo's NASCAR for
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: theos a key august As amicangus ion Latino. That breaks
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: my heart because because I know how hard it has
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: been to be able to get to this point. But
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you something that NASCAR has been
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: amazing because NASCAR has embraced along with me, you know,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: or culture, and they try very hard and we're always
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: working together to try to find different ways to connect
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: with our people. But I'm going to tell you something
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: that I especially in the last couple of years, I've
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: been trying to do a lot of species in high
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: schools of kids, you know, to try to motivate them
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: to do well, especially having Hispanic you know, communities, And
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: the one thing that I tell them is that a
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: guys for me, was very difficult to break this barrier
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: right of NASCAR, just like my friends in Mexico were saying,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: you know, like it's going to be very tough for
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Mexican to be successful. Well it was. It was very difficult.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: But the one thing that I learned is that once
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: I was able to break that barrier, they were a
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: war of opportunities, a war of opportunities, and not just opportunities,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: but opportunities that only I could take advantage of, you know,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: because and I'm saying this in the more in the
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: most humble way, but if anyone in ASCAR today want
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: to do something in the Spanic market, there's one guy.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: If anyone wants to do something in Spanish, there's one guy.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Every time that we get to Hispanic Heritage Month, everyone
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: wants a little piece of me, so, you know, and
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: it's a it's an asset, you know way, And this
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: is what I told these kids in high school, like
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: being different is not a disadvanished it's an asset, and
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: you have to see it like that, and if you
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: see it like that, you start to understand that, yes,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: it may be difficult in the beginning, but once you
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: break the barrier and you understand that you are one
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: on one or one of a few, and you're more unique,
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: you're more special. So it's important for people to understand
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: that that, yes, it may, it may. It kind of
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: like the same thing that I was talking earlier about
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: me feeling unlucky. Well, if it wasn't for those experiences,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: for those moments, I was not gonna make it here.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: So how many times I cannot tell you how many
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: times you know, people in general, including myself, we feel like, man,
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: why do this happened to me? Why this thing is
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: so difficult? We never know what life is trying to
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: teach us, right, and what is the next thing? Is
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: trying to prepare us for something else, something bigger. And
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: this is kind of like what I'm trying to tell
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: these kids, for them to always understand that if things
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: are difficult, it's because he's preparing you for something. You know,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: life is not going to try you something that you
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: can handle. And yeah, I mean I really NASCAR has
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: been amazing to me and I feel like we have
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: really made a change in the sport with our community
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: that it hasn't happened in the last seventy five years, right,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: you know, do the sport.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: Do you feel that.
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: You know, of course you're from Mexico and you're the
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: first to break through NASCAR, Right, did you feel though,
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day, you're like, look, I
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: may be Mexican, I may be from anywhere in this world,
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: but you but.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: Your skill spoke for itself.
• 41:58
  Speaker 4: Right, So do you feel that the ethnicity was a
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: barrier that you had the cross or do you think
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: that maybe that was just sort of a blip and
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: then ultimately they saw what you can do, and they
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: saw that you can compete against anybody else, and so
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: then that became sort of in the in the in
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: the background.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that's a great question the way,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: but I think that it has to be a combination
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: of things. You know, definitely the skill, because you have
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: to have the skill, but you have to have the wheel. Right, Like,
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: there is one kid that I'm helping, you know, that
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: is trying to come through the through the ranks right
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: now from Mexico and I and I tell him, I said, man,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: you have to want it. You have to go for
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: it. It only works if you want to be there, exactly,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: you have to want it, Like how bad do you
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: want this? Are you willing to pay the price? Because no,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: everyone is willing to pay the price, you know, Like
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of people want to be successful, but sometimes
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: they don't want to do what is required to be sulful.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: So so you have to want it. And I feel
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: like that the skill is very important, but the wheel is.
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: That's what gets you there exactly, what gets you all
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: of it, all of it, you know.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So I always tell people like, you have to
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: like you have to really really want it.
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: So do you feel that those are the things that
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: you need to teach the kids in Mexico or any
• 43:14
  Speaker 4: or anywhere else in Latin America? Right that that's not
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: necessarily about their ethnicity, but it's.
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: Their ability to want it.
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: It's their ability to put the work in as their
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: ability to put the work into into the skill, right,
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: it's it's I think.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: So because I know I know a lot of a
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: lot of very very talented drivers from from Mexico. I'm
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: helping a couple of kids also from from Argentina, from
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: from Brazilo as well, and but sometimes also the mental
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: aspect is something very important that a lot of people
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: talks about, you know, and I have learned, especially in
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: the last handful of years, that the mental part of
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: the ability of the wheel is extremely important because if
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: you can believe in your mind that you can do it,
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: your you have with there follows yeah, you already half
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: with there and uh and and that's the one thing
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: that I try to, you know, talk to the next
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: generations to to but sometimes, you know, sometimes it's tough,
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: you know, like I feel like I feel like sometimes
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: you have to experience some things on your own terms
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: to be able to understand, you know, how important is this?
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: Because important is the will, How important is the skill?
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: And all these different things, right because because it's just
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: so many different things, right like, there is a lot
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: of temptations always uh and and and and it's important
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: just to stay in track and and continue to put
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: one food in front of the other.
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: So bringing you now to present day, Okay, a couple
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: of I have to by the way, I'm gonna just
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: say I'm gonna I'm gonna say a couple of weeks
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: ago because it's because whenever this areas it would be
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago, but really happened last week.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: You had a very so a couple of weeks ago,
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: you had a very meaningful race and it was a
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: moment that took not just media but the sport by
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: storm for a number of reasons. One because Latinos saw
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: you celebrate a win again. Right, you were holding a
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: Coca Cola refrigerator.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Super cool. It's a beIN touching you know, talking about
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: Ben touch items. I love that thing.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Freddy the trophy, Yeah, it's well, so the
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: race is like a Coca Cola sponsor race, right, so
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: a big race, but what they get is not a cup,
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: is like a vintage Coca Cola refrigerators.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: That's the one race that we get like four trophies.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: Like we get the vintach machine refrigerator, we get a ring,
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: we get a trophy, we get a wash, I mean
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: we get.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: So so that was a very challenging race. I mean
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: there was a other different elements, you know, a couple
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: of spinouts, right and all that. So do you mind
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: taking us a little bit to your mental of what
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: was happening because that was a fight.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: It was a fight. Let me start with saying that
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: to me, that's the most special race of the year.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: And the reason of that, the number one reason of
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: that is because there's the one race that my family
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: comes every single year because it's that race is in Charlotte,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: North Carolina. So they come, they stay with me at
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: the house, and then we got to a racetrack. So
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: to me, it's like a family union. It's a family
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: runion and we only do it once a year. So
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: for several years that has been the most special race
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: of the year for me. Plaus I've been part of
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: the collaboraising family member for ten years now, so you know,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: the collaborationing.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: We also needed to give you a point at a
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: point so I don't know, we don't have a c
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: Cola years was holding something.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, check point Yeah the check.
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: Point, Yeah, said to Timmy the Coca Cola.
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: Well call it is one of my sponsors. Yeah. So,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: and this race is a very very famous it's called
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: the Cola six hundred. So it's the longest race of
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: the year and it's one of the most important races
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: of NASCAR, and you know, and then you add all
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: these different things and then as you mentioned Wilmer, Like
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: the race started that we were fast, but then in
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: the first pistol we had a loose will, and then
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: we had a loose will. We had issues there. I
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: had to pit. If I wasn't pitting, I was gonna
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: the wheel was gonna break and I was gonna crash.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: We pit it. We had to recover from that, and
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: then we had a tire going apart, so and then
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: we recovered from the first wheel, and then the tire
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: came apart, so we went backwards again. So I have
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: to recover from that. And then the radios were not working.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: You're gonna think. You're gonna think, by the way, we're
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: making a movie out of this race, okay it trust me.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: Several people have told me. Then you know this, this
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: is like the movie. Like if you wrote that's the movie,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: you wouldn't believe that.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: Really what happened to a driver?
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: Do you guys want to know why the radio isn't work?
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: It's crazy And I could never believe it until they
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: told me because they were trying to find out what
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: happened with the them radios. So starting in the like
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: thirty percent in the race, NASCAR, I guess hired a
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: company to fly some drones and do some figures with
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: lights and stuff, and they were flying for hours. So
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: those drones have a signal. Apparently it's almost impossible to
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: have the same signal or very close signal. Well, it
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: was the same thingnal that I actually, so for two
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: hours three hours I didn't have radios because those them
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: drones were flying, they were intense intercepting my signal. So anyway,
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: that was very bad. And then I started having issues
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: with the transaxle, something with some weird noises in the transaxle.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, it was a race of adversity. Everything happened
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: to us. Everything happened to us. At one point I
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: was frustrated, but the car had been the speed. I
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: don't know if it were good enough to win it
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: straight up, but we had good enough speed to be
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: in the top ten until the very end. We recover
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: all these and we were back in the game. And
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: then Australity play. We put two tires instead of four tiles.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: We get track position. We knew the rain was coming,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: we had a couple of good restars, got a couple
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: of good restores, and we were able to keep those
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: guys behind and then when they were winning that thing.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: But the most special thing of everything that I just
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: mentioned was that Kyl Bush, Yeah, just passed away unexpected
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: a few days before the race. Super difficult week, very
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: very roller coaster of emotions for a lot of people,
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: for the entire industry, some people more than others.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: It shook the sport. I mean, it was so crebly
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: an aspect.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: It was huge for me. It was very touching because
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, and you know, we were just talking
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: about the skill on the wheel in two thousan fifteen,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: I was just getting into this NASCAR thing and the
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: first year for me in the National Series, and Calbush
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: was part of my team. He was in my direct teammate,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: but he was in my organization, so he was super good.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: So one day I texted him, say, can I give
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: you a call? Say, I was wondering if you can
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: give me some advice, you know in the race show.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Because back then, ten years ago, we didn't have data,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: We didn't have all these different things that we have
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: today to be able to study all the cars and
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: things like that. So back then a lot was by experience,
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: by knowledge and just experience on different race tracks. So
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: I called him. He gave me some advice and I
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: at the end of the cause, hey, would you mind
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: if I call you next week to talk about the
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: next race? Because we race every week? Right He said, yeah, man,
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: you assume me a Texan Wednesday and we connect Wednesday
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: or Thursday. Well, long story short, twenty fifteen. Carl was
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: helped me every single week, giving me advice for the
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: entire year, and I ended up becoming very strong, and
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: eventually my wing came. He was raising in that race
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: and I passed him the very last lap in Michigan.
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: It was this win was in Michigan, and I remember
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: perfect he came to be two lane, he congreed to
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: he came a hawk, and he said, hey, no more
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: phone calls. No more phone calls.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: So my job here is done.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: But the reason why I'm saying this is because a
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: lot of people knew Carl as a lady of a
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: racing driver, not a lot of people knew him as
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: a person. And the fact that he took the time
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: every single week, twenty thirty minutes to help this Mexican
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: kid that didn't have anyone. He didn't have to help me,
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: and he gave me a hand when I needed the
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: most from a freaking legend to me, look like goosebone,
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: Because to me, that meant the word to me because
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: at that point I knew not just who he was
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: as a driver, but who he was a person, which
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: he was even more impactful. So since then, you know,
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: I had a huge amount of respect for him. And
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: then and then we became competitive and teammates, and and
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: then we'd raise very hard, but we were always good friends.
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: I went through my text with him last week and
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: it was very very shocking, you know, having a good time.
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: We partied together in Mexico after the Mexico race, and
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: just he was a good person and and and then
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: fast forward to a race, very emotional race to be
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: able to win that race for my team obviously, but
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: for him. On honoring him, it was to me, you know,
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: something that I could have all the dream of.
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: It's a beautiful, like I said, moment for you too.
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: And you know it also comes in the hills of
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: we We got a privilege to kind of unite forces
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: and do a documentary and on you know, his trajectory,
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: his life. We were able to you know, see him
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: go to Mexico and and also take NASCAR for the
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: first time in history to Mexico City, so we're able
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: to be there for that. And like, I'm not going
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: to tell anyone what happens in the documentary because there's
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: a lot of like beautiful stuff that you talk about
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: the moments of like you can't write it in a movie,
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: but like when it happens, you're like, oh my god,
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: this was like a movie that really happened in real life. Yes,
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: we had the privilege in the honor of having you know,
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: down in his beautiful family and trusting us with a
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: snapcat of his journey. And our goal in my biggest
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: since I met you, has been to like how do
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: we immortalize you know, your story for the next generation.
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: And and then this is the documentary. You know, it's
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: premiering at the Leap, you know, obviously a massive festival
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: for for not just the film industry and for Hollywood.
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: Right it's like a great place to discover stuff, you know,
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: obviously as a festival, but it's a big moment for
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: la It's a big moment for Latinos. Yes, you know,
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: so you know he has a Friday night premiere and
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: it's it's just great that we get to see it
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: on a big, big screen and all the beautiful people
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: are coming to support the first time you see yourself
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: on the big screen. Yes, yes, yes, but also so
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: kind of because you were in cars Yeah.
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: Well my friend wasn't in it though.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: I was in Cars three, so I was like I
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: was a race card. My voice was in it, yeah yeah,
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: my head. Yeah. So that's that's why that's what my
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: has to a little bit because Cars three comes, I
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: don't know, but but no, I'm super excited. It's super
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: very blessed. I can thank you know, Wilmor for for
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: trusting uh myself, and for believing in me and my
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: journey and and and like he said, and the way
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: that everything play out in Mexico. Hm, it's almost like
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: he was scripted.
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: It was so beautiful and and I just can't wait
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: to people to see it and hopefully people see this
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: and say, you know what, I want to do it too,
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: you know, whatever it is that I want to do,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: because my dream has always been racing. You know, that's
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: my passion. That's what I live for. But it doesn't
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: have to be you know, it can be baseball, it
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: can be so Okay, it can be Ascar, it can
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: be an engineer, it can be an electrician, whatever that is.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: But to inspire or people or community to say, hey,
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: I can do it too, and I'm gonna do it.
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's it's it's really beautiful. And I I
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: you know, I also say you're a beautiful family because
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: we talk about the next generation, you know, And I
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: believe I think the world knows you're expecting your first child.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: We're expecting.
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't wait. And we don't know it's a
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: boy or girl yet.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: We don't know. We know it's a baby, and we
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: know it's one. Okay, yeah, yeah, but here's a crazy question.
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: Here's like the big crazy question. Is he or she
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: going to be a driver? You know?
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: I have always had this thing in my mind. I mean,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: Julia's family, my wife. They actually come from racing. Like
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: everyone has raised the blood, every blood. This is a
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: Formula One champion. The brother has raised everything, very successful
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: and everyone. So in my mind, I just don't want
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: to push him or her to do something. I would
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: love to.
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: Wait.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: I think it's gonna ended up there because it's all
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: like that's gonna be the war, right, But I would
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: love for him or for to her to come to
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: me and and ask for it.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: Right, I want to make sure that this is I
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: really want to do this.
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: I want to make sure that is wanted. This is
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: what they want to do, and not no, what I
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: want to do, of course, because you know we're just
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: talking about the skill, right, and about the will. I
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: felt like I have I have my entire life, I
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: have wanted to do this, and I have had this
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: fire instead of me and I have had this will.
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: So I felt like if I push my kid to
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: do something, may it may lack a little bit of
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: the wheel. So I feel like it has to come
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: from no.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: That's and then you can then you support, and.
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: Then I want to support whatever it is that I
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: want to do.
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: That's incredibly fair. I mean, I I have this weird
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: thought that they're gonna be like, you know, I really
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: want to be a mechanic, exactly what you were gonna be.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: It's like that's why I think I think the odds
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: are that that this this little human is gonna it's
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: gonna be related with colors, because you know, there is
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of cows in the house. On my style
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: of the other family of the family. But I think
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: we'll have to wear.
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: I look, you guys don't know, but I'm gonna put
• 57:37
  Speaker 2: my bed. I'm gonna put my bed. I think it's
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: gonna be a girl.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I need you.
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: We're gonna say that, because every time that I kept talking,
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: I kept wanting to say she and it was happening.
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: It was like eight years. I don't know, but she
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: doesn't know. No one knows. Are do you feel Do
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: you feel the same? I know, you know.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: For me, I think I think that the first one
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: is gonna be a girl, and I think the second
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: one is gonna be kind of like you. And I
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: think that the first girl is gonna like she's gonna
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: be like I'm gonna be the fire crackers. Oh my god,
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: you have.
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: To if they ever decide or if she or whoever
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: once decides that that they want to be racing. I
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: just I feel like we have to do another documentary
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: on you racing against each other. That's gonna be imagine crazy.
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, I get it. I have a daughter,
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: so I'm like, oh my god. The moment that my
• 58:41
  Speaker 2: daughter and I are on setting, they say action and
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: she's like performing up. My brain's gonna melt.
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty amazing. But congratulations and all that, man,
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: And obviously to your beautiful wife, you know, she's you know,
• 58:56
  Speaker 2: she's such a huge part of our documentary and you
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: know she's she's, you know, such an incredible support to you.
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: And you guys have inspired each other in so many
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: different ways. And uh, it is really beautiful to see
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: that it really is a family endeavor. You know, like
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: if it's in order for your family to achieve extraordinary things,
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: you all have to to be alligned aligned on one
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: to sacrifice two what it takes in three you have
• 59:25
  Speaker 2: to love it for it to be worth it, right,
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: because no matter how hard it is, if you're really
• 59:29
  Speaker 2: enjoying what you're doing, I think it's worth the fight,
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: you know. And and you guys are going to be
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: incredible parents. You're gonna be so so so fun. And
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: I'm just wondering who's going to be the police and
• 59:43
  Speaker 2: who's gonna be the party.
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: I think I think she's gonna be the police. I
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: think it's I think that's gonna come to me for
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: the j uh. I think I think it's important to
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: mention also that I feel like I have had at
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: a thousand sets backs, right, Like, It's just it's paralyzed
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: about the sports. And that's why it's very important to
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: have your circle of people, family, very very tight with
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: you to leave your back up and now really help
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: my family in Mexico. But Julia has been every single
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: step of the way there with me, especially in twenty twenty.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: Twenty twenty, it was a very tough year for me
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: because I went to a new team and the team
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: was strolling, and then the pandemic hit and the team
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: pretty much, i mean almost it almost this disappears and
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: it was very tough. And that was Julia was with
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: me in the journey, and I felt like if it
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: wasn't for her, probably I wasn't going to be able
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: to push through that.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: It was almost that person that just kept me alive.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: So it's just extremely important, you know, to keep that
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: circle and to always give support, you know, because sometimes
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: I'm down and she brings me back up. Sometimes she's
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: down and it's my job to bring her back up.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: So that's that's what partners do well.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, you are not just an example of greatness
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: to the sport and also an icon that's going to
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: live forever in the minds, in the hearts of Latinos
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: saying we we remember the first one, and then you know,
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: I guess the world, how beautiful will it be for
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: you that you know, on the last and the last
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: years of your career, you know that you look to
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: the left, to the right and the mirror and there's
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 2: a few Latinos kind of just chasing you, exactly, And
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: that would be a beautiful gift to actually have to say, okay,
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: now you guys can pass me and and keep going forward,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: you know, And I think that's that's there's something really
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: before about that totally.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 1: But the way I see it, I want that to
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: be the case on the entire industry. The driver power
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: of it is very important, but the entire industry, you know.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: A couple of weeks ago, I was calling a race
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: on the booth in one of the truck races, which
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: is the third division. So I was of the of
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: the commentators in the race, and they came and asked
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: me to Sai Daniel, so you really love this to
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: do this, and I say, yeah, I like a lot.
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: He said, so that's the reason why you do it?
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: And I say well, no, so why is that? I said, Well,
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: the reason why I do it is because I want
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: people like me to see me here representation. Right. When
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: people see me here, they think, hey, this guy didn't
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: even speak English ten years ago. I want to be
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: like that. So my goal is to be able to
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: use my platform as most as possible to use to
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: represent our community, and hopefully I can bring more Latinos
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: to drivers, seats, to broadcasts, to commentators, to mechanics speakers,
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: and hopefully ten years on the road when I said,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: you know what, this time for me to stop doing this.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: I can look back and I can see Latinos everywhere. No,
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: just in driving for me is wired.
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: And also there were so many careers that that four
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 2: touches and Promonte drivers. Yes, I mean it. There's so
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: many entry points. If you want to be a part
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: of NASCAR, there's so many different roles. You don't have
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: many just drive.
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: You know, so many things. And the other part that
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: I always talk to these kids in high school that
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: you know, when they took up racing, the first thing
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: that they come to mind, it comes to mind is
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: the driver, right, But it's marketing. There is engineers, there
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: is aeroynamics. There is, uh I mean, you know, mechanics, there.
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: Is, I mean the science and it's maths, prtist.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: Media, market and everything sales, yeah, broadcasting, I mean that
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: is if you there is there.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: Is one of my my my father in law's dream,
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 2: one of his dreams because he was he was a
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: truck driver. He's retired, but he was a truck driver.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: His dream as a little boy was to drive one
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: of those eighteen wheelers. He wanted to yeah yeah, But
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: he then drove a car, but not he didn't drive cars,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 2: but he would he drove eventually of a truck and
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 2: he would go across country and it was about you know,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 2: it was that generation that was like, I want to
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 2: see the world through the windshield of one of those
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: big trucks. Are calling some stuff whatever, And I know
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: that it would have been a dream for him to
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 2: be to drive one of these supercars in the back,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: you know, with the part of a team. I mean,
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: he would have he would have loved it.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's so funny you mentioned that because my
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: truck driver one. We have to chat and Anthony because
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: they they kind of like share the right. These guys
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: were crazy after we won the Colasi is hundred. I
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: mean they were crazy. I mean the energy, the pride,
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: because these guys get to take the trophy, you know,
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: they take it on the car, on the on the truck,
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 1: they take every things. We don't think about all these
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: little things. And this guy, I mean he was like
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: like I always told I always told you, uh, poma
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: the festival so uh And and for me, it's such
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: a pride thing. You know to see all the happy
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: faces in the team.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: And they all have such a contribution to having you
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: have a ride, a safe and fast ride. You know that.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: I think it's it's everyone's win, so you know, and
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: it's it's really amazing.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: It's like I told them, it's a team effort. Yeah,
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: I couldn't do what I do with all them. It's
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: a team effort. You know. Everyone has to do their
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: part for us to be able to be successful or
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: to have a shot or to win right or whatever
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: that may be. And and that's what is beautiful with
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 1: sports is that is that you have to be everyone
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 1: has to be synced and everyone has to be on
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: point that specific day to be able to to win.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, thank you for all that. I appreciate you
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: spending so much time with us here today and and
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 2: then you know, also to your growing family and really
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: excited we're gonna be staying to it because I think
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna put some beds with Amanda. We're going to
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: figure out who wins, because you have it in that.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 2: But you're gonna you're gonna get to meet her tonight,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: so so you'll get to see her and see what
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: see what happens there. But but yeah, I mean, congratulations
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: and are successed weapon Oh congratulations to Freddy too. Okay,
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: that's a good point. I mean I was gonna let
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 2: him do it, but man, you're letting me now. Now
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: I lost my my sentence. Okay, thanks, Okay, So just
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 2: thank you so much for spending this time with us today. Man,
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: it's obviously, uh not just it's not it's not lost
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: in us. You know how how busy you guys are,
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: and it's a family and now incubating the baby one,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: you know, because it's a really great chapter for you guys.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: I wish you nothing but uh but a safe continuing
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: safe rights and uh and adjustin in a beautiful arrival
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 2: to to your baby.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, and I just want to say congratulations. You know,
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 4: it's funny I look at you and and woman and
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 4: I have had this conversation and we always talk about
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 4: the actors that we saw when we were kids that
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 4: made it possible for us, right we we we talked
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 4: about the Jimmy Smith's of the world, and the John
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 4: Leguizamos and the people who came before us that we
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 4: saw that that right that inspired us, that that made
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 4: it seem possible for us to do what we do
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 4: right and and it's because of them that we do
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 4: what we do.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 3: And and then we became those.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 4: Guys right and then and then and then there are
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 4: actors who came after us who were watching us and
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 4: and you are that guy.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 3: Man, you're that guy. Now, You're you're the guy.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 4: That that all the young drivers in Mexico, all the
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 4: young drivers all across Latin America are looking at and saying, oh,
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 4: it's possible. Now I'm going to start racing go karts
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 4: and doing and having the the the tenacity and the
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 4: uh and and the focus to to to make it so.
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 3: Congratulations and and I'm very proud.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 4: To be here with you and and to see where
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 4: your career continues to go.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you guys. I promise you I don't take
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 1: that for granted. Yeah, I think it with with a
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: lot of responsibility and uh and I hope that that
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: that that the sport continues to grow with diversity international
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: and uh and we continue to bring our community uh
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 1: more and more into the sports and uh and thank
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: you guys, thank you so more for inviting me. This
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: place is amazing, amazing.
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: I'm Wilmer Valdorama, I'm Freddie Rodriguez and this was Three
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: Amigos amigoss.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 4: Yes, Those Amigos is a production from w V Sound
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 4: and iHeartMedia's Michael to That podcast network, hosted by Me,
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 4: Freddie Rodriguez and Wilmer Valdorama.
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: Those Amigos is produced by Cooper Mole and Sophie Spencer Snavels.
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 4: Our executive producers are Wilmri Valderrama, Freddie Rodriguez, and Leo
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 4: Clem at WV Sound.
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: This show is mixed and mastered by Sean Tracy and
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: original music by Madison Devenport and Hala Boy.
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 4: For more podcasts from My Heart, visit the ir Heart
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 4: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 4: favorite shows.
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 2: See you next week,