Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Michael Andretti Talks Push To Pass Controversy, & F1 Attempt

Transcript

Michael Andretti Talks Push To Pass Controversy, & F1 Attempt · Kenny Wallace Media

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  You know Rodger Penske and and I know Rodger, he had to be
• 0:05
  embarrassed about this. I mean, you cannot convince me
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  that Rodger knew about this so that you Do you think that's
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  something that the team went on and did on their own or do you
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  think Rodger said, yeah, go ahead and cheat.
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  That's a tough one. I don't know.
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  I mean you know if I all I can say if that would happen to to
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  on our team, you know Rob Edwards would have been let go
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  immediately. You know, if something was going
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  on that I didn't know about, now do I think that Rodger didn't
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  know exactly about it? It's the Kenny Wallace
• 0:37
  conversation brought to you by Jags.
• 0:40
  Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny conversation brought to
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• 0:53
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• 1:01
  Man, I'll tell you what, I got goosebumps.
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  I'm nervous about this one. You are looking at him right
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  now. One of the greatest open wheel
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  drivers of all time. Michael Andretti.
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  Michael, how are you doing? I'm doing great.
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  How you doing? Well, man, I'll tell you.
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  I've been thinking about this for days.
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  You know, I got nervous. I got your phone number from Jay
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  Fry, who runs IndyCar. Look at you, man.
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  All the Where are you coming to me from, right?
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  Now in in my house in Indianapolis.
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  Well, thank you, Fishers IN, Yeah.
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  You know, there's so much to talk about, but I want to start
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  with those trophies behind you. OK?
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  Listen to this. I want to say this and then I
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  want you to respond to it. Michael Andretti, one of the
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  greatest open wheel racers of our time with 42 race victories.
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  Only AJ Fort and your dad have more than you.
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  When I simply say that and looking at those trophies behind
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  you, what's that make you feel like?
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  That makes me proud, for sure. Unfortunately, Scott Dixon has
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  passed me and my dad. But.
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  Yeah, well, he's still racing, you know you're not.
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  But no, it's it's very proud. I mean my biggest goal when I
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  got into you know driving, I knew I wasn't going to fill my
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  dad's foot footprints or foot shoes I should say.
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  And you know I I set my own goals and that was the win as
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  many races as I could and at that time I I retired at you
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  know third on the all time list, most in cart and so at least I
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  reached one of my goals. But I wouldn't listen.
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  I'm going to put you on a pedestal where I think you
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  belong. I'm 60 years old.
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  I was born in 1963. And what I remember was that
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  great Texaco Havilland commercial where you and your
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  dad were doing it and and your and your dad, the great Mario
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  Andre, he says, My boy Michael passed me.
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  We bumped wheels and he said adios.
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  That's right. You.
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  You, you, you, you passed your dad, You went on and you carved
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  this incredible career out. I mean, hell, just count the 42.
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  That's a lot of wins against the best.
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  The best there is. So you know, just for me, to
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  you, my friend, I admire you. Hey, let's talk about that
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  commercial for a minute. Tell me about those days with
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  Texaco Hablin. Those are great days.
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  Those are the heyday for sure. You know, that's where we were
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  winning everything at the time. And you know, and I was still
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  driving with my dad which was pretty cool.
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  You know, we've spent so many great memories with the family
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  in in in racing, you know, and and being a teammate the dad was
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  one. But you know, finishing on the
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  podium many times, starting on the front row many times.
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  And you know, Cousin John being a part of it and my brother, you
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  know, being the only four members at it or four family
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  members in the 1991 Indy 500, which has never been done
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  before. So, you know, we've done so many
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  things as a family. So I think that's what's really
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  made. I think not only mine, but I
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  think my dad's career so special.
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  You know you. I mean, it's very respectful.
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  You sound you. Your verbiage is all American,
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  but I know your dad is a true Italian.
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  Came over and he's talked about it several times.
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  Have you ever gone back to your father's homeland in Italy and
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  see where it all started? Oh yeah, it's amazing.
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  It's a really amazing story. You know, he's, he's, he's the
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  true American dream, you know, and and to where he came from
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  until where he ended up is just amazing.
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  But yeah, it was a beautiful part of the world over there and
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  it's it's not, I think it's called, I think it's Slovakia
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  now. It wasn't he in in the war where
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  he was born was. It was Italy.
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  But in the war it became Yugoslavia, so he had to leave.
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  But we got to go back to his hometown of Luca of of Montana,
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  which was really cool. Wow, that is pretty impressive
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  to think that. Do you ever, do you ever look at
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  your dad and go, damn, he's been through a lot.
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  You just look into his eyeballs. I mean, because obviously he had
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  to move because he was part of a war.
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  They kicked him out. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing.
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  You know, my grandfather, you know, owned like 2000 acres at
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  the time and he lost it all in the war.
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  And they had to just pick up and leave one night and head to
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  Luka, which is where they live for seven years within a
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  building where there was 1500 people.
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  They shared a room with five families for seven years.
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  So, you know, it's it's, it was a tough story for, you know,
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  tough time for dad in this story.
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  But you know, I think it's it's one of the things that makes it
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  pretty amazing where he's come from.
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  Yeah, I talked to the Felix Sabatas.
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  He came from Cuba. He was a NASCAR cloner and Felix
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  had to escape. You know that regime.
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  And you know his story's a little similar, but he's not as
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  famous as as as the Andretti family.
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  Those those trophies behind you. Now I want to tell you, I do
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  this all the all the great ones. I I made sure I studied up on
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  you. But but but you're just giving
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  me a lot right away. When you look at those trophies,
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  when you know certainly you're going to pass those trophies
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  every once in a while that are behind you.
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  Maybe you might look at them once a month or whatever it is.
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  What? What's the one?
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  What's the two or three trophies that that make you smile?
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  Bring back a good memory. The ones behind you.
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  I'd say one of them is the Australian trophy where you know
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  I was in Formula One and and I was.
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  I was let go before the end of the year and I was able to sign
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  on with Chip Ganassi and and came back and won my very first
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  race back in the States against the great Nigel Mansell and and
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  and gave Chip his first win as well.
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  So that that's pretty special one.
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  And you know, I think maybe Laguna Seca in 91, it's where I
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  I won the championship that that day, won the race, won the
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  Marlboro Challenge at that time and Dad was on the podium there
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  to share it with me. So that was a very special day.
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  That that Formula One deal that you just talked about, I'd you
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  know I'm a racer, right? I I remind everybody, hell, I
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  ran 905 NASCAR races, so wow, I'm not as good as you.
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  But buddy, we're brothers. You brought up that Formula One
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  deal. I remember the great Dale
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  Earnhardt senior telling me, you know, give Nigel time to get
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  used to the Indy cars. I didn't think you got a lot of
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  time over in Formula One, in my opinion.
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  I guess when you go over to Formula One you better go now,
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  but then you, but then you come back and you kick Nigel's ass.
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  So touché. Touché it was.
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  I could write a book about it. It just it was one of those
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  programs that was never going to be successful.
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  That's all I can say. Yeah.
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  Was never meant to be successful, we should say.
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  Yeah, I you have a you have a good tongue because I feel like
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  I'm a lover and I'm good to people.
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  But when things need to be say said, I say them.
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  You and Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are a lot alike.
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  You, you, you're careful in what you say.
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  So I just want to say this. I I think I, I know the whole
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  story about you in Formula One and I think you're a bad ass.
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  And that just proved it by you saying what you one of your
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  favorite trophies is. So anything else to say about
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  that? About that, which part?
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  The F1 stuff? Yeah, not really.
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  It's just this was disappointing the way it all ended up, for
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  sure. But you know, we're going to try
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  to go back there in a different way.
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  Yes, yes. And and I want everybody to
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  know, I know there's a lot of people listening to this on this
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  Monday night. And out of respect for Michael
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  and and everybody involved, we're not going to talk about
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  that. So just thank you for rushing
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  over that. There's too much going on right
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  now. A.
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  Lot going on, Yeah, a lot. You know, we don't want to talk
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  about it too much, but it's it's all positive.
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  Yeah, yeah, PMA. Positive mental attitude.
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  Well, listen, Kenny, Conversation Michael is just
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  that, you know we can go anywhere you want.
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  But let's start like this. I've already laid the
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  groundwork. You know what I think of you.
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  1991 CART champion, 42 race victories.
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  You're saying Scott Dixon passed you.
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  But listen, you're up here and and when you walk down pit Rd.
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  I mean like in two days it's going to be May.
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  So we're at the very end of April right now and you know
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  when we when we think of the Indy 500 May 26th this year.
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  But buddy, when you get to May 1st and that's called the month
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  of May are what are you thinking about right now?
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  You got Indy here, you know the month of May, May 1st in two
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  days. What are you thinking about?
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  Well, for sure. You know, definitely when you
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  were a driver that was a big focus.
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  You know, with us we've got so many things going, but Mia May's
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  a big month still for us, it's a very important day, couple weeks
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  I should say in a day. When we used to be driving,
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  there used to literally be a month.
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  Now it's only two weeks but it I remember that sometimes this
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  month feels like a year going on.
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  You know it's it's it's sometimes it can be a really
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  tough month but we always look forward to it as competitors.
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  It's the greatest race in the world and and yeah we that's the
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  big goal. It's our Super Bowl.
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  I ran, I raced in the Daytona 500 and it was always nerve
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  racking to me. But you know once you got once,
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  once you took the green flag and and as I know you get settled in
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  the seat, you're racing. But I was always happy to leave
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  Daytona. Were you always happy to leave
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  Indy and get what we call real racing, or or were you sad when
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  the month of May was over? Well, the way my race has always
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  went, I was very happy to get out of there.
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  Never won the race, so LED a lot of laps there.
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  Should have won it, you know a bunch of times, but didn't so
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  let. The most always.
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  I was always looking forward to Milwaukee at that time.
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  Yeah, you know, your your stats, your stats at Indy are off the
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  charts. It's weird.
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  It's weird. That was literally one of my
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  best race tracks. Like I, I had some of my most
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  dominant races in my career and and to not have a win there,
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  it's definitely a little frustrating, but wasn't meant to
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  be. You know, you and I are both
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  mentally strong. You have to be to be in racing.
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  You got to be a badass. Nobody better than me.
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  I win everything and that's the way you got to think so.
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  So when you see guys win the Indy 500, Now listen, we we've
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  watched people win the Daytona 500 and you're like, how in the
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  hell did he win that damn race and never went on to win another
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  race in his life? When when you see people win the
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  Indy 500 that you're that don't just, I'm not saying don't
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  deserve it, but have gone on to maybe win two races in their
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  life, do you ever look up at God and go what what was that about?
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  Are you thinking really a God? But I'm like, yeah, what the
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  heck. You know, it's like, yeah, it's
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  it's a little frustrating, you know, to see, but it is what it
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  is. Like like I said, for whatever
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  reason was just never meant to be and you just got to accept
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  it, right? Yeah, you're so cool.
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  But you now listen, you know, we can we kind of go in steps here.
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  Let's, let's let's change a little bit.
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  You are an incredibly successful car owner now and and if I'm
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  right, correct me, you have won four Indy 5 hundreds.
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  Five. Wow.
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  I wonder what the hell. I missed that one.
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  Thank you. Keep correcting me.
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  So here you are now, a car owner, and you'd won five Indy 5
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  hundreds and you got this team rolling.
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  You have three drivers. You just took the point lead
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  yesterday down in Birmingham, AL Colton.
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  Hurdles leading the points. That's a big deal.
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  It's all over social media, you know.
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  You got Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Erickson, is it?
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  Is it three cars for this year's Indy 500?
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  No, they'll be for Marco's going to be joining us in at Indy as
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  well. Marco.
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  Mama. Your boy.
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  So I love him. I got to meet him when we would
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  run these. These SRX.
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  Yeah, when we run the SRX, he's a bad boy.
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  It's a bit chilly. Who used the bumper?
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  He knocked me out of the way down there to Stanford,
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  Connecticut. I'm like, hey, come back here.
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  So tell me about that. That's kind of, I like that
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  news. Tell me about Marco running for
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  you this year's Indy 500. Yeah, we're excited to have him
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  back on. You know he he retired from Indy
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  cars from doing the full season, but he just, you know in his
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  mind he still wants to win the Indy 500 and he drives very well
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  at the Indy 500. He's led many, many laps as well
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  and you know he should have wanted a few times as well.
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  So yeah, he still has has had a big goal and I couldn't imagine
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  anything bigger than if he were to win it.
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  You love your boy. Oh yeah.
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  Yeah that's that's awesome. So we yesterday you ran in
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  Birmingham, AL and you know that's close to Talladega and
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  you know the the great Bobby Allison family is is around
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  Hueytown. I had no idea about that that
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  road course downer. I know it's hard to pass on the
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  boy. That's a that's a beautiful
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  setting down there. Tell me, did how much did you
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  know about this place before you all started racing there?
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  I'm trying to think. I don't remember the first race,
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  so we went back there. I remember we went there testing
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  one time. I think there was an open test
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  there to see how it would be. And it was actually built for
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  motorcycles, the racetrack, and you know, they found that it
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  would be good for IndyCar. So we've been there for quite
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  some time now, but the place is beautiful.
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  I mean, it's kept like a golf course, you know, it's it's,
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  it's really well capped. It's a great layout, little
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  tough to pass, but boy, it looks a very challenging track because
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  there's a lot of elevation changes and really fast corners.
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  So yeah, it's a cool place. I am AI didn't.
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  I didn't start racing till I was like a 22 because I'm I'm a
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  fabric. I'm a fabricator mechanic first,
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  you know I was a crew chief on the Levi Garrett car for Joe
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  Rutman 1984. So I understand the thing or two
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  about cars. It it seems to me that your Indy
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  cars are a little stronger than they've ever been.
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  Those boys were beating the hell out of each other yesterday.
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  Why are your cars? How can those cars take the
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  abuse? Now?
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  What? What did they change in those
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  cars? Or or or did they just get lucky
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  because they were hitting wheels really hard yesterday in
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  Birmingham? Yeah, there's nothing different
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  in the cars to make them stronger.
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  I think it's just guys got lucky and the way they hit, they just
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  didn't, you know, cut a tire, break a wing or whatever.
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  So yeah, I think they were just lucky.
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  I'll be damned. I'm going to tell you what I was
• 16:58
  glued to that race we had. We had the NASCAR race going on
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  at Dover and I finished watching your guys race.
• 17:07
  You know those, those Cup races can get a little long and I know
• 17:10
  what, I got time. So let me see here.
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  You guys had great finishes. 8 for Colton.
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  Yeah, it was a struggle. It was a struggle weekend.
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  I mean we struggled for pace and qualifying and in the race the
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  cars were pretty good. But starting in the back there
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  was tough. But also there was two different
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  strategies. There was a two pit stop
• 17:33
  strategy and three pit stop strategy.
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  And the way the yellows came, you know, we were looking good
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  at one time on the strategy, then the yellow comes and throws
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  it off. So it was a little bit of a
• 17:42
  strange race, but in the end, you know it didn't work out
• 17:46
  quite well for us. But I thought Colton did a good
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  job coming back and you know those drives when when you start
• 17:53
  in the back and you come and you collect points like the 5th, 6th
• 17:57
  and 7th and 8th, those are the ones that hopefully are going to
• 18:00
  help you win the championship. So, you know, that was that was
• 18:02
  a big day for him. I will never forget the great
• 18:06
  Dale Earnhardt senior. I I was complaining to Dale
• 18:09
  Senior. I said I'll run second again and
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  boy, he strike me out real quick like you just did.
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  Boy, you keep taking those top 10s.
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  That's what wins you championships.
• 18:18
  It's definitely better than wrecking out.
• 18:20
  So listen, we know how serious our racing is, but something
• 18:25
  happened yesterday that was off the charts that I think helped
• 18:29
  IndyCar and I want to talk about promotion for a little bit.
• 18:34
  I see a big gap. You know, I'm a little
• 18:37
  disappointed with with the whole You all raced 2 weeks ago and I
• 18:42
  didn't know you were racing. I thought the promotion was
• 18:44
  lacking. But yesterday we had a a damn
• 18:47
  mannequin, A mannequin fall during the race and and and that
• 18:53
  was as big that was as big as the race, even though it
• 18:56
  shouldn't have been. My point is this, Michael, has
• 19:00
  there been talk, even though you're a car owner, you're in
• 19:04
  the mechanics, you're in the shop.
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  Has there been talks about promotion lacking for IndyCar?
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  Yeah, I've been pushing that pretty hard.
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  You know, I think, you know we need to look at our series.
• 19:19
  You know if we want to really grow we have to you know take it
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  out of the mall and Paul stage and bring it into you know
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  professional stage and and it's going to take big, big dollars
• 19:28
  to get there, you know and and so I just challenged Rodger a
• 19:33
  few weeks ago and he wasn't happy about it, but I I I just
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  felt like it's important to say that you know we need to really
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  work on on that side of it because you know we have the
• 19:44
  greatest racing in the world and not many people know about it
• 19:47
  and that's that's not right. So for me, I'm going to push 2
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  hot buttons here and you know, I don't want you to get in trouble
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  whatsoever. But as a racer, you know, number
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  one, we got the push to pass button down at Saint Pete over a
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  month ago and and for me, I was the one, I was bored.
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  My dirt racing got rained out this week so I had nowhere to
• 20:09
  race on Friday, nowhere to race on Saturday.
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  So I got, I got to run in my mouth on on X, you know, because
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  that's what I do. I'm a shit disturber.
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  Not really. I just.
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  I know Jay Fry and his wife, and I know Mr. Penske, but I just
• 20:27
  could not believe. So let me ask you this.
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  I want to talk about the promo deal.
• 20:34
  Why don't we know that there's racing going on?
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  Is it, is it too much of A club mentality?
• 20:40
  Like we're just racing, We don't need people to watch.
• 20:44
  Or is it all about we need? We're not promoting, right?
• 20:47
  Well, we're not promoting, right?
• 20:49
  But I think you know part of that is you got to have a big
• 20:51
  budget behind you to do that. So it's going to take a big
• 20:54
  investment to get there, you know it $20 million here and
• 20:58
  there isn't going to do it. It's going to take a hundred
• 21:00
  $200 million you know behind it to get it to where it really
• 21:04
  should be. So you know those are the
• 21:06
  challenges that I put to to Roger and and you know I I I'm
• 21:11
  hoping he he's looking at it, he's definitely talking a lot
• 21:14
  more positive about things and and investing in things.
• 21:17
  So you know, hopefully we're going in the right direction.
• 21:21
  So I just learned a little bit something, Jennifer, somebody
• 21:25
  took a picture of you going in a bus on Sunday and they said it
• 21:29
  was Roger's bus. Whether it was or not, I thought
• 21:34
  you all would be talking about this push to pass button, which
• 21:37
  I'm not very smart on, but you're telling me that you guys
• 21:41
  talking about marketing, marketing, IndyCar better, is
• 21:44
  that right? Yeah, I mean, that's not what
• 21:46
  that meeting was about. It was more, you know, Roger
• 21:49
  apologized and took responsibility for what
• 21:51
  happened, you know, with the push to pass.
• 21:54
  But we talked a little bit about it.
• 21:57
  But you know, I think we're going to have more meetings in
• 22:00
  the month of May about it and ideas and what to do to to make
• 22:04
  our series better. Well, I got to tell you from the
• 22:09
  outside looking in, I don't know anything that you know, and I
• 22:13
  admire all of you, but that racing is too good to not know
• 22:19
  when you're racing. I, you know, that was on rabbit
• 22:22
  ears yesterday. You know, when we were growing
• 22:24
  up, it's like, look, you just needed an antenna.
• 22:27
  It was on Channel 5 here in Saint Louis and I thought I was
• 22:30
  going to tune in and they were all going to be going around And
• 22:33
  buddy, it looked like the old NASCAR days.
• 22:35
  I mean, they were off in the grass spinning out and
• 22:38
  mannequins fall, falling out of the air.
• 22:41
  And it was a hell of a show. And then and then channel and
• 22:44
  yeah, then NBC stayed with you guys.
• 22:47
  They had a great follow up. So oh.
• 22:48
  They did. That's good.
• 22:49
  I didn't know that. Yeah, they stayed.
• 22:51
  They stayed for a good 15 minutes interviewing everybody
• 22:54
  and not cool. But yeah, you you all have a
• 22:57
  great, great product there, There's no doubt.
• 23:00
  And I just thought that, you know, the show's so good that we
• 23:05
  all ought to know about it. And that was the big rage two
• 23:08
  weeks ago. Everybody was screaming, why
• 23:11
  didn't we know the race was happening?
• 23:14
  So I guess you heard the same thing.
• 23:16
  Did you hear all everybody? Saying, did you know this?
• 23:19
  Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, Long Beach
• 23:20
  was, I think it was on USA or something and, you know, nobody
• 23:24
  really knew about it and the rating was horrible.
• 23:27
  So yeah, it's, it definitely has got to be promoted better, you
• 23:31
  know, no question about it. But it's even beyond that
• 23:33
  there's there's got to be a lot more behind it.
• 23:35
  You know, I think we got to look at hiring the right people and
• 23:39
  things like that. You know, people that have
• 23:42
  turned franchises around, you know sports around, you know
• 23:47
  that taking us a sport that was not well known to making it, you
• 23:52
  know, a very well known sport. So we need to look for people
• 23:55
  like that to hire to and then let them go and and do their
• 24:00
  thing and spend the money in the right places to get it to where
• 24:02
  it needs to be. That's that's what I think.
• 24:05
  You bring up a good point because we know what we know and
• 24:09
  then we bring in somebody that we think, oh, this guy doesn't
• 24:13
  know anything about race and well, maybe he doesn't need to
• 24:15
  know about racing. But but maybe he can help put
• 24:18
  that sport on the map. This damn, this NFL is out of
• 24:23
  hand. I mean, they're can Can you
• 24:28
  believe what we saw in Detroit, the 150,000 people, just a mass
• 24:33
  of people just just to listen, who's going to choose a player?
• 24:37
  I know it's crazy. We got a long way to go,
• 24:39
  Michael. Yeah, we do.
• 24:43
  But I I like your, I like your idea that to bring somebody in
• 24:47
  that does that, you know they don't like they don't got to
• 24:50
  know about wings and motors. They just yeah, that's really
• 24:54
  good stuff. So thank you for talking to me
• 24:57
  about that. That was a that was, I know,
• 25:00
  difficult. But you and Roger have talked
• 25:02
  about it. That's breaking news in the
• 25:03
  garage area. As I always say, breaking news
• 25:06
  in the garage area. Michael Andretti and Rodger
• 25:09
  Penske talk about promoting the sport a little better.
• 25:12
  That's a good thing. That's a good thing.
• 25:15
  OK, let's go back to what was it, March 10th, St.
• 25:21
  Petersburg. So the Indy, the the IndyCar
• 25:26
  Series. A little over a month later like
• 25:31
  middle of April they said OK, Penske Racing specifically you
• 25:37
  know Joseph Newgarden and and McLaughlin the winner Yesterday
• 25:42
  willpower never pushed this button but they shouldn't even
• 25:47
  had it in their car. Can you shed?
• 25:52
  Because I'm not smart on this and and I'm not pretending to
• 25:55
  be. I just, I listened to the press
• 25:57
  conference. I read everything.
• 26:00
  What is your opinion on this whole deal?
• 26:05
  My opinion is they knew exactly what they had.
• 26:08
  You know they they used it especially Joseph and it and it
• 26:13
  was an advantage. I mean he blew by Colton at the
• 26:16
  start of a race and things so you know it was noticeable and
• 26:20
  it may have made a difference in the race.
• 26:23
  So yeah, it it's disappointing for sure that you know, they
• 26:28
  went and they did that and I just wish they just would owned
• 26:32
  it more and just said, hey, all right, we got busted, let's go
• 26:36
  on instead. You know the drivers had their
• 26:38
  story, Syndrick had his story and some of the others had their
• 26:43
  None of the stories matched up. You know, they should have just
• 26:46
  went with it and been transparent about it.
• 26:49
  Whereas I really give Jay, When you talk about Jay, Jay, you
• 26:53
  know that was a gutsy move to expose it and go and and give
• 26:59
  Roger that penalty. You know that to take all the
• 27:02
  points away from the team and the and the win that that was a
• 27:06
  gutsy move for Jay for sure. So you know I I applaud them for
• 27:12
  being transparent on that side of it.
• 27:14
  But yeah, it was just a unfortunate, disappointing
• 27:18
  thing. So, you know, NASCAR has been
• 27:24
  way behind for years. Our cars have been, you know,
• 27:28
  Roman Chariots. I mean, they're they've been
• 27:30
  wait, nine. And we know.
• 27:32
  And you know, I happily accept the old IndyCar guys calling us
• 27:36
  taxi cab racers. That that's fine.
• 27:39
  That's funny. Yeah, right.
• 27:41
  Damn, Taxi cab. Hey, hold on.
• 27:43
  I need to hold my thought right there.
• 27:44
  This is perfect timing. I want, I want to follow up
• 27:47
  with. I want to come back in just a
• 27:49
  second and ask you how they think.
• 27:52
  They weren't going to get caught.
• 27:53
  But right there, did you ever consider running the NASCAR Cup
• 27:58
  Series? Funny story.
• 28:02
  There was a point where I was looking at it.
• 28:04
  I was, I did irock, I don't remember.
• 28:06
  I think it was like 87 and and I was running, you know, with Dale
• 28:13
  Earnhardt and Dale was all over me.
• 28:17
  He wanted me to go and drive for his.
• 28:21
  What was it called at that time, the the Xfinity Series?
• 28:25
  Yeah, yeah. What was it?
• 28:27
  I don't know what it was called at that time.
• 28:29
  And he was like begging me. You got to come, you got to try,
• 28:32
  you got to run. And we were at Michigan and when
• 28:36
  the IROC and we both went into turn three and four side by
• 28:41
  side, we touched and he went into the wall and never talked
• 28:44
  to me after that. Oh my God, yeah, yeah, well, you
• 28:52
  know, I always tell everybody this quick story when when, you
• 28:56
  know, my wife's Catholic and I'm Lutheran.
• 28:58
  And we went to pre Cana class and Father John looked at me and
• 29:02
  said, now, what are you going to do when you grow up?
• 29:04
  I said I'm going to be a race car driver.
• 29:06
  He said, Oh my young man, be careful.
• 29:09
  Competition will kill you. You know what You you.
• 29:12
  So you got. Wow, Charlie, we need to record
• 29:15
  that segment right there. Michael Andretti got one on Dale
• 29:17
  Senior that day. So yeah, it never, it never
• 29:20
  happened. Well, I always wondered because,
• 29:23
  you know, there's always a little interest somebody, you
• 29:26
  know, crossing over and driving, you know, the big heavy cars.
• 29:30
  But well, what a great story. OK, so let's go back to Saint
• 29:33
  Pete for a minute. I was telling you how ancient
• 29:36
  our cars are. They were.
• 29:38
  Now here we are. We've upgraded.
• 29:40
  Get better still old still old but but we can we can take and
• 29:46
  plug right into our motors now and and I know you guys were way
• 29:50
  ahead of this before us when the Penske team had this push the
• 29:56
  pass button. In your mind just as I I call
• 30:00
  this D bullshitting the situation.
• 30:03
  I mean they they had to know they were going to pull.
• 30:05
  I mean how could how could one think they were going to get
• 30:09
  away with that? I don't know.
• 30:13
  I mean, I I think it's funny how the whole thing was exposed.
• 30:18
  It was all by mistake. So what happened was that at
• 30:22
  Long Beach they forgot to turn on the push to pass in the
• 30:26
  morning, warm up the, you know, IndyCar did and the only three
• 30:30
  cars that that had pushed the pass in the warm up were the
• 30:34
  Penske cars. So that's what exposed it and
• 30:38
  that's what got them to start looking at.
• 30:40
  Otherwise they had it in, so they were going to use it at
• 30:43
  Long Beach, which would have been a big advantage.
• 30:45
  So to say that it was by mistake, it's.
• 30:49
  Why would you still have it in if you knew that you used it by
• 30:52
  mistake in in? Yeah, OK.
• 30:55
  You know at the first race, so yeah it it that's where things
• 30:59
  they should have just not say anything and just said OK, we
• 31:02
  screwed up and go on but because they were going to use it at
• 31:05
  Long Beach if they didn't get caught.
• 31:07
  And as Paul Harvey used to say, and that's the rest of the
• 31:11
  story. OK, exclamation mark.
• 31:14
  So you know Rodger Penske and and I know Rodger, he had to be
• 31:21
  embarrassed about this. I mean, you cannot convince me
• 31:24
  that Rodger knew about this so that you do you think that's
• 31:27
  something that the team went on and did on their own or do you
• 31:30
  think Rodger said, yeah, go ahead and cheat.
• 31:34
  That's a tough one. I don't know.
• 31:36
  I mean, you know, if I all I can say if that would happen to on
• 31:40
  our team, you know Rob Edwards would have been let go
• 31:43
  immediately. You know, if something was going
• 31:45
  on that I didn't know about. Now do I think that Rodger
• 31:50
  didn't know exactly about it? Yeah.
• 31:54
  Did he give the permission to do stuff maybe I don't know
• 31:58
  possible I I I just don't know. I mean that's something that
• 32:01
  it's, you know, we'll always speculate on and we just don't
• 32:04
  know for sure. But I guess you know, I would
• 32:07
  have handled it a lot different and with my employees if
• 32:09
  somebody did that, you know, purposely and didn't tell me, I
• 32:13
  wouldn't be happy about that. That's our reputation, you know,
• 32:15
  it's, it's Roger reputation. How could they do that, you
• 32:19
  know? And if you're going to do that,
• 32:20
  you should have to pay the price.
• 32:23
  Yeah. Well, listen, thank you so much.
• 32:26
  I threw a couple darts at, you know, one was about, you know,
• 32:28
  advertising IndyCar a little more.
• 32:31
  You know, I love racing, Michael.
• 32:33
  I'm a racer like you are and I want all racing to succeed and
• 32:39
  and then thank you for also addressing that push to pass
• 32:42
  deal so now we can move on. I, as I look at your career now,
• 32:52
  in my opinion, you know, I see more drivers now doing what you
• 32:58
  did and what you did was shocked me by you quit racing at like 41
• 33:05
  years old. To me at that time, at that
• 33:08
  time, that was crazy young. Nowadays, you know, in my world,
• 33:16
  you look at Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, all
• 33:21
  these great NASCAR drivers, they all peeled out at that age too.
• 33:24
  Now they still race and they're still playing around.
• 33:27
  So my question to you is what was going through your head at
• 33:31
  that time to to quit racing at such a young age and and see
• 33:37
  ownership in your future like it shocked me?
• 33:43
  Few years before I retired I started looking at what am I
• 33:47
  going to do beyond my driving years you know and and I wanted
• 33:50
  to stay in the sport I love. I mean it's all I know right is
• 33:53
  racing and and so I started to get interest.
• 33:56
  I've always been interested in the business side of it.
• 33:59
  Even when I was on teams like, you know with with Chip and and
• 34:04
  and Carl Haas and stuff, I always had a lot of input on
• 34:07
  what was going on within the team and stuff and gave ideas.
• 34:10
  And so I always had a lot of interest in that.
• 34:12
  So, you know, I started to look at that, that I wanted to, you
• 34:16
  know get into ownership. So then, you know, and the other
• 34:21
  thing that I always wanted to do and I promised myself was that
• 34:24
  when I retire, I want to know when I retire that I could have
• 34:28
  won that last race that I was in and I fade away, you know, I
• 34:32
  didn't want to be like AJ and things like that, you know, so.
• 34:37
  So it actually worked out perfect for me.
• 34:39
  You know, I was able to end up buying the team that I was
• 34:43
  driving for and and then I, you know, retired leading.
• 34:47
  I was literally leading the Indy 500 when the engine quit and I
• 34:52
  was, I retired. So I knew I could win that race,
• 34:55
  you know? So, so from that standpoint, it
• 34:57
  was satisfying. That was a very emotional day
• 35:01
  you know, as you were you know, I, I, I'm goosebumps right now
• 35:04
  thinking about it. Everybody knows the story with
• 35:07
  the Andretti's at Indy. So when you were running the
• 35:14
  Indy 500 as a driver, I'm going to go a little different area
• 35:17
  here you were were were you living up there around Nazareth,
• 35:22
  PA? Yeah.
• 35:27
  This is hard for me to, So let me just tell my truth real
• 35:30
  quick. I I left to Charlotte, NC
• 35:33
  because it was too toxic. In other words, you know, if I
• 35:36
  went to eat lunch, you know, people would be in every
• 35:40
  restaurant on a Tuesday going, What happened?
• 35:43
  I'm like, I run 15th. Yeah, well, why'd you suck?
• 35:46
  And I'm like, screw this place. You know what?
• 35:49
  I I'm going back to Saint Louis, where my buddies are.
• 35:52
  You know, I've raced NASCAR my whole life, so it shocked me to
• 35:56
  see you move to Indy. You're in Indianapolis right
• 36:01
  now. What?
• 36:01
  What made you move to Indy? The race team, you know, I, I,
• 36:05
  I, I, I was a little naive. I thought the time when I bought
• 36:10
  the team was, you know, O3 was our first year that I'd be able
• 36:15
  to do it. You know, not being there every
• 36:17
  day and being on it and, you know, it just wasn't working out
• 36:21
  that way. It came a point where I I had to
• 36:24
  move here for the race team and and to to show that I was here
• 36:28
  and committed to it. And so that's that's why I did
• 36:31
  and I got to say I'm very happy I did.
• 36:33
  I love it here in India, I really do.
• 36:34
  It's a it's a great place to live.
• 36:38
  It's a great place to raise a family and it's I really enjoy
• 36:43
  it. I am going to come up to the
• 36:46
  Indianapolis Motor Speedway on like a Wednesday, May 15th.
• 36:51
  Because. Yeah, I want to see you in
• 36:53
  person and I I tell you, I got to admit when I grew up as a kid
• 37:00
  it was Mary Andretti and AJ Floyd.
• 37:02
  That's my whole childhood. So when I see you in real I'll
• 37:05
  probably just stare at you for a minute make sure you're real and
• 37:09
  and I'm coming up on Wednesday because I'm a racer and I don't.
• 37:14
  I mean I know the Indianapolis 500 is incredible, but I want
• 37:17
  to, I want to look at the cars and I want to see you guys in
• 37:22
  your in your environment. So when you when you leave your
• 37:26
  house and you go over to the Speedway, are you able, are you
• 37:31
  able to separate this since you live in Indy, Like how far is
• 37:34
  the Indy, how is the race, how far is the racetrack from you?
• 37:37
  And I mean I just this whole Andretti and Indianapolis Motor
• 37:42
  Speedway. It's it's like you have forgiven
• 37:43
  the racetrack and you went on and you won five as an owner.
• 37:47
  Tell me that whole dynamic you and Indy and you're living there
• 37:50
  now. Yeah, it's funny.
• 37:51
  You know, when you're when you're living here, I'm like 20,
• 37:55
  some miles away from the track. It's it's weird.
• 37:58
  You're just like you're separated and then you go down
• 38:00
  under a tunnel and you see the museum and it's like you're in a
• 38:03
  different world and it's just all, I don't know, there's
• 38:05
  something about it you get, you get the butterflies and things
• 38:10
  like that. You know, this place is so
• 38:11
  special from that standpoint, and I think it'll always be that
• 38:14
  way. No doubt.
• 38:17
  What did you think? This is going to be an odd
• 38:19
  question. What did you think when when
• 38:22
  NASCAR brought the Roman Chariots to race at the
• 38:26
  Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Yeah, a little disappointed
• 38:32
  because I think that was the beginning and of the problems
• 38:35
  for IndyCar because I think at that point this is my own
• 38:39
  opinion. I don't have facts to prove it
• 38:41
  but I think France at the time you know was was with Tony
• 38:48
  George and I think you know he he tried to convince him that he
• 38:52
  should start his own series. You know because you know the
• 38:56
  cart was getting too big and you know that it was going to over
• 38:59
  shadow the Speedway and things like that.
• 39:01
  And I think I think that's where the buzz got in Tony's ear and
• 39:07
  you know and then that you know obviously it it just about
• 39:09
  killed IndyCar racing you know with the two series.
• 39:12
  So that was that from NI standpoint that was not a good
• 39:16
  time you know for IndyCar? Yeah, I agree with you as a fan.
• 39:20
  I didn't like see some of the drivers over here, some of the
• 39:23
  drivers over here. Now with Rodger Penske owning
• 39:29
  the any Annapolis Motor Speedway at A at A at an high age, I mean
• 39:37
  Rodgers of age. Do you think the Indianapolis
• 39:41
  Motor Speedway, obviously Rodger, as smart as he is one of
• 39:44
  the most iconic businessmen in the world.
• 39:47
  Do you think the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in a good spot
• 39:50
  right now? It's a tough question.
• 39:53
  OK, that's all. Roger loves the Speedway,
• 39:56
  obviously that's that's that's everything to him.
• 40:00
  And I guess when it comes to the Speedway itself, I think Roger's
• 40:04
  done a lot of really good things.
• 40:07
  And you know, I think it's more the series that that I think
• 40:12
  needs more help to help raise the 500 as well.
• 40:16
  But yeah it's I don't know I don't know if it's in a better
• 40:21
  spot or not. I mean I know Rogers you know
• 40:25
  got a lot of things he wants to do yet with it and stuff which I
• 40:29
  hope, I hope happens and you know I think, you know yeah he's
• 40:33
  up there in age and but you know you you talk to people like Greg
• 40:37
  Penske and stuff. You know, he he's he's he's on
• 40:40
  it too. And I think, you know, he's got
• 40:43
  some good ideas as well for the future.
• 40:45
  So, you know, hopefully, you know the day that Roger's not
• 40:50
  here that Greg will be able to take over.
• 40:52
  And you know, I think he's got a lot of good ideas, could be good
• 40:55
  for his future. That's good to hear.
• 40:58
  This is going to be another odd question.
• 41:00
  When I when I think of people taking over, I I look at them
• 41:03
  and I look at the color of their skin, whether they look good or
• 41:07
  not. Your your dad.
• 41:09
  Oh, my God. What in the world?
• 41:11
  I mean. And I mean, this is awesome.
• 41:13
  And this is one of the best. You're fine.
• 41:15
  I mean, you know, there was a story I read years ago that over
• 41:18
  in the villages in Italy, that even though they had high
• 41:21
  cholesterol, it never bothered them.
• 41:24
  And I always thought about the people that came from Italy, you
• 41:27
  know, the the wine. What was it about with their
• 41:29
  arteries? Your father looks like he's
• 41:33
  going to live to 125 at least. God, I hope so.
• 41:36
  That'd be awesome. Yeah, he's amazing.
• 41:39
  I don't know, he, I think one of the things is he just never,
• 41:42
  he's always, he's always doing something.
• 41:44
  He never sits down, always tinkering with whatever on the
• 41:48
  road a lot. Yeah.
• 41:50
  So, you know, I think that's a big thing.
• 41:53
  You know, when you get older, you got to keep yourself going
• 41:56
  and and he does. I mean, he was driving the Two
• 41:58
  seater all the way up until last year.
• 41:59
  He's 83 years old, driving the two seater, still doing 200 mph
• 42:03
  around the Speedway. So yeah, that's that's pretty
• 42:06
  amazing. Yeah, it really is.
• 42:08
  And and I know that and I, we're not going to talk about it, but
• 42:11
  I think that Formula One deal lit a fire underneath his ass
• 42:15
  because he's, he's jacked up on Mountain Dew right now.
• 42:18
  He's, he's, he's ready to go. That's where I hope we really
• 42:21
  get it, you know, even for him just to be able to go and you
• 42:24
  know, be a part of it and be around it because he, he loves
• 42:28
  Formula One. He lives for it and and and be
• 42:30
  part of you know of a of a race team and F1 I think would be
• 42:34
  huge for him and I think it'll it'll keep him going for for
• 42:37
  sure for many more years if we get get in there.
• 42:41
  Yeah, that's badass. OK, we're at the end here.
• 42:45
  I just want to say this. And when I look at IndyCar right
• 42:48
  now, these are just some of the names that come to my mind.
• 42:53
  What I noticed about the IndyCar race in Birmingham, AL, was
• 42:57
  there was a healthy car count 27 cars.
• 43:01
  Now I'm behind. I get it.
• 43:03
  OK. I don't know your business, but
• 43:05
  I thought that's a lot of cars 27 And when you look at the
• 43:10
  owners, you got yourself the great Michael Andretti, AJ Foyt,
• 43:17
  you know, with what do you say, that Ferrucci.
• 43:20
  Yeah, yeah, he he'll come to the Chili Bowl every once in a
• 43:23
  while. And I think it's funny, you
• 43:25
  know, but it's because it's cool.
• 43:27
  And of course, Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, What are some of
• 43:33
  the other teams that I don't see on my radar that are really good
• 43:39
  teams in any car? What?
• 43:41
  What teams did I not mention that you give a nod to?
• 43:45
  McLaren for sure. Yeah, they're, they're, they're
• 43:48
  a real threat. They're they're they're a really
• 43:50
  good team. You know, Ray Hall, you know,
• 43:54
  they they get their shots in there as well, you know, then
• 43:57
  you look at little teams like Jungko, so you know, they're
• 44:00
  doing a pretty good job. So yeah, there's the level of
• 44:03
  competition has never been this high, you know, all the way
• 44:06
  through the field. There's just not a week.
• 44:08
  Yeah, I mean, even on a any day, any one of those teams can win a
• 44:12
  race, you know? And that's that's what's pretty
• 44:15
  cool about it. Yeah, and that's why I wanted to
• 44:17
  bring that up. Michael, IndyCar is strong.
• 44:20
  I'm glad you said it. I think it's as good as it's
• 44:22
  ever been. After that race, I'm going to
• 44:25
  tell you what, if I'm IndyCar right now, I'm loading up all of
• 44:28
  social media. I don't care what it is with all
• 44:31
  the side by side, the the banging of the wheels.
• 44:34
  And I can give them all some advice right now.
• 44:36
  I'll tell them my story, load up social media with all the wheel
• 44:40
  banging, the lady, the mannequin falling because people like a
• 44:44
  party. I mean, you know, when you know,
• 44:47
  as you know, the snake pit in India is a thing.
• 44:50
  Whether we like it, whether you know, whether we like it or not,
• 44:53
  Talladega, but well, listen, any Indycar's strong.
• 44:58
  It's strong because of what you're doing.
• 45:01
  I want to thank you for being an owner.
• 45:03
  You you selfishly retiring at such a young age and you know
• 45:07
  you have got three cars and now you're going to have four with
• 45:11
  your son Marco running the Indy 500.
• 45:14
  Michael, I'm just going to end like this.
• 45:17
  You're a complete badass. The Andretti's are the most
• 45:21
  legendary name. Thanks.
• 45:24
  And I want to, I want to thank you so much for being on Kenny
• 45:28
  conversation. My pleasure.
• 45:30
  Has been a lot of fun. Yeah.
• 45:32
  Make sure you stop by when you're at Indy.
• 45:34
  I'm going to call Jay up and I'm going to say Jay, I want a pass
• 45:37
  that says you'd go anywhere I don't want.
• 45:40
  Well, we'll we'll put you on our timing stand you know and and
• 45:42
  hang out and see a little bit what we do.
• 45:45
  Yeah, I I there's times I can stay quiet.
• 45:47
  When I get to the racetrack, I go in quiet mode and and I'll be
• 45:51
  nervous, but I'm going to come up there and check you all out.
• 45:53
  Well, listen up everybody. We are in podcast form.
• 45:56
  You can listen to the great Michael Andretti on your way to
• 45:59
  work and on your way home, 'cause this is a long one.
• 46:03
  We are on iTunes and Spotify. Until next time.
• 46:08
  We'll see you later. Thank you.
• 46:10
  Bye.