Business of Speed Podcast - The One with IndyCar Driver, Conor Daly

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

In this episode of Business of Speed, we sit down with IndyCar veteran and fan favorite Conor Daly to deconstruct the reality behind the visor. This isn't just about lap times; it's about the hustle required to raise $10 million just to reach the starting grid.From cold-calling sponsors for $500 checks to navigating the ruthless politics of the European open-wheel ladder, Conor reveals what it actually takes to build a career when the economics of the sport are stacked against you. We dive deep into the marketing disparity between F1 and IndyCar, the toxicity of social media algorithms, and why "perseverance" is more than just a tattoo—it's a business strategy.In This Episode: 00:00 - The "Psychotic" Obsession: What it takes to compete 04:50 - The ROI of Junior Formulas: Winning vs. Funding 11:59 - The $10 Million Question: Talent vs. "Pay Drivers" 15:00 - The F1 Heartbreak: Losing the Force India deal 26:00 - The Modern Sponsorship Landscape: Why money sits on the sidelines 34:30 - Ovals vs. Road Courses: The technical reality check 41:00 - The Algorithm: Battling F1 Twitter & toxic fandom 47:40 - Marketing 101: What IndyCar must learn from Formula 1 54:00 - The Dream Team: Daly, Marks, and the future of Le Mans

Hola, Ichenzo. Buongiorno. How are you? Fantastic, as always, because we get to talk racing and business and all the things and talk to some cool people. And sometimes talking to you is all right, too. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate the words you throw me on a daily basis. Every day.

You are very correct. we are so lucky that we get to talk to some people that we admire that whose careers we have followed for a very long time uh sometimes decades uh and today is one of those days uh we get to talk to someone who i personally have followed his career since f3 he was formula 3 formula 2 he was actually a test driver in formula 1 for force india and he is an indycar legend so to speak he's so well he's so well loved in the paddock he's an indiana native guy which means that he drives the crowd crazy at the indy 500 people go nuts with him and quite frankly and drivers love him and and and quite frankly drivers drivers across all series love him everyone

my catchphrase is this man is the most popular man in motorsports by far he is beloved cannot disagree i i don't think i can just i can i cannot disagree with that his father was a formula one driver it is none other than connor daly i'm so excited to talk to him exciting conversation also my power will go out at some point during the conversation so my screen just goes black which was kind of funny and yeah talking to connor was it was it was fun but it was uh insightful powerful super laid back um obviously talented because he's driven across different disciplines and you know in different series and he's just a grinder and i said i said to him that you know perseverance is one of the things that if i had to define him and uh you know just just sticking

with it constantly it's it's definitely not for the faint of heart right if you want to be in motorsport if you want to be at the the upper echelon of your racing discipline you know open wheel it's it's indycar it's f1 that's the top of the top right you want to be there you have you have to grind it out right and connor just has proven time and time again that he's always ready and willing um to keep doing that and man i just i wish nothing but the best for him and this conversation was was fun yeah the the business of speed is a ruthless mistress and Connor will tell us a little bit about that. I hope you guys enjoy the episode. Enjoy.

Welcome to the Business of Speed podcast, Connor Daly. How are you? I'm great. How are you guys? Thanks for having me. We're doing well. Good, man. Good. Yeah, really, really pumped to have you here because you have such a vast knowledge of the ins and outs of not just a single motorsport, but many of them in many different series and the whole ladder, I would say, right, which is a unique perspective because a lot of people get on track and they just go and they either have success or they don't. but you've kind of had a mixed bag with your career.

And I think it gives you perspective, which resilience, perseverance is something I would use to describe you. And yeah, this will be, oh, did you laugh at that? You don't think I'm right? No, I actually, I wear persevere on my wrist. So like, I definitely, it's a good word of description. Yeah, you, I think you're the embodiment of it.

I always like to start a little bit with the- Dead yet, I'm not going to go away that easily. I want to start a little bit at the beginning For people who don't know, Conor's dad is Derek Daly. He raced everything as well. He was an F1. He was an IndyCar. He did Le Mans.

And he has a really unique thing. I know Mario Andretti did it too. And anytime you can be in a sentence with Mario Andretti, that's great. Your dad has a very unique accomplishment at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Can you tell people what that is? Well, I mean, he won it. So that's good. He's in the Sebring Hall of Fame.

But I don't know exactly what specifically you're talking about. So I'm not entirely sure. He finished first and second at the race. Yes, you're right. No, no, no. Okay, that is a funny one. Yes, I do remember that one. Is that allowed today?

Could you be in two different cars at the same time today? Technically, yeah. Actually, Conor DeFilippi, who is my teammate in the Indy 8-Hour, he was in two entries, I think, last year. So it definitely can still happen. I don't know how or why, but I guess there aren't enough drivers out there. So they needed to do two. I don't know. So, I mean, there are millions of drivers out there, but maybe just not enough to fit the bill.

Yeah, there you go. That's funny. So how did you get, so obviously some people are put into a cart and you, of course, grew up around it. Tell us about those early days. Was your dad pushing you and did you just like think I need to get into a cart? How did you get into it? Honestly, no. My dad's whole, his whole thought process was he never wanted me, like he never wanted to force me to do anything.

I had the desire to do it. And so I kind of just tripped into it. Our neighbor bought a go-kart and they asked my dad to like help them out with it. Cause they knew obviously his history and I just tagged along and, and I was just asked like, Oh, do you want to try it too? Cause I think we were similar ages. I was 10 at the time. And I said, of course said yes.

I mean, what, what kid wouldn't want to jump in a go-kart when you're just a, you know, a young, young lad running around trying to drive everything or just do a bunch of mischief. So I got in and yeah, I enjoyed it. And it was, I think we spent a whole day there at Whiteland Raceway Park in, in, uh, in near Indianapolis. And that was it really. Once then we decided we actually inherited that go-kart that our neighbors bought because their kids weren't interested in it.

So we just got that one. And, and then we got a trailer and then we started putting a few more things in our barn, you know, go-kart tires and wheels. And then, but every step of the way, you know, my dad, he's like, you want to do this, right? Like, I'm not I'm not going to do anything that like you don't want to do, because he knew that I had to be obsessed at a psychotic level. And and that's the only thing that I was willing to focus on and to be the best that I could be doing. So because he obviously made it so he knew that the sacrifices that you needed to make, the the dedication that you needed to have because of how brutal and difficult and absolutely, you know, heart stabbing this sport can be. So that's kind of why he wanted to make sure that I was willing to give up whatever I needed to give up to try to be the best that I could be at it.

At what point did you realize or did you think to yourself, you know, that you could have a career in it? I mean, honestly, in go karts, I didn't really know. Like, I mean, I won stuff and that was really cool. But then there are some days where, like, you finish last and you're like, well, what happened there? Like different tracks, something was happening. But you did so many races that at the end of the day, you're like, well, I'm winning more often than not. So that's good. and and then it was really when i got into cars that that's kind of when it became serious it was

it was a different feel it was a different outlook it was a different like serious seriousness level um and and but i but i won the national like the very first year in cars so so again i that was that was the rocket ship as soon as i won that i mean that was a scholarship to the next level. And I mean, I was only 15, 16 at the time. So it started being very serious. Then you're starting to, you know, tuck in your polo because you got to make sure you, when you meet Mike, Mike Hall and all these IndyCar folks that you gotta, you know, you gotta be respectable. And, and, and that was, that was it. I mean, that was kind of the journey. Once you win at that level, it starts to be pretty serious and you're, you're locked in.

So you just mentioned meeting Mike Hall in IndyCar, but you, what, you made the decision to go to europe first was that did you it was that the de facto thing to do at that time was your goal to make it to f1 and at that point who's financing that that move to europe well honestly we self-funded everything just through the scholarships right the road to indy is the greatest thing to happen to i think young racing drivers ever because i didn't know how we were going to do it at the time my dad basically called every single one of his friends that he's ever known and then he's made me go and talk to them with like a powerpoint presentation and stuff like that we had dinner meetings where we were getting $500 at a time to try to you know do this

and that but it but it was it was helpful and then yeah if I didn't win those championships like the Skid Barber National Championship the Pro Mazda Championship I don't really know where I would have gone from from then but my goal the whole time was to make it to Formula One like IndyCar was an amazing thing that I loved watching and I was there all the time and Formula One was like this you know entity that we didn't really like it wasn't around much in the U.S. at the time and so you were like that would be really awesome but not one person in the entire united states knew what formula one was everyone had like a handful of like five to ten people per state that were probably like oh yeah let's all get together and watch f1 but it was nothing compared

to what it is now yeah exactly very small groups which was awesome but you couldn't walk around in public and be like formula one be like we have no idea what that is yeah and so i knew though that it was still, that's the ultimate goal. There were no Americans in F1 at the time. I had obviously got to see Scott Speed as an American. And like, I thought that was super cool. And I became friends with Scott, oddly enough. And that was just an amazing, you know, thing for him to be a part of the Red Bull family. But yeah, I just decided, well, we kind of decided as a team, once I won the Pro Mazda Championship, it provided us with enough scholarship money to do that first year in Europe. And we were like, okay, we're going to take this. And the road to Indy hadn't necessarily

been set up yet. It was outlined. It was like, you have to go to Indy Lights, Indy NXT now. It's like, well, that wasn't actually fully put together yet. So we just asked, we said, hey, John Doonan, who's obviously, he's very large in the motorsport world still. We said, John, we'd like to do this. This is, we want to go to Formula One and this is the path that we have to take.

Like I was eight, 17, probably almost 18 at the time. We got to go to Europe, got to move over there, got to go GP3, which is F3 now. And so we did. and that was it. We did GP3 and like five Indy Lights races, and even still, after the first three Indy Lights races, GP3 hadn't even started yet. The season started in May. The schedule wasn't like what it was now, so I was leading the Indy Lights championship when I left, and I was like, do we really go? I don't know, and Joseph Newgarden was my teammate, and it was still one of those situations. You look back in life, you're like, what if we go the

other way. But yeah, that was the move. We had to go over there and you have to commit to it. Like I moved over there, fully, fully switched lives. And then that European part of my life began. You mentioned something and I want to ask, I want to go back to it. You were talking about selling PowerPoints, like $500 sponsorships at a time, that kind of thing. How typical do you think that is for young drivers? And do you think there's a difference between those in the US that start out here and those that are in Europe? Honestly, I don't even know what the framework is now. I mean, if you're a young driver, I still think the best idea is just to expand your network as much as possible. You just got to ask the people that have been friends of your family

or who know you or who know the dream that you're trying to achieve. And the whole key to getting those people involved at the early stages is the emotional side, right? We got to help this guy out like like this could be really cool if he makes it and you can't just go there and be like i've finished last at every race but i need this because i'm gonna be better like you have to at least have shown them something and and to get in at the first level you still gotta set like hey i'm gonna try to do this and there's got to be someone in your network or even someone else's network you have to ask the hard questions get to that next level of people maybe the friend of the friend who might have some disposable income and they want to help out this, you know, young

aspirational athlete, uh, to achieve their dream. There's no, there's no like one way to do it or else everyone would do it. Every situation is different. Every family's network is different. Every driver's ability to ask questions is different and it sucks. It's very hard. Like going to ask people to help out. It's, it's, you know, you have to fully leave your ego at the door. It's like, hey, I'm trying to do this and I need help to do it. And that's, it's very difficult. And for years, you're getting a million no's for every one yes, or it'll be the most random connection. They'd be like, well, this guy's got $10 billion and he will only give me $5,000, but then this guy is worth way less, but he's fully locked in and he's going to get it.

It doesn't matter how you do it. You just got to piece the puzzle together and you got to be able to say to these folks, hey, we're going to craft a way to make this worth it for you. We're going to craft a way to maybe make it worth it, you know, on the back end too. That's why drivers do like investment deals. There's all kinds of, there's a hundred million different ways you can do it and it's all hard. So you got to be prepared to do it. And people, I feel like nowadays hard work is scary. Oh yeah, it is. It sucks. But if you want to get somewhere, like you got to have, you're you're gonna have to do it or else you're just gonna be sitting there that's it yeah you know funding obviously matters and talent matters where do you think there's like what's the split

of what like how much how much does talent matter versus funding or funding versus talent i mean if you obviously if you have no talent right and a lot of funding you're you're a pay driver yeah um what do you think that the split is like what's the what's the ideal split there of talent versus funding i mean honestly that that's a great question i don't know i i think it's basically whatever anyone's willing to accept right like i think at some point you know there's like egregious situations like okay we're probably not gonna make that happen but then you know you've we've seen some crazy things in this sport over the years so i think there's like there's no one that's just gonna like in an indycar for example you're not gonna

have a guy that's done three scca track days show up to any of the team's offices be like look i got 20 million dollars i want to be an indycar like that's not gonna happen like that like that's just that's that's that's where it's too far but i mean i've seen a lot of situations where you know people have not won at all really through the the road up the sport you know they've had a couple you know maybe top five podiums but but they are well funded and and that is kind of all it takes so at the end of the day it's still a business right so if you're if there's a team that is truly in need of that funding and they're like you know what maybe this gets us to the next guy that we really want or girl then i i don't know there's again there's there's a there's no framework for

how this sport works it's just on the day at the time what works best for that team that driver that day and sometimes you know the the biggest check wins but also sometimes there are teams that are willing to take a chance on on young drivers that end up being really good so i've seen i've seen everything you know i mean you've seen i would say that i've seen a lot of drivers who deserved a far better chance than they got and and they're no longer in the sport which is a shame And then I've seen drivers who we definitely thought didn't deserve a chance end up being quite good. So I think that there's, it just depends, depends on the situation. Connor, so obviously at some point along the way, the brutal economics of formula racing in Europe become a reality.

And you're faced with this decision of perhaps returning to the U.S. I want to know, was that a hard pill to swallow or were you ready at that point? And perhaps there's still some lessons learned in Europe that you carry with you. Tell us about that process of returning. Yeah, I mean, I got to compete against some of the best in the world, for sure. So, like, learning in F3 was the best learning ground possible. I mean, you know, Valtteri Bottas, Sainz, you know, Jack Harvey, who's now an IndyCar now. Like, a lot of really good drivers came through that system.

Danny Kvyat, you know, multiple Red Bull Formula One drivers were in that system same time I was. So, you know, I was when after my first year in GP3, there was enough there that the Force India Formula One team obviously signed me to a contract. And back in the day, this was like low key to have like these development drivers. It wasn't like a cool thing. Like everyone's a development driver now and everyone's got Formula One suits and stuff like that, which is awesome. I'm glad they're getting more people involved in the system. But back in the day, that was like not really back in the day. It was like, well, 10 years ago.

It wasn't really a thing yet. It wasn't like they had the two race drivers and like even the reserve driver was like maybe like not there, but sort of if they really needed him. But, you know, Force India was was was funding my GP3 situation with ART. And in the contract, you know, I had to win the championship in 2013 to then move to a fully funded seat in GP2 and then obviously do some FP1s and all that stuff and be like more of an official reserve driver. and so we knew the goal like we knew what was happening and and you know i was leading the championship was feeling quite confident and and we got wrecked at monza which is like the second to last round and you just there's just no coming back from that when everyone is good you know when you take a hit like that and you lose like in in the in the feature race when you get hit you

started the race the next race wherever you finish in the first race so you basically lose an entire weekend of points and and we finished third in the championship so that was that was the that was the basically the entire the end of my european racing career i knew it at at uh in abu dhabi actually in monza right after the accident i was like that's it like my whole f1 dream's over and and it was a shame too because it truly was you know that there was that was that was the only situation that we had available to us and the force india team they were awesome working with them honestly a lot of the aston martin folks are kind of still there they're they're good people but i was still kind of clinging to the dream a little bit i i didn't know what exactly to do but

there was, you know, a couple of GP2 teams that were like, oh yeah, we'd like to run you. But it was like, I had no budget, nothing to like, no way at all to, to fund it. And so I kind of was still back and forth through 2014 and GP2. And, you know, we scored points for a team that didn't score points at all. And we were doing, having good things here and there, but it's not enough. Like you gotta have, you know, you gotta have everything going your way. So yeah. So I had to, you know, come back to the States and everyone told me for the longest time, like, oh yeah, because you did all that, like you'll instantly get a ride back in America. That's not true at all. So we had to, you know, even though we won over there and we were competing for championships,

uh, when we got back, uh, it was still back to kind of ground zero. All right. Well, we got it one race at a time, you know, 2014, I didn't do any IndyCar races, 2015. All right. I did a test. I had to raise 30 grand for, and then, you know, then I did the Indy 500. My car burns to the ground before the race even starts okay well james hinchcliffe got hurt so we're gonna put connor in to then do a couple races in like the first indycar race on a street course you know with with the spm team or whatever now mclaren or schmidt at the time all right we led half the race and we should probably want it so it's like okay cool now i'm signed as a rookie so you do provide opportunities for yourself by what you do on track like none of that was because i found money to

bring to the table like that was purely because i was given a chance and that's what you hope as a driver to get is just given that chance to kind of prove like hey if given the opportunity you know you're able to deliver well we talked or we mentioned it earlier long story way to put it but yeah it's a great i think it's a great way to put it though and and it really lends to the mentality of always being on call and always and perseverance like we talked about right at the outset having that but what kind of mentality is that because you know not having a drive or not knowing you have a drive is that's got a way on you at some point right or or you have to be a special type of person to be able to handle that and always always be hunting always be ready for somebody

to call I mean what what does it take what do you think it takes I think mentally I was just convinced that I had to make it or else I didn't have a purpose of being on this earth you know what I mean which is that's obviously a kind of a psychotic thing to say but I but that's all I wanted to do like it's all i i believed i could do and i i had tasted that success of winning like at at every level so when you get that success i mean that's worse than needle drugs like this it's an incredible feeling it's it's like this amazing accomplishment of being able to just at the end of the day you were the one because there's only one winner at every rate like that's it and to get that feeling and certainly on the level that it was in in gp3 and all the stuff in

america that i did i was like okay cool i gotta figure this out and even my first few races in indycar like those races with with schmidt peterson motorsports at the time the air like arrow had just got on to that team and obviously hinge was hurt which was such a terrible situation but someone had to drive the car and that team at the time was a very good team and so my first experience in indycar was with like world my second experience really was with such a high level team that it didn't feel easy but it was like oh my gosh we're leading this race by like like forever this is awesome like this is great and again you know you use strategies hard you know we finished six all right cool whatever but but that immediate feel of like oh my gosh i think

i can do this you know these are up against the will powers the ryan hunter rays the the guys that i looked up to my whole career and and again it just it feeds the system you're like okay like i got to do this like i want to i want to beat these guys i want to be in this game and and that and and again my rookie year same thing like it's like okay we had some really difficult ones some some situations that again a small team but the team believed in me and the engineer believed in me and when we had the best opportunity to do it it's like okay cool we again we passed a lot of cars led some races got on the podium and i'm only like i was my rookie year i was okay cool this should work right and and again it's it's a situation where at the end of that year

it's like i got an offer to be paid to be a race car driver oh i'm definitely going to take that but it wasn't with the best that 2017 is really when i found out it's like okay you truly got to be in the right situation at the right time and and everything around you at the highest level if if it's not all running on you know a well-oiled cylinder you know you're it doesn't matter how talented you are that's you still have to have all the elements the team the car the pit stops everything in point in place to truly get to that next level so that that was kind of a a wake-up call of like okay i was making money but it was it was it was just a tough situation to perform at the time and then yeah it's a game of momentum this sport it's interesting

You touched on the addiction to winning. James Hinchcliffe, your friend, also said that, that the addiction isn't so much to speed or to control, it's to winning. That once you get a taste of winning, like you said, that's the greatest drug. I'll pivot a little bit because I want to talk Indy 500, your baby girl. And I'm still haunted by this year's Indy when you go on the radio and in agony, you're like, we have to box. Like you're just in agony.

I want you to talk about was that you think the closest you've ever come I want to know if you have plans for the month of May if something's coming together for you and if you still feel in your bones this is a race you're going to win I I do yeah or else I wouldn't show up and you know the this year was obviously really difficult it's but again the Indy 500 is the most difficult race because you're either like really lucky or everything has to be perfect and you can't sacrifice you know any small little piece like when we when we had our situation leading my car had been great all race i was extremely confident it was easy it was very simple to be where i was i felt we had the best car and the situation though at indy is when you're

going that fast and you're doing those long stints you can't have anything go wrong and we had the wheel weights all fall off of the right rear tire so there's always a little bit of vibration as the tires wear but when you don't have a balanced tire it gets worse and it gets worse and worse and worse and then you're in life-saving mode and you know you have to go a certain amount and as soon as that happened honestly there was no way of getting it back unless we got a yellow at the right time and we could all could have all pit but you know when you have to stop even a little bit early for that last stop then you have to go we went four laps longer than anyone else ever in that race on tires for the last stint and again we shouldn't have been in that position in the first place so

everything has to be perfect and once you get into life-saving mode it's really hard to get out of it unless you get a lucky yellow and we didn't so you know I'm really proud of the team and you know there are so many times in this race like Scott Dixon who's won it I mean he's had a ton of stuff happen where you're just like oh my gosh how could that happen and Tony Kanaan for so many years before he won it I mean you look at so many of the races you're like how did that happen it's just the race it's just it's so hard it's so fast it's so difficult on equipment these things can happen so yeah I mean I that was the closest the 2021 car still is probably the one of the best cars I've ever had as well when I got hit by Graham's tire that fell out

of the sky that was a tough one but yeah I mean I will I beat the Indy 500 thankfully that's probably an easy question to answer. There's a lot of situations going on in the background right now that are kind of just annoying and very, I would say, tumultuous. But the 500 is kind of a guarantee. Thankfully, I've got plenty of offers to do that, which is good. But it's what is the best situation to be in and what gives me the best opportunity to do as as many races as i can i would say i think a sponsor has only has to like hear the crowd when you take the lead of that race connor and the crowd loses their mind i don't know how people aren't throwing money at you to race that race because you are well oddly enough we actually

have plenty of money that's the craziest situation yeah like i've had i've had more sponsorship money for the last four months than i've had in years so that's actually the craziest part is we're actually just trying to, we're trying to find, we've been trying to find places to put it. And that's, that's been the most difficult situation. This off season has like, there weren't many open seats. And although we had a very solid chunk of money, other drivers had even more for some reason this year. So there was, it's been frustrating because I'm not just going out and like begging people for cash and like, Hey, we got to figure this out. We have great partners behind us who are willing to stick behind me it's just a matter of finding a place to to put

them which is honestly crazy but you know it is what it is i've seen wild stuff in this border what um if you can give us an idea of costs like what exactly does it cost for just to go indycar racing in general but how much do you have to write like what would you need to raise to guarantee a ride? I mean, every situation is different. That's the one thing I say, like every situation and every year is different. I think teams are legitimately spending 10 million per car. Now in the, in the hybrid era, the hybrid expenses have kind of gone up a little bit. I kind of know for a fact that it's definitely, uh, eight to 10 million that, that teams are spending. You know, when you think about, okay, well, if both of your cars are in the leader

circle that goes up next year. So that's 1.5 million per car if you're in the leader circle. So that means if you have two cars, that's $3 million that you get just by finishing the top 22 in points. So then maybe, OK, if you're going to try to guarantee the fact that you're going to get in the leader circle, maybe instead of raising eight, you got to raise five because you might know you get three on the back end because both of your cars get in. So there's 100 different ways to do it. I mean, you know, like $6 million was kind of a golden number like this offseason. It seemed like six or above was what like beat me out of the of some of the seats. um which is a lot of money that's that's a very high high number yeah for some reason this year and maybe this is good like maybe people are able to get enough

support to to raise that type of money in the grand scheme of things for our sport uh but there also weren't a ton of open seats and and um yeah it's just it's a crazy situation like the indy 500 itself like no matter what is like one and a half million of the budget like that's it's like 1.5 million to do the Indy 500 properly and you know the rest of it it all ends up basically adding to if you can if if a team overall like me personally I'm not I probably can't raise eight to ten million dollars but if as a team you can put together certain situations to get to at least a workable number at the end of the day there are no teams that are not able to go to the racetrack because they don't have enough money right everyone's showing up no matter what so um so yeah

You might be doing it in different levels and different cost profiles, but everyone's still showing up, and it's just a strange game. Every number is different. Every situation is different, and you just hope that your situation and what you've got can fit with what a team's got. I want to comment on something because when the Vegas race was first announced, you won't remember this, but I engaged with you on Twitter, and I said this is sounds like the perfect like party situation for Connor Daly I'm sure you're

going to be there and you're like no I don't know blah blah blah I think you ended up being there my point is I was working though but I have this and I say this to everybody I think you are quite frankly will attest that I say I think you are the most popular guy in motorsport by far and I really mean by by she says it regularly it's definitely not true but I appreciate it I've seen Maxer stop and go across a paddock just to say hi to you you're friends with Carlos you're friends with Lando you're friends with Fernando you're friends with Hinchcliffe like you're beloved in in NASCAR in IMSA in IndyCar what is your secret sauce are you just that fun of a guy like why did why does every why is everyone so drawn to you Conor Daly I mean I those very nice

words I don't know about I mean I just I don't know I mean I've raised I've I've been around this game a long time right like i've raced with a lot of these guys and i i have a lot of respect for i think my competitors and i said this to someone else the other day like if you're just not a dick in life like it's probably helpful so like just i don't know i i have a lot of respect for a lot of people and i i enjoy communicating with folks that have also dedicated their whole lives to to doing this and and we've had great times along the way too like a lot of those guys in F1 before F1 was what it was now. I mean, there was a lot of great times to be had. And so everyone remembers that, like we all, like we all have, you know, these, these times that we've

enjoyed through our journeys to get where we're at now. And yeah, I don't know. I, I enjoy talking to folks that have a similar passion for me to what I do. And I think a lot of those, a lot of those drivers to also know my story and kind of what I've been through. And so it's kind of just of funny funny interaction from from time to time i do think that you have a split personality and there's a dichotomy about you that you have this like very fun prankster you're a notorious prankster you've been the victim of many pranks unfortunately but also fun loving you're a great guy to go have a beer with perhaps i'm sure you'd be very fun and run it out but also i think that your your drive your race your passion for the sport is very serious that that's not any joke

for you that is very serious and I love that your dad sort of incepted you with that if you're going to do this this is like a horrible business to be in and you have to be so obsessive about it and so laser focused so I do think that you are one of those people that have both some people can only be on one or be on the other there is something and this isn't even a question it's just an observation that I think you have this sort of dichotomy that people if they only knew side of you would think you're a jokester prankster and they don't realize how serious you take the business of racing how important and how much it means to you i mean i appreciate that but it's it's true i mean there's a lot of um well we all have the internet nowadays and you

interact with a lot of people that claim to know you that have zero idea who you are as a person and you know for me for a long time i've tried to share a lot on social media with fan bases and And I've never had a person to run my accounts. It's always been me. I don't, and I will never let that happen. Everything that you see that comes from the internet is directly coming from my phone or my computer. So like, I've just tried to be authentic.

And I think a lot of times people, they try to use that as an excuse. Like, oh, he just is having too much fun. It's like every moment that you thought I was having too much fun, there are five other drivers with me at the same time that you're not judging the same way. But I might have posted a photo from it.

You know what I mean? So we're in a very judgmental landscape. And certainly now, I'm obviously a little bit older now, so I'm not out in the streets like I used to be. But at the end of the day, people, they formulate a lot of thoughts purely because they believe everything they see on the Internet is the only thing that's happening. And that's not true. So there's so much that I've dedicated my whole life. And if I wasn't fully dedicated to this game, I would have been gone a long time ago. Like this, this sport has stepped on my throat more times than I can count and I will not

let it beat me yet. So like, I, I want to be here. I want to do things that I, you know, that I know that I can accomplish and, and in the most difficult of times, it's like, Hey, we're going to show up and continue this fight because I truly love doing this game and, and being a part of it and competing against the best and beating the best if we can do that. So I really want to win in this IndyCar series and especially the 500, but any race,

like especially a road course race, because all these losers on the web forgot what the last 15 years of my life looked like. So I hate that. And it's just so, it's so funny to me. But- You get frustrated when people say that, Connor. I'm out there keyboard warrior-ing you.

I appreciate it. He did his whole career in road courses. What are you people talking about? it's people have short attention spans though right like and you're only caught for 15 seconds you're only as good as your last race like that's that's it so it's it's and i understand it but i also know in this in the in the indycar series now things are so much different road course to oval and if anything you know you could ask plenty of other drivers this like you got to have your stuff dialed in on the road course and and there's there's so few

opportunities to make the progress like I would do on ovals, right? Because I'm just doing that purely out of space that is available and honestly, bravery. And you physically can't do that on road courses because there's the wall or grass. And just science will not allow you to go any faster through a 90 degree right hander, right? There's so many factors that are just not the same as an oval race and a lot of people like a lot of drivers who come from Formula 1 have learned that and it's just it's a totally

different style and it doesn't mean that you're better at one or the other it's just it's a different car to drive it's a different it's an entirely different mental look like outlook on things and yeah it's just then there are so many other factors in

the car that contribute to fast road course cars the brakes the suspension the aero, aero almost essentially doesn't matter you're all running the same aero but on the oval, you don't have to worry about the brakes like if you have efficient braking on the road courses you might gain two tenths

you don't get that on ovals you're just trying to figure out how to not die you know what I mean so like that's, there's a lot of that that people just don't actually realize hey there's, and people don't even realize that you could have a lot of different theories on brake efficiency and braking in IndyCar

and there are some different things that you can use to make that better so all of those things again And if you want to be, if you want to sit on the Wikipedia and go through all the things, happy to go ahead and do that. But I just like trying to tell people from a real perspective, hey, this is not about me. This is about plenty of other drivers. This is just what goes into it. This is what makes, this is why Ganassi is so good.

This is why Penske is so good because they cover all these small elements. You know what I mean? You mentioned something about, you know, your 15 minutes or things like that. how do you how are you staying relevant you know with social media the podcast like are you leveraging those to keep yourself top of mind like that aspect of now more more so than ever drivers have to focus on on those things right having some sort of brand off off the grid or off the track how much of that do you think is important or is it not important do you think it's kind of like if you're good you're good if you're not you know whatever but like i'd love to

hear what you think about that yeah like well like i i don't it's interesting because obviously like alex pillow doesn't have to worry about what he posts on social media right like those guys they don't care at all and they don't have to care right but we are getting to a point where like dhl cares you know i mean i'm sure those those people like the internet's super important so you know mo i would say most drivers now though have people that do that for them and they can afford people to do that for them which is important like i i wish i had something like that But I just don't, and I don't mind staying authentic and just kind of doing what I can do to just be around

and be an internet entity. And, you know, the Speed Street podcast, I do it because I like to talk about racing. At the end of the day, I'm a race fan. I like racing no matter what it is. I enjoy being a viewer, being a spectator, being a participant as well. But, yeah, I think nowadays you have so many sponsors.

you have so many opportunities as drivers to make side cash you know what i mean so these influencer deals here and there where it's like oh we got to post up about this because that's you know you have to make a living doing this and it's very hard to do everyone thinks like oh everyone's rich and famous and indycar it's like or in motorsport in general and f1 yes they are but here you know we're like you're gonna grind out for that extra five ten grand because it's, it's very helpful for life in general. So that stuff is a part of it. Like if you can grow your social media following enough to where you can sell more deals or get more people involved in your program, then do it. Now, again, there are people that don't, and like, I guess that's

fine, but it's almost become a necessary evil that you have to embrace and you have to do something with because all of those brands are all that are on your cars are doing something with it as well. You know what I mean? Yeah, they care about it. Right. It's a tough game. Like I know for a fact, like Joseph Newgarden, he's like, I can't wait to not have social media. He's like, I don't want to ever have a Twitter account when I'm done racing. And I'm like, I get it. Like, I know. I don't I honestly don't want to either. It's it's some of the worst interactions you've ever seen with human life. But there are also some great folks there that support you no matter what. And there are a lot of, but oddly enough, the horribly disgusting comments are more rampant than others because people like to just do that. But there are still some wonderful people out there who support us, you know, every day. And that does kind of reassure you in the world a little bit. F1 Twitter is the worst.

That might as well be, you might as well be in a war zone. and that is the that is a i love f1 but that is some of the most dangerous groups of people on the internet i've ever seen i have no idea how they can be like that it's it's actually i was it's funny because now right now with the new engine regulations there's the um yeah red bull red bull and mercedes are getting accused of cheating by all of the and i hate to and i hate being the old curmudgeony man who's been watching you know racing since i was a kid and telling these people no it's not cheating you know it's called finding a loophole like that's the whole point of of the series you guys know jamie price i see the photographer jamie price so i was

literally gonna bring him up jamie's gonna call on the podcast my favorite person to yeah my favorite person to follow on twitter just because he goes after the f1 twitter folks who just are have no idea what's going on it's very we just want to stir the pot i don't know i don't know if they're bots or whatever but jamie price is a great follow on twitter jamie's jamie's actually on twitter i got his book back here his book's right there racing unfiltered it's behind me out of all things he um it's so funny man his interactions i tell you i can because i can see him saying it too and i'm just like so it's so funny because somebody actually responded to him it was uh blake do you remember blake at red bull he worked for red bull for a while blake

heine i think his last name was yeah i know blake very well yeah yeah i worked i worked with blake at force india he was one of my engineers yeah right okay so there we go so blake responded to jamie i saw on a post and he was like he's like do you just have alerts for all these like the dumbest possible comments like do you just get all of them because he comments on every single one every single one i'll tell you why and people accuse me of this stuff all the time too if you're like the for you page is because you view this stuff and you look at it for 10 seconds And you're like, how is that possible? But then it becomes the rest of your For You page.

And so a lot of people, like when they start talking a bunch of crap about me, if I click on one of those, guess what? Another 10 pop up with the same thing. They might not have tagged me at all, but it's like, I'm going to see it because that's how the algorithms work. If you click on something, you're like, what? And then all of a sudden now you're like, you're 10 seconds that you spent reading something outlandish.

Well, now there's another 15 things that are in the same program. So I don't think people understand that. Look, if you click on these things and you're starting to read into it, well, that's now you're populated with all the rest of the stuff that's in the same category. It's wild. My 4U page is all race fans. People would laugh. It's random F1 Twitter accounts.

It's the most random assortment of folks that just love racing and throwing out wild takes. That's my 4U page. That's it. It's just wild takes. So do you think, okay, so let me ask you this thing, because obviously you see all of this. Do you think, like, most drivers actually do read all those? They do? I think people read more than you believe.

But, I mean, not on the F1 side. Heck no. But I think on the IndyCar side, and, I mean, I've definitely – well, actually, the funny thing was is Pierre Gasly came up to me last year at Vegas. He's like, man, I saw some of the stuff you got into on Twitter, bro. That was crazy. I was like, what? So maybe Pierre is stalking me a little bit on the Twitter.

I don't know. But that was a funny interaction. Cause I do, I do go most popular man in motorsport. No, I just like to get into it. I like, I like to have conversations. I like to, I like to give people maybe some truth to their takes that might not be real. I'm just trying to add to the, just trying to add to their knowledge base. And, um, yeah, I think more people see some stuff than you think, especially if it's like horrible because you're like, how does this even happen? Like how, how did you get to this point? so basically the dumbest possible takes are the ones that all the drivers will end up seeing got it have dumb takes oh my gosh yeah because so many people click on them and you and you look at it for like five seconds you're like there's no way this is real i i can't believe this oh and then our for you then the algorithms come into play oh man shifting gears just success right for you is has probably meant a lot of different things over the years how do you think as you've

gotten older do you think it's about the hardware or what exactly is if you had to define success for Conor Daly right now at this point in your life, what would you say it is? Well, it's been tough. I mean, a lot of people like to judge me really aggressively, but in my whole IndyCar career, I've had exactly one teammate that's won a race. So I've not really been in a lot of winning situations.

And so I feel like I've tried to do the best I can in the situations that I've been in. And I've been very thankful to have, you know, I'll never forget a text. Some very simple things happen in racing where you're like, you know what? I appreciate this industry at times, but, you know, the one race where I substituted

for Jack Harvey at Rahal Letterman a couple of years ago. You know, Graham and Lungar were my teammates in St. Louis. And I had never driven for Rahal before. Incredible operations. So many fantastic people there that I got to interact with. And I've known Bobby for, since I was a child. And, you know, Graham, I've known since I was a child. And Graham's helped me out a lot in my life.

And we went there and, you know, I was able to beat my teammates. We had a solid race, but we did not have the fastest cars. And Bobby Rahal sent all three of us a text after the race. And he said, hey guys, just wanted to say, Sorry, we didn't give you the best cars that, you know, you guys needed today. And I was like, hey, I respect that. And I appreciate the fact that a team was willing to just say, hey, we know that this is a team effort. All three of you guys don't suck.

Thanks. Like, that's cool. Like, that's a really, that was like a cool thing to kind of see. And, you know, even the situation where, like, I had to sadly substitute for Simon Pagino at MSR. Michael Shank, you know, Shank, Meyer Shank. I mean, those guys just, I think success has been being able to work with some incredible people, although it being short times and maybe just, you know, some trophies are cool, but, but there's also been moments in this sport where I've, I believe that I've done something different. And, you know, a lot of that sadly has happened

on ovals recently, but I, you know, I'm just, I'm just trying to be the best that I can be in the situation that I'm in. And if I'm doing that every day, then I think that's good. But I still have so much that I want to do. And I feel like I'm driving better than I ever have. I feel like physically I'm fitter than I've ever been. I just feel like I don't want it to be dead now. So I'm trying not to let that happen. And yeah, I've got to meet a lot of incredible people and work with a lot of incredible people. And that's been a cool thing for me to be able to do. i watched your youtube channel i'm sorry i promise you i'm not some stage five no i need i need the views okay you got to get the subscribers you did you did something after las vegas that i really

enjoyed and for people i want you to touch on that a little bit for people who perhaps aren't subscribed to your channel go please go subscribe to connor's channel you you think that there are some really good things that f1 is doing in their in their hospitality in the paddock in the premium sort of category, that IndyCar would benefit really greatly from emulating, so to speak. And I know that we can't copy it exactly because it just doesn't work dollar for dollar. But someone who has spent some time in the F1 paddock, who knows that business model, what are some of those things that you think IndyCar, because you're such a passionate advocate and ambassador for the sport, and you just want it to grow. I wholeheartedly think even if you

didn't have a drive you would be an ambassador for the sport so tell us about some of those things that that you would like indycar to pick up from f1 that you think are no-brainers well i mean that is a good question i i think there are a lot of partners of a lot of those race teams that invest in a lot around the event right and and now again you have to have like google chrome is obviously going to do that they got plenty of money to do that you know what i mean but you know some of the partners in indycar I've done that recently. Like a lot of the McLaren partners have, you know, you'll see some of their advertisements locally, maybe at, you know, at gas stations, you'll have some cardboard cutouts

of drivers for certain things. I think that stuff is important just for the everyday person that's walking in and out of a store or driving down the highway. You know, in Vegas, I mean, all you saw was Formula One cars and Formula One drivers. And obviously it's, you know, the strip, if you're advertising there, that's easy. But, you know, a lot of the times when we drive to these IndyCar races, like a lot of us live in Indy and we drive to a ton of them in the Midwest, you don't see anything. And so that, I think making every weekend an event is really important. Now, again, that also requires money and that requires a promoter that does, you know, an efficient amount of promotion. And that's obviously, you know, you could talk about that for forever,

but it is getting better. I mean, obviously I think this year we saw so many, so many more young people at a lot of races, which I think is really, really important. You got to get that generation to, to lock in and our TV viewership was up massively. So that that's, that's helpful as well. And the Fox deal is very helpful. All of these things are kind of, you know, pointing us in the right direction, but the, the, the partners of the teams and even the, You know, the event itself, you know, they're paying people to come to the event, which is fine. IndyCar does the same thing for the Indy 500, right? And probably for other races as well, for like the fastest seat in sports.

But that's okay. Like, we just, we got to figure out a way to get more of those people, more of the, hey, whoa, like what's happening there? We got to go there. That factor of like, we got to go to an IndyCar race. Like, that's going to be cool. Because right now it's really cool to go to an F1 race. Like, even if you just go there and take a picture, like, wow, you went to an F1 race. That's sweet.

Like, you know, I mean, honestly, that's just the reality of it. People can say whatever they want about it, but that like, it is actually cool to be at an F1 race. It's just the thing, but that's fine. Like we, we want to make, like, I'm happy that that's happening. We just need to have a little bit more of that as well. And I think everyone has so much access to us as drivers in IndyCar, which is great. But there's also something like mysterious about the fact that if you catch a glimpse

of Lando Norris or Max, or anything, it's like, oh my gosh, people almost have mental breakdowns. You know what I mean? So yeah, that's like, that's amazing. And I'm glad that people have access to us, but there's still, I wish there was still a bit more of this, not creating superstars, but you do have to create superstars because people want to see superstars. So that, that, that kind of has to be, I think, a focus as well.

Guys, I just lost power. So all my lighting went out. Yeah. And everything that could go wrong today could go wrong. So I'm just going to move. That's all right. Dude, I swear, man, it's been really freaking weird. am i recording lolly is it recording on my side all right yeah we're not cutting this either this

is going in the episode i actually think it should go in the episode at this point no i was gonna i was it was so is commentating in your future at all do you think you want to be a commentator do you want to go down that road to media i think because i like to continue having employment and like money coming into my system that's probably the best way to go about doing it I love talking about racing. I hope that I can create a picture for folks that might help them understand it at a higher level. Because at the end of the day, if I can help create more race fans, I've done my job and put it on my gravestone. You know what I mean?

That's kind of what I think is helpful. But not yet. I have a lot more I want to do. I still have to race at Le Mans. That's very, very important. I still feel young. So I'm going to continue doing as much as I can before I'm handed the mic. But I do love the idea of doing that.

You did a good job in Vegas when we put on the Amex headset. I heard you and Bob Varsha. Bob Varsha, legend of legends. There was someone else. I couldn't quite make out who the third guy was. Jonathan Green. There you go. You did a great job.

So good job. Thank you. Well done. I appreciate that. I mean, I enjoyed doing the SRX races for ESPN a couple years ago. That was really fun. And just to kind of be an actual commentator in a booth and on ESPN, that was crazy.

I thought that was, like, a really cool thing to do. Yeah, I'm up for it eventually. You're still hungry. Be your dream trio for Le Mans. You and who else? You know what? You and pick two. Someone's got to do this, but it's Conor Daly, Conor DeFilippi, and Conor Zilish.

We want three Conors in the car. I want those three. Like, that's what we need to make happen. Justin Marks, we got to make that happen. Someone's got to make that happen. I feel like all three of us. All three of us, I think, are talented, and I think it would be fun. C-cubed.

I like that. That's awesome. I talked to Justin at Talladega, I don't know, three years ago. Cool dude. And he's got such vision. I'll tell you, like, if there's anyone that can make that happen, it'll be Justin. One of the smartest dudes in the history of motorsport. Justin Marks.

Hang the banner for that. He's an incredible, like, an awesome person and just loves the game and is a smart guy. Keep putting it out there, Connor. I'm going to work on it. I don't know. We have two questions. We'll see. We have two questions that we wrap up every podcast with.

I'll go first, then Lali will close it out. Okay. If you had to pick your absolute favorite racetrack in the entire world that you have actually driven on, what is it? Just one. I mean, you might have two. You might have two. So give me, you can.

Well, the thing is, there's nothing like Indy, right? Like, it's just the best place in the world. Like, yeah. So I kind of, like, that's in a category. That's like an AAA, maximum five-star category. There's no other place. I've raced at Monaco. I've raced in so many places.

I've raced at Daytona, like Indianapolis on the day of the Indy 500. And there's nothing like it, both mentally and physically and all of the above. It's insane. But other than that, if you go, let's say, of everything else, Spa. I mean, Spa is the best. It's an incredible track to drive. Just such an amazing racetrack. Very, very, very much enjoyed racing at Spa, for sure.

And Mark Blundell was on the show earlier. Mark Blundell was on the show earlier this week, and he said the same thing. He says Spa. There's nothing like Spa. So good, yeah. Yeah. So my question, I'm a little bit nervous because this question is my signature question, and it originated with you. I asked you this question, and I have been quoting you on this answer for years and years and years.

I've quoted you on this podcast. So I want to see if you give me the same answer, but also I'll give you some leeway in that perhaps in the subsequent years, it has changed because you've raced against other people. So if you put aside hardware, wins, podiums, employment status, whatever series, whether they caught a break or they didn't catch a break, who's the most naturally gifted driver that you have personally ever raced against? That's a great question. That's a very tough question. I like I don't think I can name one but I think I can give you like a one

or like a two or a three okay go because I've got to race against a lot of people in my life but there's something about like Alex Pillow right now with Ganassi in certain situations

the guy is truly on another level that is very difficult to to get to Colton Hurta has been a guy that is so young and has done some things where he qualifies on pole and you're like that's crazy like Colton's that guy where you're like where did he find that time and like Colton's had I would say an odd like he's very I think he's very good I think Colton is very very good just from pure speed so those two guys right now i would say are probably the guys that i like just are you know kind of psychos and and i think

that's that's really it because i mean honestly like when i was racing in europe everyone like everyone was good there wasn't like one standout like everyone won races like it was all very like down to the last type of an event and you know being at the at this level in indycar you get to see some moments where you're like dang like how did that guy do that and there are a couple moments where those guys do that. And so I think that's probably my best answer, I think. I'm going to

tell you who you said back in the day. Yeah, maybe I'm... Well, being on the spot, it's hard. I'm trying to think of more recently, but... It's all in good fun. When I asked you this years ago, and I've quoted you for years on this. I could say Rob Wickens, probably, too. Maybe Rob Wickens. I don't know. He's very, very, very naturally

talented. The person you said was European. Stoffel van Doorn. Stoffel! I mean, yeah, no, that makes sense. Yeah, he was very fast. Yeah, also very fast. Yeah. There you go.

That's funny. That's what we said back in the day. Every time I get it. And then that became an obsession of mine to ask drivers. It's very different. Like James Hinchcliffe, he said two. He said Rafa Matos, who never ended up getting brakes later on. And he also said Juan Pablo Montoya.

But it matters to me. The point of the question is because some guys can be incredible. They just don't catch the right brakes. And I think at the time, maybe Stoffel had sort of exited F1 and you kind of maybe had him on your mind. A guy who was so naturally gifted, who didn't land in the right place at the right time and never was able to shine, perhaps. Yeah. No, that's a very good one because he was in McLaren at such a difficult time. And I think he got shuffled out of the system far too early. Yeah, I think Stoffel was very, he was very, very good.

And if you really want to get deep into like European racing, too. I mean, I thought, I always thought Antonio Felix da Costa was like really fast as well and kind of got shifted out of the Red Bull system at the wrong time. Very, very fast guy. And I got to race with him several times, you know, as we grew up and a great dude as well, but very fast also. There you go. Thank you so much, Connor.

We have enjoyed this almost too much. This was an incredible chat. Thank you so much for joining us. No problem. Yeah. Thank you guys.