Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Danica Patrick Opens Up Like Never Before

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Danica Patrick Opens Up Like Never Before · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation brought to
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  you by Jags, the leader in high performance aftermarket car
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  parts. Remember to go to jags.com to
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  fix your hot rod up or your everyday vehicle.
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  Well, as I always say, deep breath, everybody.
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  You're looking at her. How you doing, Danica?
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  Makes me worried about what you're about to ask me.
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  Deep breath. What?
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  We're we're gonna have a good time.
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  Oh, I know we will. We always do.
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  Let's start out like this, I thought to myself, how am I
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  going to introduce Danica? But, but listen, it's pretty
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  easy there. There's a lot to you and I know
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  that. And we're gonna get to it.
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  But let's start like this. Danica Patrick, the most
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  successful lady racer in American open wheel racing.
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  But I say the world. I think you're the most
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  successful lady world. Open wheel racer.
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  I don't think there's anybody like you in the world with open
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  wheel. Welcome to Kenny Conversation.
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  I like it. That's a very flattering
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  opening. Thank you.
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  You've done a lot, so it was your birthday last week.
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  Happy birthday. Thanks.
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  Thank you God. It's like I turned 42 and 42
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  sounds a lot like 42, but 41 still somehow sounds like 40,
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  which could be 39 but 42 is 42. I follow you on Instagram.
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  I follow what's up. It's a lot of fun.
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  You're busy, but you look really Zen right now.
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  You're not. You're not.
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  As are you. Still feisty.
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  Oh, like 100% like that's. That lives right below the
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  surface. It's just not all of my being
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  now. It's not everybody, you know,
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  taunting you. Well, listen, your dad, TJ, for
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  some reason we're friends. I don't know why, but I like him
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  and he says that Danica is a lot of fun and for a father to say
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  that, he said you're a jokester, but I don't.
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  I think he meant fun. So that's the first question of
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  Kenny conversation. I like that.
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  Aren't you fun? Am I fun?
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  Well, I can't answer that because, well, I can say that I
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  laugh at my own jokes, so I am fun for myself.
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  I'm also like, great alone, like I'm a good introvert.
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  So, you know, that means that feels like it tells me I'm fun
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  because I I can entertain myself.
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  But I but I think it's a little like asking, are you famous?
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  It's kind of in the eye of the beholder.
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  Like if you have to ask if I'm famous, I'm probably not.
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  If you have to. If you have to ask me if I'm
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  fun, I'm not sure I am. So Kenny, conversation is just
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  what it is. We don't have a line.
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  It can go everywhere. And I want to remind you of
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  something that you taught me. Sometimes people say to me, hey,
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  remember when you said this, so I'm going to do that to you.
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  You said that it's good to have two or three of you and, you
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  know, a subconscious. So you help me along the way.
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  Because when people tell me I'm goofy, I'm like, well, there's
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  two or three of me. So I don't, it depends which one
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  I want to give you today. So I want to thank you for that.
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  You're really into exploring. Yeah, for sure.
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  I do love, I like learning about the occult, which is just the
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  hidden, you know, like what's really going on, including with
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  ourselves. I feel like in general, life is
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  just like a big cat and mouse game with ourself where we can't
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  see ourselves. So everyone around us shows us
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  who we are, whether it's how we're triggered, how we react to
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  things, what we like, what we value or what we judge in
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  someone. It's all really just information
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  about ourself. Because when we change, the
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  things we see change. I mean, the perfect example of
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  that is like, it's silly but old music or for me, it's old rap
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  music. You know, I listen to it now and
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  I go, whoa, that's what they say.
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  No wonder why Mom and Dad didn't want us to listen to it.
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  Or oh, the lyrics sound so obvious, right.
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  They're more clear or I'm listening to them.
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  So, you know, that's just one silly example.
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  But yeah, yeah, I think that we have different aspects of
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  ourselves that come out at different times.
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  And and I probably what you're referring to as far as different
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  personalities or different different sides is that you know
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  I I've always been really fortunate that I feel like I've
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  gotten to express a lot of those sides within my career whether
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  it's through on track activity or interviews or photo shoots or
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  any of those kinds of things. I feel like people got to see
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  different aspects of me and and I and I was always grateful that
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  that was welcome. I like that because I agree with
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  it, because I don't want people to think there's this is me.
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  Like, like I get aggressive when people go, oh, you're you're
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  this way or that way. I'm like, hold on, There's a lot
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  more to me than you think there is, you know, so back up.
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  Yeah, like what? Like give me an example Like
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  give me one thing. I'm not crazy.
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  I'm not crazy. You're not crazy.
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  I I pay. Well, maybe I am, maybe I am
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  crazy. But I also think that, look at
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  you now, this is turning into pretty intense.
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  Now you're interviewing me? But I thought that it was a big
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  opportunity because at the end of the day, somebody might
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  TuneIn because I'm on it. But people are tuning in every
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  week because it's you, so everyone will want to know a
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  little bit more about you too. Yeah, well, I'll take that.
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  But that's humbling. OK, so we're going to get to
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  racing in just a little bit. But I did not want to start out
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  by attacking you about racing. I want to comment on what you
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  just said. Do you remember that that movie,
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  The Truman Show where you're watching the movie and at the
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  very end? You mean the you mean the
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  documentary about what we're really living in?
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  Yes, we're at the very end, Jim Carrey, his little boat just
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  runs into a wall and actually the whole world is watching and
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  you're like, Oh my God, that is us.
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  That's that's pretty deep. You think that, do you think
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  there's any there? I mean there's a lot of, I mean
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  we're we're slipping into a total different like space here.
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  But there's of course like the idea that it's a Flat Earth,
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  that it's a Dome like that would be one of the references.
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  So another one is that we are like in in simulation and you
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  know, there's like puppeteers moving, dealing, moving the
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  people around like a game. Yeah, yeah.
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  I mean, there's some possibility.
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  I think it's important to think like that because I also think
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  that's why there's religion. One time I asked Father John, he
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  married my my wife, Kim and myself.
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  And I said I know I should believe in God.
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  And he said, well, that's all what you believe in.
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  What's your faith? And I thought, wow, so he, you
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  know, Father John said. It's what you believe in there.
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  There's Baptist. There's Catholic.
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  There's Pentecostal. OK, wow, we're going deep.
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  I mean the yeah, I like it. You know, you know me.
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  I get some, I love these these conversations.
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  But there's my belief is that perception is reality.
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  So if we and which all you have to do is think about what you
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  know. What your thoughts rule your
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  reality. You know.
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  If you think negative, you have a bad day.
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  If you think positive, you have a good day.
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  If you're excited about something's going to go great.
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  If you're optimistic. If you're if you have a
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  direction that you want to go a goal like your thoughts become
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  things and your perception is your reality.
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  So you know if you believe that there's a God and that is your
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  is that and that's your perception, then the result is
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  the same. It's almost like a little bit
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  like a placebo. We write placebo offer being
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  something that doesn't really work but it does work like
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  that's the kind of the definition is like something
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  works without actually having an active ingredient.
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  It's happening psychologically and and so yeah, it's.
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  Yeah, but that that's so true. Because mind over matter, if you
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  think you're a winner, you are. But I I do like that comment you
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  all. I've read that you've said that
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  a lot where you know, it's kind of like you know the food thing.
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  You know you are what you eat. If you eat junk, you're going to
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  get fat. You know, eat good.
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  You're going to be, you're going to be healthy.
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  All right, let's move on. Like I said, I follow you on
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  Instagram. Instagram is a really good site.
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  It seems like it's quality. And I and I like what you show
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  your sister. You and your sister, Brooke.
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  I think that's rare. You love her.
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  Oh. Yeah, we get along great.
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  We're very close. Why do you think?
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  I mean, I I think it's awesome. I wish, Russ.
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  I love my brothers. But but boy, when you're with
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  your sister, I mean, you'd really brag on her.
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  I You guys are. Just tell me about you and your
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  sister. Oh.
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  Thanks. I mean, we're close in age.
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  I think that matters a little bit.
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  We're only two years apart. I mean, we just spent so much
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  time together. Like when we were she was the
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  one who wanted to race, go karts.
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  Not. No.
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  I just said I would do it too. So then she was 8 and I was 10
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  and then it just led to us traveling around the country for
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  the next seven years in a truck or a van, spending umpteen hours
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  together. And so, you know, we spent a lot
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  of time together and and we have a lot of the same interests.
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  I think that I think we've also, I think what really shifted into
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  making us really close good sisters was when she got her
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  first job in Indianapolis at the hospital.
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  She got her doctorate in physical therapy.
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  So she started working and she started having her own money and
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  her own confidence and her own thing.
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  And when that happened, it was just like a switch flipped and
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  she went from being possibly sometimes a little bit negative
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  or, you know, not happy to just. And she would probably say the
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  same thing if she was sitting here with me and I was
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  commenting on it. And she'd she'd agree that that
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  that was just a really big shift.
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  She had her own thing you know and I think that I had my own
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  thing for a long time already And she she she developed her
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  own thing And I think that when we build our own confidence
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  within ourselves we are able to when we when we when we see
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  ourselves in a really positive way we can then see the best in
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  other people easier. And and so I it just really it
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  just really made her into a a wonderful woman and we've always
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  gotten along but I'd say that's when it became like a true
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  friendship where it wasn't like Bickery sisters.
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  We'll still have our moment. She's actually doing a very good
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  job. I've always been like this very
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  very very honest like straightforward can't hold it
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  back. Thoughts.
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  Yeah. Looks like that's you.
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  It's got a lot of downsides but it's got some upsides I guess.
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  And you know, she's also, she's learning how to do that.
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  So she's learning to find her voice and be honest about stuff
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  when it bothers her. And so every now and again we'll
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  have these moments where she'll be like Danica, this really made
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  me mad when you did this and it hurt my feelings and you know,
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  and and so I'm like, OK. And The thing is is that I've
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  always delivered that kind of thing.
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  I've always been able to, I always say the thing, but the
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  truth is, is I can handle the thing too.
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  That's that's what's hard for people to understand is it's a
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  it's not that the people that are harshly honest or or or or
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  say things that are hurtful or offensive or just super honest
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  or cutting deep. It's not like they're it's not
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  like I or we I guess I'm collectively using we I don't
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  think that it's that we are just mean.
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  I think it's that that's literally where we how we like
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  to to deal with life is just say it be honest.
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  And so once she started to generate her own voice too along
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  the way, it's really made it a lot easier to keep the energy
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  between us super clean, too. Two things.
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  I find that when people are dead honest with each other, they're
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  a little mad at like the first time it happens, but then they
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  become really tight because now we know where each other stands
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  and now we get along and it's like, yeah, I, I, I totally
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  agree with that. And one other thing about that
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  is that when you were talking so nice of your sister right there,
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  I'd like to have people around that add to my positive energy.
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  I don't want people around that I have to fix all the time
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  because I'm happy. And you said you're happy, so
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  Danica's happy, Kenny's happy. Now let's surround ourselves
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  with people that are happy too. It gets exhausting fixing
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  negative people and. Picking them up.
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  And yeah, it does, it does. And and The thing is is you can
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  until you're some enlightened Buddha where you have no nothing
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  which you know I'm not one of them.
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  You know you can definitely lift people up and there's you know
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  I'm sure that you know when I see you, you automatically like
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  lift my energy and lift my spirits up.
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  Love seeing you, love talking to you right now, but in person's
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  even better. But there are people that do
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  that. But at some point in time,
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  enough always is enough. And people can people can get to
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  you. And there's only so much, so
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  much in the so much in the bucket.
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  Right. OK.
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  So one more conversation before we go into your racing career.
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  So I remember Danica when she was the race car driver and she
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  was feisty as my Mama would say. Dynamite comes in small packages
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  and and you you you're, I, I find it.
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  You're like my Mama. She's going to tell you what she
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  thinks, but that's really not the conversation here.
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  All of a sudden when you left racing I felt like just
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  following you. You became into you you got into
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  mind and body Wellness. You started I I kind of got a
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  nickname. I was doing my studying on you.
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  I got all these notes and and I and I kind of after I was doing
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  this kind of like Danica the explorer.
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  When when did this mind and body, what made you go?
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  I think it's great. What made you go that route?
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  I thought, you know, it's funny, 'cause anytime I talk to
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  somebody, like in an interview or after racing, they go, wow,
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  you've really gotten into this. Like, you're really deep.
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  Is this new? And the truth is like.
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  It. Yeah, thank you.
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  It's not. But where was this time and
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  space and need for it in a quick three to seven minute interview
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  here and there along the way when we're referring to
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  something that just kind of happened on track, you know,
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  there's not like you know, there really wasn't a lot of space for
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  it. Now it has had time to develop
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  in into a bigger thing for me and more awareness and more just
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  more knowledge and more embodiment of the things that
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  I've always was always curious about.
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  But but it's always been there. Like I, I refer to the story of
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  calling a psychic when I was 18 for my birthday, 'cause I wanted
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  to. Oh boy, I've.
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  Just always been into that kind of stuff.
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  I I've been into the into the the universe and spirituality
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  religion's always been something interesting for me.
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  I'm like a general skeptic. So and maybe I don't know if
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  skeptic's the full right word. It's more than I'm super
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  curious. So I think sometimes my
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  inquisition to somebody can feel like that, like a Spanish
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  Inquisition, when really it's just my form of empathy, of
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  understand. Like I just, I just very much
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  want to understand all the way like down to the depths of your
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  soul what's going on and or the depths of the universe what's
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  going on or the depth of this reality and what's going on.
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  Is this a simulation? Is it not?
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  You know, these are, these are questions that as my dad would
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  say, you're never going to get an answer.
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  And I'm like, yeah, but you definitely are never going to
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  get an answer unless you try. And so I think that, you know,
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  as I learn more and more it, I feel like I get more and more
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  information from it about what's going on through different
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  pathways. I, I Hey, listen, I'm right
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  there with you. I'll sit there and I'll go.
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  OK. What's beyond?
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  Beyond. So that they say OK, there's
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  outer space. Yeah, but hold on.
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  What's what's beyond outer? What's 'cause it?
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  Never ends, So what? Let let's say we're a.
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  Let's say This Is Us. But what's out there?
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  I know, right? That is something at the end.
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  What's the the end? The end is the What?
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  The end is the. Your dad's right, though, So
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  true. Are you like your Are you like
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  your dad? Or are you like your Mama?
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  I'd say I'm much more like my dad.
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  Yeah, my dad's deep, too. My dad's a thinker.
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  My dad's definitely a thinker. He, you know, I get my
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  creativity from him. I think my ambition my but but
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  generally, like my dreaming I think is the biggest and best
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  thing that came from him. His like throughout our whole
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  lives he's just like always in always come up with new ideas
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  for a company or you know a way to make the go Kart faster.
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  Just like, he's so creative. I mean, for a long time, my
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  sister and I and my mom would get, my dad would go pick out an
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  outfit for us for Christmas. Like we'd have mashing outfits
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  every year. And Dad always did such a good
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  job. And then one year it was over
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  because it was like vests and a hat.
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  And I was like, no, it's it's it you, you've reached the end of
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  your, of your, of your, of your, you know, term.
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  It's done. But.
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  But yeah, I think that's some stuff I really get from my dad.
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  I do get some stuff from my mom, too.
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  But. But, but I'm mostly like my dad.
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  Yeah, I like. Well, it's hey, that's a good
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  thing. My mom, when I grew up as a
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  child, my mom had this little statue sitting on our coffee
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  table. And it was the Thinker and it
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  was a statue and it was like a like a Roman guy.
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  And he sat here like this. So I understand there's a little
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  bit more to, you know, when you say the thinker, it it's just
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  thinking logically, you know, and trying to make good
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  decisions. All right, it's Showtime.
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  Now. I just dream that up.
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  I am going to introduce you and when I'm done, we'll talk about
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  it. OK.
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  So what I did is, and now listen, I I do this with all the
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  greats. I did it with Tony Stewart, did
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  it with a Harvick, you know, these are 200.
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  By the way. I'm 60 years old.
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  OK, here we go. Started racing at age 10,
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  winning three World Karting Association Grand National
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  Championships in the mid 90s. Now you feel free to butt in if
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  I get anything wrong. I want to come back and talk
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  about this next one. You went to the United Kingdom
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  to race, And then I have a question.
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  What was that like? We're going to come back to
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  that. I'm introducing you right now.
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  You won the 2008 Indy Japan 300, the only win ever by a lady in
• 20:28
  IndyCar Series history. First Lady to win pole position
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  in a NASCAR Cup Series race. And by the way, it was the the
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  biggest race of all, the Daytona 500.
• 20:41
  This one's pretty cool. NASCAR Most starts, laps, lead
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  and top 10s by a lady. This one's also incredible.
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  Highest finishing lady in the Indy 500 third.
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  And what a race you were racing for the win and the Daytona 500
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  finishing eighth, One of only 14 racers, man or lady.
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  For forget your lady, one of only 14 racers in history, man
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  or lady, to lead laps in the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500.
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  Now we can go on and on and on, but I think those are the those
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  are the granddaddy of them all. When I say all that, do do you
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  remember that life and. And tell me a little bit about
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  that. Yeah.
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  I think the first thing that happens when a bio of sorts or
• 21:42
  accomplishments has been read is that my first thoughts are I
• 21:47
  wish I'd have done more. I don't know if that's a common
• 21:52
  answer or not, but that's definitely something that
• 21:55
  crosses my mind. But then, but I like the way you
• 21:59
  finish. That's probably one of my
• 22:00
  favorite stats is having LED Indy and Daytona and to be one
• 22:05
  of so few that have done that. Yeah, I mean it was I had a
• 22:10
  really fun career. I'm so glad that I got to do
• 22:13
  IndyCar and NASCAR and and I was saying to someone not long ago
• 22:20
  that it's just kind of funny to be someone that's done something
• 22:23
  that no one else in the world's ever done before.
• 22:25
  It's just kind of, it's just kind of funny.
• 22:26
  It's just kind of weird. It's really cool.
• 22:30
  It's a big deal and listen, we're we're going to get to more
• 22:32
  of that. I want, I want to break some of
• 22:34
  your accomplishments down individually.
• 22:37
  Let's go back to when you first started racing.
• 22:40
  I don't know why that caught my eye.
• 22:44
  Where are you from? Are you from Illinois?
• 22:45
  You're from Beloit, WI or Illinois?
• 22:47
  I was. Born in Beloit, WI 'cause it was
• 22:49
  the closest hospital, but from grew up in Illinois.
• 22:52
  That's what I thought, OK, so you left Illinois, middle of
• 22:57
  America, and you went to the United Kingdom or UK What?
• 23:02
  What was that about that that that would be an incredible
• 23:04
  experience at at such a young age?
• 23:08
  Yeah, I mean it was to race. I'm It was so basically at 14 we
• 23:15
  were contacted by or we were contact 14 years old Indy 500.
• 23:21
  I went to this Turn 2 suite of this family.
• 23:24
  It was called the they were the Mecum family.
• 23:27
  They used to have an IndyCar back in the day and a family
• 23:30
  from Texas. And there was some British guy
• 23:33
  up there. And I was asking questions about
• 23:35
  racing. And all I remember he said was
• 23:37
  that I could learn more there in one year than five years in the
• 23:41
  States. And I was like, wow, that seems
• 23:44
  like a good deal. And so that was when I was 14.
• 23:48
  And then two years later when I was 16, this family had been
• 23:51
  following my career and they said we'd like to talk to you
• 23:54
  about, you know, racing, maybe in England or moving forward or
• 23:59
  representing you. And so my dad and I drove down
• 24:04
  to the Indy. It was during the month of May
• 24:06
  and we met with them and ended up driving home and what they
• 24:11
  wanted to do is take me to England to see if I was good and
• 24:16
  see if I could do it and see if I could develop into a, you
• 24:19
  know, professional driver someday.
• 24:21
  And so I went over and tested a car and I guess it was good
• 24:26
  enough that I went back and did what what would be called a
• 24:29
  winter series. So that's when I left.
• 24:34
  That was junior year of high school then.
• 24:36
  And so I was there like the first and last month of the
• 24:40
  first semester. So I was gone for the middle two
• 24:42
  months. And that was the last school I
• 24:44
  did. I pretty much only like went
• 24:47
  through sophomore year, really junior year.
• 24:51
  I was only there for half of the first half of the year.
• 24:54
  So and then I would I they offered me this opportunity to
• 24:57
  go to England and race and my parents just said I I mean, it's
• 25:01
  a hard decision, but it would be even harder to not have the
• 25:03
  opportunity. And so I pulled out of school
• 25:08
  halfway through my junior year and moved to England and ended
• 25:12
  up living there for three years. Wow.
• 25:14
  So you know, I I always. Ed.
• 25:17
  What's that got? My GED, My good enough diploma.
• 25:20
  That's. Bad ass, OK?
• 25:23
  I've never heard that. I got to write that down.
• 25:25
  Good enough. So.
• 25:26
  But good enough, but. I always say they said they said
• 25:32
  Dale Earnhardt senior like oh was gone in the 10th grade or
• 25:36
  8th grade. And I I'm like, look, hold on
• 25:37
  listen one of the for men, my wife says this.
• 25:43
  She says sometimes men don't know what they want to do till
• 25:47
  they're 32 years old. So my response heard.
• 25:50
  I said, but listen when you we go to school so we can do what
• 25:55
  we need to do because we're we're supposedly getting
• 25:57
  knowledge to do what we want to do.
• 25:59
  But if you know what you want to do, by all means, you know, go
• 26:06
  do it. Yeah.
• 26:07
  I went to my own college over there.
• 26:09
  Yes, that's what you did. I I don't.
• 26:13
  I guess what I'm saying is I don't buy into that.
• 26:16
  You must go to school and you know you had an opportunity.
• 26:20
  Mm hmm. I I'm not a super firm believer
• 26:23
  in the institution itself anyway.
• 26:25
  I mean, especially in college. I mean, what a financial drain
• 26:28
  for so many. But high school and grade
• 26:32
  school, even just when you look at the curriculum and look at
• 26:35
  what they learn, it's like, how much?
• 26:37
  How much of that stuff do you use, Kenny?
• 26:39
  Yeah. How much of that stuff do I use?
• 26:41
  Like, like, none. I mean, the best thing that it's
• 26:43
  for is like, you need to know. Yes.
• 26:45
  Reading, Writing, basic math, right.
• 26:48
  Like, how often do you use algebra?
• 26:50
  Yeah. Never.
• 26:51
  Right. OK, so if you need to, if you
• 26:53
  need, if you want to be an architect, you'll learn that in
• 26:55
  your specialized degree, go to. A school for that?
• 26:58
  Exactly, exactly. But you don't need to know it
• 27:00
  for your regular life. And so I think there's so much
• 27:03
  about the curriculum that's off anyway.
• 27:05
  And then when you Fast forward to college and how much debt is
• 27:08
  created within the schools and it's just like, it's just it's
• 27:11
  crazy, yeah. So what you're saying is the UK
• 27:15
  is where where you graduated kind of than life even.
• 27:20
  One more thing about that, were you there by yourself?
• 27:24
  Yeah. Was it wild being by yourself?
• 27:27
  Could you do what you wanted to do?
• 27:28
  I mean it was exciting at first. Like think about being 16 years
• 27:32
  old. You're an ocean away from your
• 27:33
  parents. You're you know, I couldn't
• 27:36
  drive yet though. You had to be 17 to drive, so I
• 27:40
  still had to get driven around a bit.
• 27:41
  But but it was, it was, it was very cool.
• 27:46
  The first year I lived with two girls and when I first got there
• 27:51
  I was sleeping on the couch and then there was 2 rooms and three
• 27:54
  of us. And so one of the girls that was
• 27:57
  there full time had a whole room.
• 27:59
  And then the other girl that left on the weekends was in a
• 28:03
  tiny room. And when I mean tiny room, I
• 28:04
  mean a shoebox of a friggin room.
• 28:07
  Like it was so small. And that's the room I ended up
• 28:10
  getting 'cause she just she since she was only there during
• 28:13
  the week, she's like pulled did the pull out bed during the
• 28:18
  week. And then the next year, I lived
• 28:21
  with a family, which was no fun. And then the last year I lived
• 28:27
  by myself, yeah. OK.
• 28:30
  I've always been intrigued about that 'cause I I had heard, you
• 28:33
  know, 1515 years ago that Danica went there by, you know, by
• 28:37
  herself. Yeah.
• 28:39
  All right, let's let's break some of these massive
• 28:41
  accomplishments down. I want to go back to that
• 28:45
  IndyCar win at that was Motigi. I've been there when when NASCAR
• 28:51
  went there. What a what a different race.
• 28:53
  Track really. Uphill into turn, one downhill
• 28:56
  down the back, straight away. I'm sure you could run that in
• 28:59
  your sleep right now. We mostly.
• 29:02
  Race on the Oval. The only time we race on the
• 29:04
  road course was at the end the last year because we had to get,
• 29:09
  we had to go on the road course because that was just after that
• 29:12
  huge tsunami like got like hit the nuclear plant and that like
• 29:18
  when it like there was like a nuclear, was it AI thought it
• 29:21
  was a tsunami or maybe it was a nuclear explosion.
• 29:24
  I can't. I thought it was a tsunami for
• 29:25
  some reason. Maybe maybe it was just a
• 29:27
  nuclear explosion. But anyway, so, but there was,
• 29:31
  yeah, it must have been the tsunami, because there's
• 29:33
  something of an earthquake. But there were so many tremors
• 29:36
  going on that we had them throughout the entire stay.
• 29:39
  So and it ended up moving the race from the Oval to the road.
• 29:42
  Course I'll be. Darned.
• 29:44
  OK. I didn't know that.
• 29:45
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 29:47
  That's why we're that's why we're having a conversation.
• 29:50
  I'll be darned. So this isn't a historical
• 29:54
  moment. I've seen the pictures.
• 29:57
  You know, it's it's big to win a race.
• 30:01
  But now you're you're like the Statue of Liberty.
• 30:05
  You're a lady. You do the first.
• 30:08
  Nobody's ever done it. Take me through that.
• 30:13
  You know you're not got to go detail.
• 30:15
  But that whole global you win. You're in Victory Lane.
• 30:18
  You get back to America. Tell me all about that.
• 30:21
  That win? Well, I always loved going to
• 30:25
  Japan. I did.
• 30:27
  It was like the time change put me right into my favorite time
• 30:31
  of day, which is morning. Everybody was up so early and I
• 30:34
  remember every morning I'd just go run around the track because
• 30:38
  they leveled off the top of the mountain for the people don't
• 30:40
  know and they built a race track there.
• 30:42
  So there's the Oval and the road course.
• 30:43
  So I would just go out and run all the way around all of it and
• 30:47
  come back. And so you know when you're up
• 30:49
  at 4:00 or 5:00 AM you have anything to do till like 9 you
• 30:52
  know you got. So I just and it was every year
• 30:56
  until the last year we were there during April, which was
• 30:58
  cherry blossom season and it was just like the most beautiful
• 31:01
  time and it was so pretty to they had cherry blossoms all the
• 31:04
  way around the track and so so First off I just always liked
• 31:07
  going there. It was just like it felt really
• 31:09
  good and and then the year that I won there was rain.
• 31:15
  So it was delayed a day and so we raced kind of mid morning the
• 31:19
  next day and I remember that night in the hotel room there
• 31:24
  was track feed to your hotel room TV, which is pretty much
• 31:28
  more interesting than anything other than sumo wrestling 'cause
• 31:31
  I didn't understand a word, anything anybody else is saying.
• 31:34
  But the sumo, you know you can understand that.
• 31:38
  So watching the track feed and you watch you are.
• 31:42
  Fun you're. Watching these ladies, these
• 31:45
  these, these lovely ladies with towels and buckets, sopping up
• 31:49
  the weepers on the track and, like, ringing them into buckets.
• 31:53
  Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh.
• 31:55
  I was like. Where that was gonna go that
• 31:57
  it's like. Sweeping water at the shore back
• 32:00
  into the ocean, man, it's just really, really, really
• 32:02
  pointless. But but there was some weepers.
• 32:06
  Was part of the problem why it took so long to drive the track.
• 32:08
  So that's why we raced the next day and and it was you know, it
• 32:12
  was one of those races where Brian herded told me maybe a
• 32:17
  year or two before, He's like one of these days you're just
• 32:19
  going to be doing the same thing that you normally do and you're
• 32:21
  going to win like. And so sure enough that day I
• 32:25
  was just doing the same thing that I normally do and and there
• 32:29
  was there was a caution and there must have been somewhere
• 32:33
  around 50 to go ish and me and Elio and a few others ended up
• 32:40
  pitting to play the play the fuel game fuel strategy game.
• 32:44
  And so I just started early like Kyle Moyer was my was my my
• 32:51
  engineer and or my my crew chief or no.
• 32:55
  Get them all mixed up now 'cause of an IndyCar and NASCAR
• 32:57
  strategist strategist. He's my strategist and Kyle's
• 33:02
  kind of a legend and he just, you know was giving me a number
• 33:05
  a target from pretty early on and I was just pretty diligent
• 33:10
  and I'm pretty good at that and and so when it came to the end
• 33:14
  of the race there was still some laps left.
• 33:16
  But when I saw Elio I got by him as quick as I could because I
• 33:22
  thought if a yellow comes out and there's only a couple of
• 33:25
  laps left, like I don't want to be of safe.
• 33:27
  You know I didn't I don't want to have waited till the last lap
• 33:30
  just to be safe. Like I want to pass him to be
• 33:32
  safe. So I passed them and I and I I
• 33:35
  think I I'm sure I I pulled away I think I won by like 5 seconds
• 33:38
  or something like that. So I had done a really good job
• 33:41
  of saving fuel and and and it all worked out and I just
• 33:45
  remember feeling really relieved.
• 33:46
  Mostly like I was excited, but I was mostly relieved because I
• 33:51
  felt like, I mean, shoot, I almost won my first year
• 33:55
  actually that so that would have been 2008.
• 33:56
  My first year was 2005 and in 2005 at Motege I qualified on
• 34:01
  the front row. I said 4th and then I almost won
• 34:04
  the Indy 500 the next race. So I was pretty sure that that
• 34:07
  was race number three and four. I think that that was the way it
• 34:10
  went. So like, I almost wanted my 4th
• 34:13
  IndyCar race. So it felt so overdue for so
• 34:16
  long that it took so many years to to finally get there.
• 34:20
  And I'm sad that it didn't happen more often, but but but
• 34:24
  grateful for it, you know? That is a that's a Kenny
• 34:29
  conversation, too. With Danica, you know about
• 34:34
  looking back, I never won a Cup race.
• 34:36
  You know, run second three times that.
• 34:39
  That's another story and we can dive deeper into that another
• 34:43
  year. So you brought it up when I
• 34:47
  watched the Indy 500 and you were leading, battling for the
• 34:52
  win, you're legit forget being a lady because everybody wants to
• 34:57
  remind you, you know you're a lady.
• 35:00
  But that wasn't. Had a great Indy 500.
• 35:05
  Take me through that as you're battling to win the Indy 500,
• 35:09
  dicing back and forth. Tell me about that race, Yeah.
• 35:13
  My first one, So I mean, man, I remember, I mean rookie
• 35:18
  orientation. I was the fastest, like, you
• 35:21
  know, I think I was fastest. I was fastest many days.
• 35:24
  Enough days that I got the big check at the end of the day and
• 35:27
  I had to go to the Media Center and we were like, we had like
• 35:30
  words of the day that I had to get in during my interviews and
• 35:33
  we had a good time and I think I was fastest on Carb day, maybe
• 35:38
  almost got the pole, but I almost spun in Turn 1.
• 35:42
  So my effort was still enough to put me forth to start the race,
• 35:46
  but I started the race off and I stalled in the pits and so that
• 35:53
  I was running top five somewhere ish and I stalled.
• 35:58
  So that put me to the back and I was so inexperienced that and it
• 36:03
  was back in the day when we had sequential gearboxes so I wasn't
• 36:07
  sure where I was at exactly and I didn't want to have them start
• 36:10
  it and accidentally not be fully in neutral.
• 36:13
  So I had the clutch in which can't start the car with the
• 36:17
  clutch in and I didn't even know that then so I was like Oh my
• 36:21
  God. So as all the way to the back
• 36:24
  made my way through and I feel like I was somewhere around
• 36:27
  eighthish and coming for a restart and just like looped it
• 36:33
  just got on the gas and and as I spun around I don't know if I I
• 36:38
  don't know if there was some checking up.
• 36:40
  I mean I'd have to literally watch it to see like what the
• 36:43
  what the what the train was doing.
• 36:45
  But but I spun either way and someone came across, cleared my
• 36:49
  front nose off, but it like spun me straight to head to the pit
• 36:54
  lane. So I like got on pit Rd. pit in
• 36:57
  and pulled into the pits, changed my nose, pitted what was
• 37:01
  close so it was a penalty. So then topped off on the way
• 37:04
  back through 'cause I had to do another drive through and that
• 37:08
  was what put me in the position to go to the end of the race.
• 37:13
  But that, you know, that meant that I was stretching tires,
• 37:16
  stretching fuel. And so I was.
• 37:19
  I inherited the lead through a caution because everyone came in
• 37:23
  to get tires and fuel later in the race and then I LED for a
• 37:27
  while. It was very easy.
• 37:28
  It felt very comfortable. It was so quiet, man, the lead
• 37:31
  is so quiet. And then I was saving.
• 37:36
  I think I I think I don't remember if I got past then I
• 37:39
  got past on track obviously and then there was another caution
• 37:42
  that came out and the on the restart I remember I came up on
• 37:46
  the came on the radio and I was like man everyone say a prayer
• 37:49
  here and they're like we've been doing it all day.
• 37:51
  So the restart came and I got a great run and I passed Dan
• 37:55
  Weldon for the back, for the lead.
• 37:57
  And my favorite clip ever is this like 30 second clip from a
• 38:03
  fan in turns one and two. And it's just like a it's just a
• 38:07
  fan video and it's, you know, you can hear the cars start
• 38:11
  coming towards turns one and two and it sounds like, you know,
• 38:15
  rocket ships coming, coming at them and all the fans start
• 38:19
  going. She did it, she did it, she did
• 38:20
  it. And like everyone's going crazy
• 38:21
  and they're like erupting like crazy, like cheering so loud to
• 38:25
  the point where after the race people asked me if I heard the
• 38:29
  fans. Like did you hear the fans?
• 38:31
  That's how loud they were. And so so anyway took the lead
• 38:36
  back and back then we had eight fuel slots, so eight was for
• 38:43
  caution. So would cut cylinders and save
• 38:45
  a lot of fuel. But then you had 7 fuel saving
• 38:48
  positions and so I started off in one and you know quickly 2,
• 38:54
  3-4 and just kept going down and I kept it was like pulling away
• 38:58
  kind of holding steady. I don't think it was until I got
• 39:01
  to like fuel slot 5 maybe or six that I actually started like Dan
• 39:06
  started catching me and I just wasn't able to hold a low enough
• 39:10
  line with like my tires were 50 laps old and I just, I just
• 39:14
  could not hold it low enough so he could get his wing just
• 39:18
  underneath me enough to get get air.
• 39:20
  And and then he got by and and then they were like just save
• 39:24
  fuel, save fuel. So it felt like emergency mode
• 39:26
  of saving fuel to make it to the end.
• 39:28
  So once I lost the lead then it was just really a matter of
• 39:31
  doing saving as much as possible And so I ended up 4th and yeah
• 39:37
  there was maybe a little more fuel left in that tank than they
• 39:40
  thought but you know it's but that was that was how it went.
• 39:44
  Wow. And and you know that was a
• 39:46
  little bit ago and and people's brains are more powerful than we
• 39:51
  think because you just took me through.
• 39:55
  I caught what what I as a race car driver you you said you you,
• 40:00
  you know early like the day before whatever you got loose
• 40:04
  somewhere. What what is it?
• 40:06
  And this is a this is a question I want to know because I've
• 40:08
  never drove an IndyCar. When you get loose in one of
• 40:11
  those like, you know our stock cars we do this.
• 40:14
  What is it like getting loose in an IndyCar?
• 40:18
  I mean it's just you just you just have such less time to save
• 40:21
  it it's like. The death wiggle.
• 40:24
  Yeah, it's not, it's not. Even though, let's say in
• 40:27
  qualifying, when I about spun out in turns one in Turn 1, I
• 40:33
  probably got more respect for saving it than if I would have
• 40:35
  just qualified on the pole. Yeah, I get it.
• 40:38
  I understand. OK.
• 40:40
  Wow. Those now is your.
• 40:43
  I'm looking at you right now. Are you deep in the thought
• 40:47
  about those times right now? I mean, yeah, I mean, I I can.
• 40:51
  I can. I'm looking at you right now.
• 40:53
  You're living that in your brain right now.
• 40:54
  That's awesome. Well, you you did a lot.
• 40:57
  You know, you did a lot and and I know pretty much what you're
• 41:01
  thinking. So when I won my first Xfinity
• 41:04
  race, it was like, oh, we did it and I got to do it again.
• 41:08
  So some reason we're just never good enough.
• 41:11
  And you got to do it again, got to do it again.
• 41:13
  But Danica, you did it. I mean, you are one bad ass
• 41:19
  lady. So let's clear our mind because
• 41:23
  I was right there with you. Take me back.
• 41:27
  Take me back and keep me in fuel slot four.
• 41:29
  Yeah, yeah. That should be a movie.
• 41:33
  You know, fuel slot four started childhood.
• 41:37
  Get to the end of the movie and you're leading Indy 500.
• 41:40
  Oh by the way, this is, this is real.
• 41:43
  OK let's move forward a little bit And and now we're in the
• 41:48
  part of any conversation where we're 45 minutes into this deal
• 41:53
  and I I want to highlight these things in your life.
• 41:58
  As I said, we we can't go hours. So you you start this NASCAR
• 42:05
  adventure. You know you you come to NASCAR.
• 42:10
  So the first thing it is you had success in IndyCar.
• 42:17
  Why did you make the decision to come NASCAR?
• 42:23
  I was just kind of, I was kind of sick of the direction the
• 42:27
  IndyCar was going. It was going more and more Rd.
• 42:29
  course racing and I really enjoyed the ovals.
• 42:32
  When I started it was 3 Rd. courses and it kind of went to
• 42:35
  five and then seven or eight and I ended up being pretty close to
• 42:39
  half the schedule. So I just, you know, I just
• 42:41
  didn't enjoy that as much and and also I didn't enjoy the
• 42:47
  situation that I was in with my team.
• 42:50
  I I think the the first time the only time I've ever talked about
• 42:54
  this was on the Jocko podcast and it was I was in a my
• 42:59
  contract with Andretti was a profit sharing contract or was a
• 43:03
  was a basically over a certain amount of money we split how
• 43:08
  much more what was on the car and so yeah profit sharing
• 43:12
  situation and they just never really produced like viable
• 43:18
  documentation and or paid me what I should and so I sued them
• 43:24
  and ended up going through mediation all the way to
• 43:27
  arbitration and yeah I just was not like happy in that situation
• 43:31
  anymore. I just didn't like the team
• 43:34
  anymore, didn't didn't enjoy like the direction of the races.
• 43:39
  So I was just ready for a change and I felt like NASCAR really.
• 43:44
  And I remember going to the, I remember going to Phoenix and
• 43:49
  just kind of like messing around and hopping in a hopping in a
• 43:52
  stock car, like climbing in a window while I was a driver and
• 43:57
  everybody was like really excited about it.
• 43:59
  And I was like oh, maybe they'd like me here.
• 44:01
  And and I remember the first Test that I did, so the the way
• 44:06
  I started was slow. I didn't just jump into NASCAR.
• 44:09
  I did part time NASCAR, part time IndyCar or no part time
• 44:12
  NASCAR, full time IndyCar still for two years.
• 44:14
  And so in 2010 and 11, I did some nationwide racing.
• 44:20
  What was nationwide then? And I think I did 10 or so races
• 44:24
  and and I remember testing for the very first time down in
• 44:28
  Orlando with Tony Erie Junior and pops and I just remember
• 44:36
  taking off out of pit lane and going Oh my God this is so fun.
• 44:39
  I'm home like I I just, I don't know it just like felt so
• 44:42
  natural and and just really liked him and really had a lot
• 44:47
  of fun and so that's how I started.
• 44:49
  Was just nice and easy. I mean, I just finished fifth in
• 44:52
  the championship in in 2009 and had my best, you know, best
• 44:57
  championship run, ran in the top five, qualified in the top five,
• 45:00
  like every weekend. It was my best year and so I I
• 45:06
  was definitely making a gamble to to leave.
• 45:09
  But that's why I didn't just go full on NASCAR.
• 45:12
  I want to. I want.
• 45:13
  To go back 10 seconds ago and then come back, so the the racer
• 45:19
  and me signing all my contracts at NASCAR, that profit sharing
• 45:23
  deal that that's interesting. I'm going to say it and you tell
• 45:27
  me if I'm right or wrong. So the more money you made, the
• 45:30
  more, the better you did. The more money you made they
• 45:32
  wanted part of it. Is that right?
• 45:34
  More. About the sponsorship on the
• 45:36
  car, OK. Got it.
• 45:38
  So no, that was back in those days.
• 45:41
  I had like Motorola Argent, big ones, Meyer One America.
• 45:49
  I had a bunch of them. I mean, I think our primary was
• 45:52
  like a $7,000,000 primary in IndyCar, which is a big primary.
• 45:55
  So and I and I made, I think it was 40% above 9 million.
• 46:00
  So and I knew Argent was a big one because Argent came from,
• 46:04
  came from Ray Hall. And so when when Argent and
• 46:09
  Meyer came from Ray Hall, I didn't get paid at the end of
• 46:12
  that contract either, 'cause they're like you stole the
• 46:14
  sponsors. And so I not only didn't get
• 46:18
  paid, I had to pay, I had to also pay the team some money.
• 46:21
  So I like heavily paid for those sponsors to be able to be on the
• 46:24
  car and then they still cheated me out of money.
• 46:30
  First of all, those sponsors were there because of you, but
• 46:32
  whatever, yeah. I mean, even Argent wrote a
• 46:35
  wrote a like letter saying the only reason why we went to this
• 46:39
  team was because of Danica. But they put the sticker on
• 46:42
  other cars and then they stood up there on the stand and said
• 46:45
  like, oh, they were very fascinated with Dario and Ashley
• 46:49
  Judd and they wanted to. It's like they were just so full
• 46:51
  of shit, yeah. I love that.
• 46:54
  Yes, that sounds like that's right there.
• 46:57
  Yes. And you got to call it out
• 46:59
  sometimes when it's so ridiculous, like things in the
• 47:02
  world today, sometimes you got to go look, stop.
• 47:05
  This is not wrestling, OK? If I was drunk, I'd believe it
• 47:09
  more, but I'm not drunk, so I get that.
• 47:12
  All right, back back to NASCAR. You caught that, right.
• 47:16
  I'm not going to play along. OK, back to NASCAR.
• 47:21
  Now I want to ask a rough question, but I think it's OK
• 47:25
  because it's what I would say you you came from IndyCar, which
• 47:30
  for better term is wine and cheese, you know, and and we
• 47:34
  love wine and we love cheese, but more sophistication.
• 47:39
  People are very clean shaven. Then you come to NASCAR, now
• 47:46
  you're dealing with this. Hey girl, get on over here.
• 47:52
  Did you feel any of that? Now?
• 47:54
  This is a fun question, but a little rough around the edges.
• 47:57
  When you came from IndyCar and you came to NASCAR, was NASCAR
• 48:02
  kind of rednecky or or was it? Of course.
• 48:06
  Like I remember doing seat fittings with Tony, with Tony
• 48:09
  Ewry Junior and and I was he's like something about, you know,
• 48:12
  where you want to go to lunch. And I was like, oh, I think
• 48:14
  there's a Panera. And he called it Pandera.
• 48:16
  He couldn't like. Panera's like good food, you
• 48:20
  know, it's there's no grease. And you know, you'd go into the
• 48:25
  Haller and Gak would be on Great American Country.
• 48:28
  You. Know you'd.
• 48:31
  Be watching like shows about hunting in the morning because
• 48:35
  that's what they play before music videos and and you know
• 48:39
  there'd be hot dogs on A roll wheel outside and ripping some
• 48:46
  foods out on the, you know, it was definitely a little bit more
• 48:49
  casual. And it has put that's putting it
• 48:53
  nicely. This reminds me of when I
• 48:56
  watched Saturday Night Live and and Jeff Gordon it's like, OK,
• 49:00
  that was the day. I don't know if you watched it,
• 49:03
  but that's the day when we knew what the world thought about
• 49:06
  NASCAR at that time. Had all the rednecks.
• 49:11
  It was, yeah, but I mean it, it it's, it's just country.
• 49:15
  And like you said, the hot dogs outside the hauler, you know,
• 49:19
  you grab you one and finger food, you got dirt on your
• 49:23
  finger, you grab the food, you eat it and you do it again.
• 49:26
  And yeah, that's fun. The only.
• 49:29
  Time I do. That's at Burning Man now.
• 49:31
  You know everything's covered in dirt there.
• 49:33
  OK, so it it it's here, it it's at the very bottom.
• 49:37
  Burning Man. Wow.
• 49:38
  I think I want to go. That looks like a Kenny Wallace
• 49:41
  trip, 100% I. Think that you would have a
• 49:44
  blast. I think you would be like the
• 49:47
  energy would transfer through you and you just like you'd add
• 49:51
  to the vibe too, yeah. I think it'd run around naked is
• 49:54
  what I would you. Very much would, if you wanted
• 49:56
  to. The first day, I'll tell those.
• 49:59
  I went to the last two years and the first year when I went, it
• 50:03
  was like the second day I was there and I it was quite a white
• 50:06
  out. It was very like windy because
• 50:08
  it's in the salt flat, so the wind kicks up and it's just
• 50:10
  white out. So people have goggles.
• 50:13
  That's a big reason why I have goggles there And so I put the
• 50:15
  goggles on, got on my bike, Everybody rides a bike
• 50:17
  everywhere because it's very spread out and there's 80,000
• 50:20
  people there. So it's huge.
• 50:22
  And I get riding on my bike and I turn around the corner and I'm
• 50:25
  like heading into like the thick of things.
• 50:28
  And here comes at me a naked parade and it is 98% men and.
• 50:39
  And there's a lot. Of penises, yeah.
• 50:42
  A. Lot of them.
• 50:42
  I was like, wow, they're all so different.
• 50:45
  That's to. Say to me.
• 50:46
  Blowing it was like what I was. Going to say, did any stand out?
• 50:51
  Oh yeah. Oh yeah, definitely.
• 50:54
  Definitely. Piercings.
• 50:56
  Oh my God, I think I'm. Red Definite variety.
• 50:59
  Oh. My gosh, that's awesome.
• 51:01
  So you'd. Be fine.
• 51:02
  And actually, not only that, but the very first day when I got
• 51:04
  there, it was like probably 7:00 or 8:00 at night, just like
• 51:08
  rolling in. And there was a dude buck naked
• 51:10
  with a backpack on, like, walking around inside of our
• 51:13
  camp. And I was like, OK, that's how
• 51:16
  we're doing it here. What?
• 51:18
  So I was going to ask you about Burning Man at the end, but you
• 51:21
  brought it up. What is Burning Man?
• 51:24
  What is it? What does it represent?
• 51:26
  How did it come? Out.
• 51:27
  It was like it started about 30 or so years ago and they had I
• 51:32
  think I don't know exactly the history, but it's it's like
• 51:35
  there was they they built this sort of like man essentially and
• 51:41
  they'd just have a bonfire and burn it and it just like kind of
• 51:44
  like. And then it ended up moving
• 51:45
  locations for more space and it just became this like cultural
• 51:52
  like different reality for a week where people essentially
• 51:56
  are. It's interesting it it seems
• 51:59
  like there's a it's a place with no rules but it's in fact the
• 52:01
  rules that make it so free. And there are 10 very, very
• 52:04
  strict rules there. But they're all things about
• 52:07
  like inclusiveness and non judgment and cleaning up after
• 52:11
  yourself and like Leave No Trace and all kinds of all kinds of
• 52:15
  very like respectful rules and and so if people follow the
• 52:19
  rules very well and so it's because of those rules that
• 52:22
  everyone is so free to be themselves free.
• 52:24
  Free spirit. OK.
• 52:26
  So back then back to NASCAR, when you came to NASCAR and
• 52:32
  listen, I'm not going to exaggerate, the world stopped.
• 52:37
  It was it was like wow. I mean the the view, the
• 52:40
  ratings. It was it was big.
• 52:42
  It was. It was bigger than big.
• 52:45
  When you came to NASCAR, did you feel that?
• 52:48
  Did you feel that all eyes were on you?
• 52:55
  A little. I think maybe in my nationwide
• 52:57
  days it was a little bit. Just.
• 52:59
  I remember I was doing so poorly.
• 53:01
  Like, I feel like it was. I finished like 20th and they
• 53:06
  still wanted to talk to me after the race.
• 53:07
  And I remember like running away, like, I don't like, how
• 53:10
  can you possibly want to talk to me?
• 53:12
  I just did so poorly. And then the next week was
• 53:16
  Phoenix, and I think I had another bad day.
• 53:19
  And I realized after that one, because it was also like the
• 53:22
  home GoDaddy race that I was. I was like, wow, I better like,
• 53:28
  keep my shit together because this is not helping me in any
• 53:32
  way. And I better clean the, like,
• 53:34
  clear the energy from the weekend before before the next
• 53:37
  one so that it just doesn't continue to, like, spiral in the
• 53:40
  wrong direction. So I just remember like the fact
• 53:44
  that I was getting attention for that kind of stuff was like, but
• 53:48
  I also thought, well, 'cause I'm new and I'm just starting and
• 53:50
  they're trying to talk to me about what it's like to now be
• 53:53
  in NASCAR. But but I I was always so
• 53:57
  fortunate in my career. I always generally had a lot of
• 53:59
  attention. So I it didn't feel like leaps
• 54:03
  and bounds different, but it was it was more you.
• 54:07
  You. You knew what you were doing.
• 54:09
  You knew how to handle it. You knew how to breathe.
• 54:11
  I get it. I had to.
• 54:12
  Learn how to breathe, yeah. Right, right.
• 54:15
  More I'm going to this is an audible.
• 54:19
  This means I was not going to ask this question, but listening
• 54:22
  to you, and I know you're with Sky Sports right now, you're
• 54:27
  doing some Formula One. But Denny Hamlin, I've watched
• 54:32
  you chew his ass out, which is awesome.
• 54:34
  It was just good. Good for you because you were
• 54:38
  standing your ground too. It was just, you know, a guy,
• 54:44
  two guys fighting, except you were a girl and you're chewing
• 54:47
  his ass out. So now when you see Denny
• 54:51
  Hamlin, I know you're not oblivious.
• 54:55
  Denny Hamlin has said, OK, I like this.
• 54:59
  I'm a bad guy now and I like it. I'm going to talk a bunch of
• 55:02
  crap. And now he's winning more.
• 55:05
  He just won Bristol. He just won when he's really.
• 55:09
  Being himself. OK, go ahead.
• 55:11
  You're awesome. Take it.
• 55:13
  Tell me about what you think Danny Hamlin's doing right now.
• 55:17
  I think he's a total ass on the track.
• 55:18
  Like, total. Like he's pissed off so many
• 55:20
  people. Not as many as like Joey Logano,
• 55:22
  let's say. But hold on.
• 55:25
  Who's worse, Danny or Joey? Yeah, but.
• 55:28
  Good question. They they both have some enemies
• 55:31
  but I think Joey has more. But you know, and I had issues
• 55:35
  with both of them. Also don't like Truex, so I was
• 55:39
  not too disappointed to see what happened.
• 55:41
  What? Did what did?
• 55:43
  So I wasn't going to go there. What did Turex do that pissed
• 55:49
  you off so bad? No.
• 55:50
  I just thought he was like, I just end up feeling like on
• 55:53
  track. He was just such a Dick when he
• 55:55
  didn't need to be. He would just like drive way too
• 55:58
  close when he was lapping me like like get me loose.
• 56:01
  It's just stupid stuff like that where he just seemed very
• 56:03
  disrespectful and unnecessarily aggressive.
• 56:07
  And then I never liked the way that I never liked the
• 56:10
  relationship with, you know, that that that he had.
• 56:13
  Like, I always thought that he just could have done a better
• 56:15
  job with Sherry. So, you know, and I cut a lot of
• 56:19
  Flack for that not long ago, but yeah.
• 56:22
  But you're still a bad ass. You know, they're they're
• 56:24
  Listen, so you. Can't.
• 56:26
  So for me, you can't separate the two.
• 56:28
  Like you can't separate, you know the person on track from
• 56:30
  the person off track. You know they they're all,
• 56:34
  they're all you. You know, like for Joey, I, I
• 56:36
  actually got along with Joey off track just fine, but on track he
• 56:40
  was just such a pain in the ass and and and so I can't, I can't
• 56:45
  say, oh you're a nice guy but then this is.
• 56:47
  No, you're not. You're like, you can't be a Dick
• 56:49
  in one place and expect me to not think you're somewhat of a
• 56:52
  Dick. Right.
• 56:54
  So, so back. To 20 you.
• 56:56
  Know the Yeah. Well, yeah, but now, now.
• 57:00
  So these are all the questions I wanted to ask you, but I wanted
• 57:02
  to show you respect. And now I like you even more.
• 57:06
  Because I. Just say it there's.
• 57:08
  Also, like, I don't have to, like I don't see everyone every
• 57:11
  weekend, you know, I don't have to worry about this is my truth,
• 57:15
  this is my experience. This is also most of my opinions
• 57:18
  and everybody's going to have different opinions.
• 57:20
  You know, I saw after the race, you know Kyle Larson, who I love
• 57:24
  so much and is such a good friend and he was like, you
• 57:27
  know, you know, Martin's like probably the most respected guy
• 57:30
  in the garage. And it's like, OK, that's their
• 57:32
  experience. I'm not saying that's wrong.
• 57:34
  You can't say mine's wrong either.
• 57:36
  Yeah, this is awesome. Because these are things I wrote
• 57:40
  down. I went, Nope, don't write that
• 57:41
  down. But I know.
• 57:42
  How it feels because when I interview people, I'm like,
• 57:44
  there's certain things that you like kind of want to ask about
• 57:47
  but you don't want to be. You don't want to appear as
• 57:50
  though you're like setting someone up to be controversial.
• 57:52
  But but that's no, it's all right.
• 57:55
  I'm. I'm going there with you.
• 57:56
  Canny conversation is about a celebration of the person.
• 58:00
  Not to throw shit at the wall, but but you know, that was
• 58:06
  really a big moment when you said I'm not a big fan of Martin
• 58:13
  Truex, the way he treated Cherry at the end of her life.
• 58:17
  You you felt. You felt strongly tell.
• 58:20
  Me about stories and you want to know what everyone texted me and
• 58:24
  said You said what we wanted to say.
• 58:28
  That's. That's big.
• 58:29
  I'm not. I don't want to name a single
• 58:30
  name in my whole life, but I want to say is that plenty of
• 58:33
  people were like go go girl, you got more balls than I do.
• 58:37
  Right. And you do?
• 58:40
  Are you a tomboy? No.
• 58:42
  No. You're all girls only.
• 58:44
  A tomboy in the sense that I'm super, like competitive,
• 58:47
  aggressive, like the other day I'm playing golf and like I hit
• 58:51
  a shot out of the sand 100 yards onto the green and like, I just
• 58:56
  like got out of the sand pit and walked in through the put the
• 59:00
  club back in and they're like, smile.
• 59:03
  They're like Tiger Woods would have been happy with that shot.
• 59:06
  It's just like this disease of discontentment when competing
• 59:11
  that probably comes off as being a masculine or tomboy.
• 59:15
  But I'm not a tomboy. Like no, no, no.
• 59:18
  I'm like girly, girly outside of the car.
• 59:20
  Like, I'm the one that's, you know, like I'll wear, like, cute
• 59:24
  pajamas even, you know, I'll match them, you know?
• 59:27
  Or, you know, I'm one of those girls that you know, Like, I
• 59:30
  don't do anything not ladylike in front of guys you know, other
• 59:36
  than try and kick their ass, but only for the sake of being
• 59:38
  successful, yes. That's why I say when we win, we
• 59:42
  win. But then all of a sudden it's
• 59:44
  oh, I got to win again. Because that would, you know,
• 59:47
  that's only one. I got to have two.
• 59:49
  Yeah, I come, Father John, you keep hearing me say that.
• 59:52
  Everyone saw Father John, said, Kenny, what are you going to do?
• 59:55
  I said I'll be a race car driver.
• 59:57
  He said, be careful, Kenny. Competition will kill you.
• 1:00:02
  And boy, that was early in my life.
• 1:00:04
  To this day, that still sticks in my head because, you know, I
• 1:00:08
  often think about back in the Roman chariot days and how
• 1:00:11
  barbaric they were. And you know, they just chop
• 1:00:14
  each other heads off, you know, to rule the world and yeah.
• 1:00:19
  Yeah, so back to Denny, Ben. So you're saying right now Denny
• 1:00:25
  playing the bad guy is appropriate?
• 1:00:28
  Well, look like, you know anybody on the inside, feel like
• 1:00:31
  a lot of people that are going to listen or know the sport
• 1:00:33
  pretty well and know the personalities pretty well.
• 1:00:37
  And Denny's one of the most seasoned that's been in the
• 1:00:38
  series for a long time. And you know Denny.
• 1:00:42
  Denny can be a Denny can be a handful off track.
• 1:00:45
  You know, like that's been exposed in different situations.
• 1:00:49
  Like I'm so happy to see him happy now and engaged to Jordan
• 1:00:52
  and the family and everything. But like he hasn't been the most
• 1:00:56
  perfect human being. And he, I would think he'd admit
• 1:00:57
  that and on track he can. I think he I think he's more
• 1:01:04
  fair than a lot but but and I've always actually had a pretty
• 1:01:08
  decent time on track with him other than these moments where
• 1:01:12
  it just feels like he you know just pushes too hard you know
• 1:01:16
  and doesn't leave room for error and and so I think that I don't
• 1:01:21
  think he's he's not as bad as some but he's definitely I mean
• 1:01:24
  he's aggressive he's aggressive I think he waits for his moment
• 1:01:27
  a little later I don't think he's the kind of driver that's
• 1:01:29
  like he's not doing it from the beginning just to do it.
• 1:01:32
  I think he he does wait a little bit.
• 1:01:34
  He's a little bit more of the end of the race for a reason,
• 1:01:37
  kind of guy, but but he'll la offender so.
• 1:01:40
  He's, he's strategic is what you're saying so.
• 1:01:43
  Yeah, yeah. I can't totally Debbie down his
• 1:01:45
  entire like, strategy. But, you know, my very
• 1:01:48
  aggressive experience with him at Daytona felt a little out of
• 1:01:52
  place, which is why I was so mad because he took me out in
• 1:01:55
  practice, like so close to me, spun me like on basically on the
• 1:01:59
  back end of the back, straight away in practice.
• 1:02:01
  And you know, that kind of stuff was totally unnecessary.
• 1:02:05
  I I've had a conversation with Haley Deegan last year and then
• 1:02:11
  about a month ago I I talked to Haley's dad, Brian, and what an
• 1:02:16
  incredible man, you know he basically created the X Games
• 1:02:21
  and he he said to me kind of like you did early in this
• 1:02:25
  conversation, he says why did why do you think Haley's having
• 1:02:30
  such a tough time? And I I never said she was
• 1:02:33
  having a tough time. I was just marvelling at her
• 1:02:36
  doing what she's doing, and I immediately answered him with no
• 1:02:40
  pause. I said, she's a girl.
• 1:02:43
  There's a lot of male chauvinist out there.
• 1:02:46
  She's been wrecked way more than she's wrecked anybody.
• 1:02:50
  So with that, I want you to comment on what I told Brian.
• 1:02:53
  Do you feel like? And listen, I'm talking about
• 1:02:57
  you and her. It's collectively.
• 1:03:00
  I feel like you were hit in the left, like I'd be watching a
• 1:03:03
  race and like, Oh my God, they just wrecked her.
• 1:03:06
  And this happened back in my nationwide days, like going down
• 1:03:09
  the back straightaway at Fontana and the car just they this is me
• 1:03:12
  and they just went, turned me into the wall.
• 1:03:15
  So Brian asked a great question, Brian Deegan, he said it wasn't
• 1:03:20
  my place, but I almost went to NASCAR and said why aren't you
• 1:03:23
  doing anything about this. So we would clearly see a guy
• 1:03:29
  wreck you or Haley and and there was nothing said about I mean
• 1:03:33
  numerous of times did. I love when people comment on me
• 1:03:38
  on social media and they're like, oh, all she did was wreck.
• 1:03:41
  It's like, well, number one, I actually had the longest streak
• 1:03:45
  of running at the finish in IndyCar.
• 1:03:49
  His like, I I don't remember where it ended up, but it was
• 1:03:52
  something like maybe 50 or so in a row where I was under my own
• 1:03:57
  power at the checkered flag. That was a record.
• 1:04:00
  I don't know. It still stands.
• 1:04:01
  I have no idea. But like, I didn't crash in
• 1:04:03
  IndyCar very often. In NASCAR, I crashed a lot more
• 1:04:07
  because I got crashed a lot more.
• 1:04:09
  See, I agree with that crashed more, but I also was collected
• 1:04:12
  and crashes more because there's just a lot more crashing, you
• 1:04:15
  know, Especially super speedways and stuff like that, like, and
• 1:04:18
  the crashes because everyone's running closer.
• 1:04:20
  And IndyCar, you can't run that close.
• 1:04:22
  It's just you can't. And in stock cars you can.
• 1:04:25
  So when one spins, it collects 6 really easily.
• 1:04:28
  So a lot of times there's just nowhere to go.
• 1:04:31
  So, you know, there's generally just a lot more crashing in
• 1:04:33
  NASCAR more than anything. I I I I do think people were.
• 1:04:37
  I don't think, yeah, I don't think people want to beat by a
• 1:04:39
  girl. And you know why?
• 1:04:41
  Because I didn't want to get beat by a girl.
• 1:04:43
  I absolutely know how it feels because I didn't see myself that
• 1:04:47
  way. So I I, like, saw myself as like
• 1:04:50
  a winner and like a guy and really competitive and really
• 1:04:54
  good and I didn't want to get beat by a girl.
• 1:04:56
  I I know call me like a hypocrite or chauvinistic or
• 1:05:01
  whatever, like, but I I didn't want to get beat by girls.
• 1:05:04
  So I know how they feel. Because you are the girl you're
• 1:05:07
  you're you know, Madonna said. I'm a bad ass bitch.
• 1:05:11
  I'm number one. And and I understood because I
• 1:05:13
  grew up in that environment. You know, where, look, we're the
• 1:05:16
  best. There's nobody better than me.
• 1:05:18
  Stop. Stop challenging me.
• 1:05:20
  So you are Danica Patrick. You are the leader of the pack.
• 1:05:25
  And how dare another girl try to challenge me?
• 1:05:28
  Yeah. And I think that I I don't know
• 1:05:30
  why I guess. I I think because no girl was
• 1:05:33
  ever really very competitive against me.
• 1:05:36
  So I just had the idea that I was the one like I I don't know
• 1:05:40
  like I because. What you just said is way all
• 1:05:43
  racers think I'm the greatest. Why are you racing me?
• 1:05:46
  I. Knew I was.
• 1:05:47
  I know I'm not the greatest. I know that like that's very I'm
• 1:05:50
  not. I'm honest about that, but I
• 1:05:53
  felt like I was by far the best girl and.
• 1:05:58
  So. And mostly because I just never
• 1:06:00
  really raced against them a little bit in go karting.
• 1:06:03
  But I I I just always won and always beat them and so or it
• 1:06:08
  wasn't even close and so I guess anytime there was a moment where
• 1:06:13
  I felt like where someone or a girl was passing me or beating
• 1:06:17
  me in a scenario, it just felt like so it was so rare that it
• 1:06:21
  made me think like holy crap what's going on.
• 1:06:24
  So maybe that's how they feel all the time because I was
• 1:06:27
  competitive a lot. Man, you're you're good at what
• 1:06:31
  you do because you've led me right into it.
• 1:06:34
  I want to say this, OK? Because I can ask this question
• 1:06:37
  100 different ways. 100 guys show up at a racetrack and you
• 1:06:45
  find one that is the best. You can't even get 100 girls,
• 1:06:51
  yeah. This is what I this this little
• 1:06:53
  did you? Did you?
• 1:06:54
  Is this your example or do you Are you?
• 1:06:56
  Are you? Saying my example, it's your
• 1:06:58
  example. I, I, I I'm taking your word.
• 1:07:02
  OK, so you you created a firestorm.
• 1:07:07
  Stupid. I mean, you're you're right.
• 1:07:10
  They're dumb. You said it's.
• 1:07:14
  You said racing is not normal or the feminine mind.
• 1:07:18
  I understood what you said then. All the Formula One people, in
• 1:07:23
  my opinion it is F1 people. They attacked you.
• 1:07:26
  How? How dare she say a woman cannot
• 1:07:29
  be a man? Now listen, my wife Kim, she
• 1:07:33
  doesn't want to be a guy. She doesn't want to race.
• 1:07:36
  I I understood what you said. So talk to me about that
• 1:07:41
  firestorm. Only one thank you.
• 1:07:43
  And thanks for defending me. You always and you defend me a
• 1:07:46
  lot. I don't think that you do it
• 1:07:48
  just because you're going to defend me no matter what.
• 1:07:50
  I think that you're just willing to say it, you know?
• 1:07:52
  And I appreciate that. And I hope that, you know, if
• 1:07:54
  I'm ever wrong, feel free to call that out too.
• 1:07:57
  But what I meant was that I remember talking to my I was
• 1:08:00
  like with a bunch of girlfriends and I described like aggression
• 1:08:05
  and like how I feel even just on the regular Rd.
• 1:08:08
  If a car tries to let and push their way in or do anything on
• 1:08:13
  the regular Rd. like I go into like crazy aggressive.
• 1:08:18
  Oh hell no, that's not happening.
• 1:08:20
  And I'll, I'll make a spot where there wasn't a spot because they
• 1:08:24
  were being a jerk. Just to, like, make a point and
• 1:08:27
  care zero for the offenders of my car whatsoever.
• 1:08:31
  Like, and I'm just on the regular Rd.
• 1:08:33
  So I'm, you know, my line is I'm like they always lift, you know,
• 1:08:37
  like they don't want to crash. And so this is like all my
• 1:08:42
  friends I was kind of explaining this dynamic and they're like,
• 1:08:47
  yeah, we don't think like that. Like, like they're all like,
• 1:08:50
  yeah, we no, that's not normal. Like to think in that level of
• 1:08:54
  aggression of like stealing that spot or pushing your way in or,
• 1:08:59
  you know, whatever that thing is that has to you have to do to
• 1:09:01
  make a point. So it was through that and a
• 1:09:04
  couple other scenarios where I was like, it's just like the way
• 1:09:07
  my mind works is not a natural way for a woman's mind to work
• 1:09:12
  who is normally. Normally it's more caretaking,
• 1:09:16
  neurotic, like careful, like not wanting confrontation, not
• 1:09:21
  wanting, not not wanting to be aggressive and almost even not
• 1:09:26
  wanting to be competitive. Like I have some friends that a
• 1:09:29
  couple of friends where there's just like not a competitive bone
• 1:09:34
  in their body. They don't.
• 1:09:35
  They don't want to be in that sense.
• 1:09:36
  They don't want to like they do yoga because it's just like non
• 1:09:39
  competitive, you know and and so they just they don't even like
• 1:09:43
  like competition. And I think competition is such
• 1:09:46
  a masculine thing. I think guys love to compete at
• 1:09:48
  everything, and generally speaking, and these are all
• 1:09:51
  generalities, there's always fringe in everything.
• 1:09:54
  But it's more strange like. I'm a fringe, right?
• 1:09:56
  Like, I'm not saying it's not possible.
• 1:09:58
  A girl can't think like this and do this.
• 1:10:01
  But what's interesting is along the way, every now and again
• 1:10:04
  I'll hear from someone, they're like, have you heard of this
• 1:10:06
  girl? I'm like, no, no, Like she's got
• 1:10:10
  that thing. Like she's got that thing like
• 1:10:12
  you do. She's like, really, you know,
• 1:10:14
  it's identifiable when someone is different.
• 1:10:17
  And when they're like they're they have that level of
• 1:10:20
  confidence and aggression that it takes to like really believe
• 1:10:24
  that they can do it. And I just think it's less less
• 1:10:27
  of a less of a female brain and more of a male brain.
• 1:10:31
  Yeah, yeah. And and I I agree with that 100%
• 1:10:36
  because you know, I really, I heard about it.
• 1:10:39
  I was in the middle of my race season last year and when I
• 1:10:42
  studied into it more, what really drove it home for me is,
• 1:10:46
  is you saying, look, racing world is full of guys and it
• 1:10:51
  take, it takes 100 guys to line up and like, oh, there's there's
• 1:10:54
  Kyle Larson, he's the one now there's 99 guys that don't make
• 1:10:58
  it. And girls, I mean, it's like, Oh
• 1:11:02
  my God, there's a girl. So you have less chances to find
• 1:11:07
  the one. And that's what you were saying.
• 1:11:10
  Yes, I get it. OK, good stuff.
• 1:11:14
  We're coming to the point where I want to highlight everything
• 1:11:18
  you're doing right now. Just kind of a quick synopsis.
• 1:11:21
  That's a that's a fancy word, I think.
• 1:11:24
  Yeah. Look, amigo, OK, so you are what
• 1:11:32
  I call worldly. You don't say in one spot.
• 1:11:35
  You're you're everywhere, all around the world.
• 1:11:38
  I mean, I'm excited that I'm going to Italy in January.
• 1:11:41
  We're going to seek out all the. That's.
• 1:11:44
  Going to be. Yeah, I'm jacked up about that.
• 1:11:46
  OK, so I got about five of them and we won't be long winded on
• 1:11:52
  all of them. OK, The Pretty Intense Podcast,
• 1:12:00
  it it's a pretty big deal. You put a lot of effort into it.
• 1:12:04
  How would that start? Because you're vigilant.
• 1:12:06
  You do it if you interview the most, the people I've never
• 1:12:11
  heard of in my life. Tell me about Pretty Intense
• 1:12:13
  Podcast. Well, this kind of came about in
• 1:12:16
  2019. I retired in 18 and it was like
• 1:12:20
  beginning in 19. And podcasts are really, really
• 1:12:23
  hitting at that point, just starting to really get rolling.
• 1:12:26
  And the idea came up for it and it was like, you just have to
• 1:12:30
  ask questions. And I was like, I always have
• 1:12:33
  questions. I have so many questions.
• 1:12:35
  And so I was like, I can do that.
• 1:12:37
  So that was it. That was the start of it.
• 1:12:39
  And I just, you know, we just, we had, I have quite a variety
• 1:12:43
  of people. But it all ends up boiling down
• 1:12:44
  to being stuff about like health and Wellness.
• 1:12:46
  So whether it's about mental health, physical health,
• 1:12:50
  spiritual health, you know, or knowledge, which is power, it's
• 1:12:55
  all about, it's all about that stuff.
• 1:12:57
  Yeah. It's good stuff, your winery.
• 1:13:00
  Somnium Danica you you have your you have a wine?
• 1:13:06
  Danica Rose. Yeah, it's you.
• 1:13:07
  Swamnium's. Mine and Danica Rose is mine.
• 1:13:11
  OK, I didn't know that. Thank you.
• 1:13:13
  That's awesome, man. My brother Rusty, he will drink
• 1:13:17
  some wine like Chardonnay. Just white.
• 1:13:21
  He loves it. Tell me about the wine.
• 1:13:24
  Life it it. I guess it's got to be relaxing
• 1:13:27
  out there. It's.
• 1:13:27
  Beautiful. I mean, I just fell in love with
• 1:13:29
  it. I went to Napa Valley in 2006
• 1:13:32
  and was standing on this top of the on top of this beautiful
• 1:13:35
  property and at 10A at 10:00 AM with a glass of white wine and
• 1:13:40
  just swirling it, thinking man, it would be so cool to have
• 1:13:42
  something like this someday. And then a little over two years
• 1:13:45
  later I bought a property and started the process.
• 1:13:47
  So that became Somnium and we finally started selling my 2014
• 1:13:52
  vintage in 2017 because it was a piece of land that was just
• 1:13:55
  dirt. So I had to start from nothing.
• 1:13:57
  And then in 2020, I got involved with the three other people to
• 1:14:02
  create a Rose from France, from Provence, where Rose really is
• 1:14:07
  like, it's like the home of Rose.
• 1:14:09
  And and so that got going. But the the partners that were
• 1:14:13
  involved, it wasn't me who necessarily started that.
• 1:14:17
  I kind of got brought in late and then it ended up being my
• 1:14:20
  name, 'cause it was best for advertising anyway.
• 1:14:24
  The group kind of like they added another wine with somebody
• 1:14:28
  else and they then they started a company with that.
• 1:14:30
  And then eight months after that, they went public with it,
• 1:14:33
  which meant they weren't selling my wine, so they sold me the
• 1:14:35
  company for a dollar. So they were.
• 1:14:38
  Nice. Well, they God damn should have
• 1:14:40
  been because because I put in a lot of effort for a couple of
• 1:14:44
  years and they didn't do what they said they were going to do.
• 1:14:48
  So so I took over Danica Rosa and it's now in house.
• 1:14:51
  And so I'm pretty excited that's one of those that could like
• 1:14:55
  that could be as big, as as big as anything.
• 1:14:57
  We just have to find the right distribute, distributor
• 1:15:01
  distribution point. And but it's a great wine, but
• 1:15:04
  they're all great wines. And I.
• 1:15:07
  Started it because I just like drinking it.
• 1:15:09
  People always like, why'd you start a wine company?
• 1:15:10
  I'm like, 'cause I like drinking it.
• 1:15:12
  Yeah, honest, I've been out to, you know, obviously we've raced
• 1:15:17
  it at Sears Point, whatever you want to call it.
• 1:15:20
  A lot of different names for racetrack sometimes when
• 1:15:23
  sponsors come in. But, you know, going to Sonoma,
• 1:15:27
  you know, and had a dinner in The Cave with the one light bulb
• 1:15:30
  that that the whole wine industry is kind of a vibe,
• 1:15:35
  don't you think? Oh yeah, it's.
• 1:15:37
  So peaceful and it's like connecting and I feel like it's
• 1:15:42
  like getting back to nature a little bit more.
• 1:15:44
  You're talking about farming, you're talking about weather and
• 1:15:48
  it's a very like hands on, intricate process.
• 1:15:51
  You know, there's ways to do a hands off with bulk wine and
• 1:15:53
  big, big, big block wine situations, but for the most
• 1:15:56
  part, a lot of it's very, very hands on, very.
• 1:16:00
  It's like it takes a lot of love and a lot of attention.
• 1:16:04
  So that's the kind of wine I make.
• 1:16:06
  Yeah. And I just want to say one more
• 1:16:08
  thing about it. I just find it absolutely
• 1:16:10
  amazing, intriguing. When you see a wine that has
• 1:16:14
  been in a barrel for years and now we're going to drink it.
• 1:16:19
  I'm like, Oh my gosh. Funny, actually.
• 1:16:22
  It is kind of ironic. Oh.
• 1:16:23
  It's unbelievable. It's it's like opening up a time
• 1:16:26
  capsule. That's the way my my brain
• 1:16:28
  thinks, you know, OK, let me see 1233 more to go here Sky Sports
• 1:16:36
  TVI See you on the grid for the Formula One races.
• 1:16:42
  Tell me about going, what's it like working for TV 'cause I did
• 1:16:48
  it for 15 ever. But you know what, Danica?
• 1:16:53
  I just want to say this. This is that audible that I talk
• 1:16:56
  about sometimes doing. This is therapy for me too.
• 1:17:00
  The whole time I did TV. Yeah, right.
• 1:17:04
  The whole time I did TV, it's like I didn't want to do it
• 1:17:08
  because I'm a there's always this joke in the TV compound.
• 1:17:12
  People would say, hey Kenny, you're really good at TV.
• 1:17:15
  I'm like, damn it, I'm a race car driver.
• 1:17:17
  I don't want to be good at TV, and that was kind of a devil's
• 1:17:21
  curse for me. I ended up quitting just because
• 1:17:24
  I hated the commercial airport. I hated being in the hotel room
• 1:17:28
  by myself long. Weekends.
• 1:17:29
  It's longer weekends when you're doing television than a driver
• 1:17:33
  I. Hate it.
• 1:17:34
  And I and I literally quit. I mean, just quit making good
• 1:17:37
  money. Now I see you doing it, and I
• 1:17:41
  don't want to expect you to go where I just went.
• 1:17:43
  I just wanted to tell you my truth.
• 1:17:44
  It was good for me. Yeah.
• 1:17:46
  You're very good at TV. It was always fun to watch you
• 1:17:49
  so. What is it like doing Formula
• 1:17:51
  One TV though? I mean, do you guys, you got to
• 1:17:54
  walk the line or can you be you? I mean, I like you.
• 1:17:58
  I mean, more than anything, at first I just didn't know that
• 1:18:01
  much. Like, I mean, I just, I'm not
• 1:18:03
  the kind of driver that like, follows everything that's going
• 1:18:05
  on, even when I'm in it. I don't know every crew chief's
• 1:18:08
  name and everything about the car.
• 1:18:10
  And, you know, I know about being a driver for sure.
• 1:18:13
  And I'm happy to share opinions. That's not something I'm afraid
• 1:18:16
  of but but so I just really like had to learn the sport so now I
• 1:18:21
  actually really enjoy it. I really enjoy watching it, even
• 1:18:25
  a little bit of is it to is to keep up with it, of course,
• 1:18:28
  because starting in May will be Miami and then I'm doing 7 races
• 1:18:32
  again this year, so I need to be up on everything.
• 1:18:36
  But I also find it really nice, 'cause there's only like 20 cars
• 1:18:40
  and trying to get a you can kind of get the just of like
• 1:18:43
  everybody's race. But you know in NASCAR it's
• 1:18:46
  like, you know, you had a tough job to keep track of not just
• 1:18:49
  like 40 cars in one series, but keeping track of what
• 1:18:52
  everybody's doing everywhere. And there's just so many things
• 1:18:55
  going on. So I feel like, I feel like
• 1:18:58
  it's, it's fun, but it is way it is way more work, way more time
• 1:19:02
  consuming because the drivers are there, you're there
• 1:19:05
  surrounding everything the drivers doing.
• 1:19:07
  So the driver just shows up for this practice, the qualifying,
• 1:19:09
  the race. And I mean they have a little
• 1:19:12
  bit more to do than that of course.
• 1:19:13
  But but for television, you're there like hours before they're
• 1:19:17
  on track and you're there for a couple hours off after track
• 1:19:20
  after they're off track. And so and then you know you're
• 1:19:23
  not the like sleeping arrangements isn't the same as
• 1:19:27
  just like go to your bus in the compound in F1, you're going to
• 1:19:30
  a hotel. So you get on the team bus and
• 1:19:32
  it might take an hour in traffic to get back to the hotel and you
• 1:19:36
  know you get back on the bus at 8:00 in the morning the next day
• 1:19:38
  to do it again. So it's they're really long days
• 1:19:41
  but but I do like them. It is fun.
• 1:19:45
  It is interesting and and I'm like, I like it more all the
• 1:19:48
  time because I'm I'm, I feel like I really know what's going
• 1:19:51
  on now. I created a firestorm about two
• 1:19:55
  weeks ago and and I want you to help me because I said Max
• 1:20:01
  Verstappen. He comes by me and about 10
• 1:20:06
  seconds later another car comes by and then about four seconds
• 1:20:10
  later another car comes by. And at Surfers Paradise it was
• 1:20:15
  packed, standing room only. Every time a Formula One car
• 1:20:19
  came by, every so are we. Talking about the race in
• 1:20:23
  Australia that they just had, yeah.
• 1:20:25
  OK, but OK, So what I'm saying is in Formula One, they don't
• 1:20:30
  race very much. There's not a lot of battling in
• 1:20:34
  my mind. OK, now over here is NASCAR.
• 1:20:37
  They're beating the hell out of each other.
• 1:20:39
  They're side by side. But.
• 1:20:42
  But Formula One is way more exciting in this world view.
• 1:20:48
  What? What do?
• 1:20:49
  What do I got wrong? What?
• 1:20:51
  What don't I know? I mean, I think that a little
• 1:20:54
  bit of it is, it's very glamorous.
• 1:21:01
  You know, you drive for Ferrari, you know, like I think there's
• 1:21:04
  some glamour element to it. I think that it's.
• 1:21:08
  I think there's something to be said about the races being over
• 1:21:10
  within under two hours. I think that I think it's easy
• 1:21:14
  to keep like I can sit down and watch the whole race and not
• 1:21:17
  feel like I just lost half the day.
• 1:21:20
  You know, I think personally NASCAR races are way too long.
• 1:21:24
  Like I can I can understand if there's some that are long but
• 1:21:26
  like man, it's so hard to sit there for four or five hours and
• 1:21:31
  want like you you know there's pre race and man it's like but
• 1:21:35
  you're there for three to four hours for sure for the race and
• 1:21:37
  it's like that's a lot of commitment and a lot of
• 1:21:40
  attention span. So I think there's some benefit
• 1:21:42
  in it being shorter races. They're almost a little like I
• 1:21:46
  know they have you know they're Sprint races but even the races
• 1:21:49
  are almost like Sprint races when they're trying to decide
• 1:21:51
  like you know 1-2 stops maybe you know how are they going to
• 1:21:56
  strategize it. It's like you're going so hard
• 1:21:58
  the it's not even common to have cautions in F1.
• 1:22:01
  So there's also a lot of explanation of strategy of where
• 1:22:06
  the cars are going to end up bases like based on like
• 1:22:08
  undercut over cut. So it's I think they kind of
• 1:22:12
  cram it all into to it. I think the cars are sexy.
• 1:22:16
  They sound good. They, you know, they look cool
• 1:22:20
  running, you know they look good on track.
• 1:22:22
  They yeah, I think, I think glamour, I think shorter races.
• 1:22:27
  I think. I also think there's some good
• 1:22:29
  personalities. You know, I think they're in a
• 1:22:30
  really good phase with their drivers, driver lineup in in
• 1:22:34
  Formula One and we see this in all see all sports.
• 1:22:39
  Sometimes there's just a wave of personalities in a sport that
• 1:22:41
  lifted up and I think F1's in that phase right now.
• 1:22:45
  I think Drivers Survive played a big role in not only
• 1:22:49
  understanding more about racing, but also understanding more
• 1:22:53
  about the drivers and and choosing someone to cheer for.
• 1:22:56
  I mean, shoot, there was people like people cheer for, like team
• 1:23:00
  principles now, right? Like they like do they do that?
• 1:23:03
  They don't really do that in any other racing.
• 1:23:05
  I feel like, 'cause you don't really know them that well.
• 1:23:07
  So. So I think there's quite a few
• 1:23:09
  reasons why it's popular and it's global, you know, it's a
• 1:23:12
  lot of different, lot of different people with their eyes
• 1:23:15
  on it. I really am intrigued by it and
• 1:23:19
  I really want to go. If I am to go to a Formula One
• 1:23:23
  race and I don't care how difficult it is to get there, do
• 1:23:28
  you have any idea which one? What is the one that everybody
• 1:23:31
  brags on? What is the one I should go to?
• 1:23:34
  Have you heard? I can only speak to the ones
• 1:23:37
  that I've been to, but the one I would say that sticks out the
• 1:23:42
  most, that I think would be cool.
• 1:23:45
  I mean, Singapore is pretty cool.
• 1:23:47
  I like that was a fun one last year and then I think Austin's a
• 1:23:53
  great one. I mean you can go around and see
• 1:23:55
  a lot of the track. The racing can be pretty good
• 1:23:59
  there. Great turn one, you know your
• 1:24:03
  Texas, so you know town's a little ways away but it's you
• 1:24:07
  know great food. So it's like a great, it's a
• 1:24:09
  great weekend. So I think Texas is a pretty
• 1:24:12
  good one too. Austin.
• 1:24:13
  So I again, I can only speak this year.
• 1:24:15
  I'm adding on Barcelona and Abu Dhabi at the end of the year, so
• 1:24:19
  I'm going to Abu. Dhabi, man.
• 1:24:20
  They got some good lighting there, that baby I.
• 1:24:23
  Love. It OK, this is the end.
• 1:24:27
  We got one more question and no better way to end it with my
• 1:24:32
  favorite subject that we're going to talk very minimal
• 1:24:35
  about, but I'm going there. Cheese, you.
• 1:24:40
  Went on the Tucker Carlson show. Oh yeah.
• 1:24:43
  And you said, you said, I'm going to quote you, you said.
• 1:24:48
  And just like that, I'm into politics.
• 1:24:52
  So I love politics. But it's it's, it's taboo for me
• 1:24:56
  now because it drove me absolutely insane.
• 1:25:00
  I would go to sleep at night. I couldn't sleep.
• 1:25:03
  So Kenny and myself had a look in the mirror.
• 1:25:07
  And I'm not out of it. I just don't comment on anymore.
• 1:25:11
  I'm excited. You were talking about it, but
• 1:25:14
  what was it like to go on the Tucker Carlson show you went on
• 1:25:19
  there. That was awesome.
• 1:25:21
  Yeah, it hasn't come out, but I went at the very beginning of
• 1:25:24
  the year. I went with my sister to a
• 1:25:28
  Turning point event called Amfest in Phoenix and that was
• 1:25:31
  in December and I posted about it and it of course looked like
• 1:25:40
  a mega Trump rally because it's all red, white and blue and you
• 1:25:43
  know, like if that's just what it looks like.
• 1:25:45
  So everybody just kind of seemed to think I was losing my mind or
• 1:25:47
  some kind of radical. And it's like when did saying I
• 1:25:49
  love my country become radical. And so so it kind of fired me up
• 1:25:55
  and I feel like you know so that's Amfest.
• 1:25:59
  And Tucker was was one of the guys that spoke at Amfest.
• 1:26:02
  And so I've been connected with him.
• 1:26:06
  And I was supposed to do his show back when he was still at
• 1:26:09
  Fox. And then it was scheduled last
• 1:26:12
  year. And then something came up.
• 1:26:13
  I was supposed to do it maybe in Maine where he has a house that
• 1:26:16
  didn't work out. It got ended up getting
• 1:26:18
  cancelled. So when I met him and his
• 1:26:21
  people, it was like, oh, you know, he was he was even better
• 1:26:24
  in person. Like he's even better in person.
• 1:26:25
  And so after that, the team was like, Oh my God, that was so
• 1:26:29
  great. We've got to get you on the
• 1:26:30
  show. And I said, you know sooner the
• 1:26:32
  better. Like as the year goes on I get
• 1:26:34
  more busy and so this was that like late December and then I
• 1:26:39
  was doing the show January 3rd. So I flew out on the 2nd and did
• 1:26:42
  his show on the 3rd. So, so it was a quick turn
• 1:26:45
  around. They're like, oh we love you.
• 1:26:46
  We got to get him on your show too.
• 1:26:47
  So, so I've got that somewhere in my back pocket at some point
• 1:26:51
  in time hopefully. But he was just great.
• 1:26:55
  Like he's just, he's just great and he's a he has this like
• 1:26:59
  childlike wonderment in interviews, you know, it's like
• 1:27:02
  he's like got this, like really, you know, like.
• 1:27:05
  Really. Like, like, yeah.
• 1:27:08
  Like, he gets really into it, you know, he's like surprised.
• 1:27:10
  And he has like this genuine, like, you know, refreshing sort
• 1:27:14
  of, you know, there's no like, oh, I knew that or jadedness or
• 1:27:18
  judgement. It's just kind of like
• 1:27:20
  curiosity. It's like this wonderment of a
• 1:27:22
  human. And I think that's what makes
• 1:27:24
  him a great interview. And he also really does a good
• 1:27:27
  job of continuing to ask questions to understand he'll be
• 1:27:29
  like, oh, I don't get it, what do you mean?
• 1:27:31
  You know? And he really makes you kind of
• 1:27:33
  peel away until he gets it, which is probably pretty good
• 1:27:36
  for everybody else getting it too.
• 1:27:38
  So. So yeah, So he's, he's, he's a
• 1:27:41
  really cool guy. I felt very cool when I got his
• 1:27:43
  cell phone number. I was like, Oh my God.
• 1:27:45
  No that. Yeah.
• 1:27:46
  Well, I like him a lot. So I had to back out of it
• 1:27:50
  because I was going crazy because I anyway, I won't go
• 1:27:54
  there. But but I got to say this when I
• 1:27:56
  was on social media about politics, it was a war and and I
• 1:28:02
  would engage in it because sometimes I like to fight and I
• 1:28:05
  think everybody does. But Darrell Waltrip said
• 1:28:08
  something to me I'll never forget because he he, you know,
• 1:28:12
  he's a little older than me. He's a little wiser.
• 1:28:15
  He says when you get into politics, you know you're going
• 1:28:20
  to lose half your friends. What do you think about him
• 1:28:25
  saying that? My followers too, you never
• 1:28:27
  know. I definitely, when I post about
• 1:28:30
  politics stuff it, you see some drop in that, but then you get
• 1:28:33
  some back because you know that's how it works, yeah.
• 1:28:37
  And I'd. Say the same thing works with
• 1:28:38
  friends good. Good point.
• 1:28:40
  You know you won't. Drop some friends, but you're
• 1:28:42
  going to pick some up too, because you're going to find
• 1:28:45
  more of your people and those are going to be it's going to
• 1:28:47
  make you happier anyway and and that.
• 1:28:49
  Goes back to the the start of our talk about an hour ago.
• 1:28:54
  I want to be as surrounded with people that lift me up, make me
• 1:28:57
  happy. So yeah, Danica, listen, I got
• 1:29:02
  to tell everybody this right now.
• 1:29:03
  We are in podcast form too, so you can listen to Danica on the
• 1:29:09
  way to work and this is a long one.
• 1:29:11
  And on your way back home and then on your way back to work
• 1:29:14
  and then on your way back home, we are the Kenny Wallace Show.
• 1:29:18
  We're on iTunes. We're on Spotify.
• 1:29:21
  And Danica Patrick, thank you so much.
• 1:29:26
  I really appreciate. It for this, Kenny.
• 1:29:28
  I love you so much. You're the best.
• 1:29:30
  I I think that your your spirit is one of those needed spirits
• 1:29:35
  in the world. You damn right.
• 1:29:38
  Hey, listen, a lot of people that I admire, my family grabbed
• 1:29:45
  my phone behind my back, went to Danica, Patrick, Ric Flair, Jeff
• 1:29:51
  Gordon. And you wished me a happy
• 1:29:53
  birthday. And it was on my video, my
• 1:29:55
  birthday video. I turned 60 last year.
• 1:29:58
  So I see you now. Thank you for my birthday video
• 1:30:03
  that that was pretty cool with Danica.
• 1:30:05
  All right, everybody, listen. We got more in the pipeline.
• 1:30:09
  Kyle Busch is coming up next. Until next time, the Kenny
• 1:30:14
  Wallace any conversation just keeps on rolling.
• 1:30:18
  Thank you all very much and see you later Danica.
• 1:30:22
  Bye, Kenny.