Club Shay Shay - Club 520 - Conor Daly & Jeff Teague talk racing in Indy 500, Daytona 500, Formula 1

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

We’re back with Season 2, Episode 69 of Club 520 where Jeff Teague and the guys are joined by IndyCar driver Conor Daly. Conor tells stories about how racing in the Indy 500, Daytona 500, Formula 1 have been life changing experiences. Conor explains how racecar drivers ARE athletes with how much their bodies endure while out on the track. The guys discuss their favorite drivers growing up, favorite basketball players, best racing movies, and much more! #Volume #ClubSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's only right. The collection will be available in retail and online stores and also available in the Hennessy Arena. Tours are making stops in San Fran, March 9th. Yes, sir. Dallas, March 17th. And Atlanta, March 30th. club 520 will be in attendance doing what we do best also having a drink of hennessy come have a your favorite hennessy cocktail with your guys man and for your next pregame let's share a twist on your favorite

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My name is DJ Wells. We not in studio today, but we still on the west side. I did it recording live from the historic Indy 500.500 you know i'm saying i got a special guest with me to my right little bit switch of a city you know what i'm saying we in your spot you know i'm saying we appreciate you having us in here it's one of the luxurious you know i'm saying home that you stay in why you trapping so we got a little bit different of a setup here to my left my dog young nacho young teague how you what man good Good man Honored to be here Like you said We in a luxury

Luxury Apartment You know what I'm saying Tour bus I don't know what you want to call it But nah it's dope I like tour bus Tour bus sounds good

Okay You know what I'm saying Be here My dog Bishop Out the pearlies How you doing Nasty Got your feet kicked up Yeah

You know what I mean Shout out to CD Appreciate it Yeah let's party Nasty Let's get to it Hey it's funny No matter where we go We know you're gonna get comfortable

You know what I'm saying? You see the hen dog I love the hospitality This has been my friend For over a decade He ain't never He ain't never greeted I ain't got a handshake

At the door or nothing For sure We got a special guest tomorrow Right, man? Driver extraordinaire One of the best things To come out of Noblesville He races in every single league You can think of Connor Daly Appreciate you letting us Come to your home You know what I'm all right, man. Driver extraordinaire. One of the best things to come out of Noblesville. He races in every single league you could think of.

Connor Daly, appreciate you letting us come to your home. You know what I'm saying? Mobile home. Why you trapping? And pull up and appreciate you, man. Hey, thank you guys. Honestly, it's really cool to have you guys here. This is our favorite month.

This is our Super Bowl. This is our NBA championship. This is everything all wrapped into one month. So it's cool to share it with as many people as possible as we kind of get closer to the race. For sure, man. Like you said, historic race. One of your favorite races, you know what I'm saying? And it's crazy for all of us.

We all grew up in Indianapolis. All of us especially grew up on the west side. And it's crazy, like you said, raising the awareness of such an amazing event. We have millions of people who come in town for the Indy 500. But there's so many people from the city who have grew up 10, 15 minutes away and have never came to the Stryke. I know.

You know what's funny is I come across those people a lot and they're like, you know what? I've never actually been to that race. I was like, why not? Like you guys have to come

at least once in your life because this is, it's just, it's just unique. I mean, it's the single largest attended sporting event in the world.

I mean, it's, we have it right here in our backyards, you know what I mean, in Indy. And I think honestly, as a city, we sporting event in the world. I mean, we have it right here in our backyards in Indy. And I think, honestly, as a city, we do sports pretty well. We do these events well.

And so I'm really proud of it because this is my hometown, and I'm the only driver on the grid that's from Indy. So I love to represent for the state and the city too. For sure, man. We're going to talk about your lineage in a minute, but we're going to start off the episode with a fun question. Obviously, T, you know what I'm saying? You started off driver earlier.

You had a question about that? Yeah, I was going to ask you, man. What was your video game growing up that you liked driving? We all played Need for Speed, Grand Turismo. What was your game? I mean, you listed some of the best ones. I mean, I was Need for Speed Underground 2. There was also like Mid need for speed midnight club

i don't i didn't play as much but like gran turismo 3 yeah big one uh gran turismo 4 was kind of like after i enjoyed it but like forza motorsport was a big one on x i was an xbox guy i'm still an xbox guy exactly so like when you know halo halo 2 that was me i was a big xbox guy but uh but yeah project gotham racing 2 that was one of my favorite games if those those are like real racing nuts we're into that one maybe but yeah those are the ones those are the ones i liked what car did you pick though and which one gran turismo so gran turismo 3 yeah it was always the nissan skylines that was a big nissan my favorite car of all times is a nissan skyline r34 gtr so the one from too fast too furious now i'm gonna ask you another question but before we get past we

gotta show respect to one of the best racing games of all time mario kart there's no way we could get past this and i know i suck at mario kart i understand that you are real drivers i know it's different simulations but for some of us civilians that mario kart 64 was was the bible i still play it yeah dude it's a great game i suck at it i don't know what about it it's like i'm this is my life this is my career i am awful at mario kart i don't know if i'm just i don't know i just don't get that joystick, exactly. That's it. That's crazy. I'm not a joystick guy. I need a wheel. Me neither.

Hey, y'all got to chill, man. That's a good one. We're talking about games. Now we got to get to the fun part. Even though it's probably ridiculous, what's some of your favorite racing movies? Oh, great question. That's a good question, great question bro for sure uh well my favorite movies are the fast and the furious one through four i'm a big nerd over the fast and furious uh even

though about well you like tokyo drift absolutely i can quote every single line from every single fast and furious movie all the way through like the sixth. The Tokyo Drift, the RX-7, the orange and black car in that movie, still I want that in my collection at some point. Respect. So look, I'm a big nerd about Fast and the Furious. But when it comes to actual racing movies, there's a movie called Grand Prix,

which is very old, so it's like a 70s, 80s movie. That movie was sick. But honestly, Rush uh that came out not too long ago um with chris hemsworth and daniel brule and those like that was a great movie about like formula one racing but uh yeah those are kind of i'm a little older man i like days of thunder days of thunder was awesome man i mean i still if that's on tv i'm gonna watch yeah i don't think no you didn't even mention the greatest one. What do we got?

Tell a Day Good Night. That is an incredible story. Yeah, great story. It's my first, you what? Last. My boy. I actually have a shirt in the back that says that. Oh, yeah.

I should have wore it. That's one of the best movies about fatherhood. You see what he did to get him back on the track yep there you go the tiger you gotta would you drive with a tiger in your car for sure bro for sure, I'm on a Cougar next week. I love it. Stay fine today, my boy. But speaking of that, obviously, that's a fictitious movie, but you know what I'm saying? Yo, Lenny, as you're driving, how was it for you?

Like, when did you start driving? Because driving is not a sport that you can just go see a YMCA and tap in. Yeah, no, it's true. When I was 10 years old, we actually had a neighbor. I was in Noblesville, growing up in Noblesville. Had a neighbor that actually asked my dad. My dad was a Formula One driver, IndyCar driver back in his, before I was born. Shout out to dad, yeah. They actually asked my dad if he could help them.

They bought a go-kart and they went out to the racetrack. And my dad asked me if I just wanted to come along. And so when we got out there, he asked if I wanted to get in the cart i got in because i was like yeah sure of course um 10 year old kid like yeah get in a go-kart absolutely um and so got out there and and realized that uh right then like it was like this is something that i really enjoy doing i didn't know it was possible to do something like this like to drive something fast at 10 years old you're feeling you know you're doing 30 40 miles something like this, like to drive something fast. At 10 years old, you're feeling, you know, you're doing 30, 40 miles an hour. You feel like that's really fast. So, so yeah, from then on, I asked my dad, like, Hey, like, can we do this too?

And so then from, from age 10 on, um, you know, you kind of racing is interesting because not a lot of people realize that like, it's kind of like any other sport in the years of progression. Like I did racing when, you know, when i was in middle school when i was in high school and like if you're going to play basketball or probably football you're probably also going to play that sport through those years so we're doing the same thing but just in like smaller carts that are not quite as fast and then there's a step up and then there's a step up slightly faster slightly bigger slightly faster slightly bigger and then you get into cars kind of when you're in that 15 16 year old age so that was kind of how it all started really and that's crazy because like you said you go through that progression your pops

know i said did this for a living went crazy with it and let you kind of naturally ask him to join the sport mr teague said nah y'all get in that jail nah my pops had us playing basketball four or five we ain't had no choice you're gonna play basketball i don don't think he seen us going to the NBA or anything like that, but you was going to pick up a basketball for sure. Well, see, I mean, and that's awesome. Like I – my dad was always just making sure that I wanted to do it, which I respect because, like, I wouldn't want to, I guess – it's such a weird sport.

Like it's not like the normal – because it costs money, right? Like you have to – there's a lot of things that you know you could go out and get a basketball and just you know shoot hoops like that's that's that's very like accessible whereas racing definitely it's it's not as accessible and so we had to work a lot at trying to you know get these get the equipment get the stuff you know what i mean and and i was very lucky to have you know help from my parents to do that first initially and um and and then once we get into it it's like you got to really be sure that you want to do this because there will be a lot of expense from both like myself my family like people uh people that are going to support us um you know to get going down

that road for sure and like i mean we'll get a little bit later but like even just now you live on the circuit like y'all who y'all got home games they don't got a home game this is my home game right here the indy 500 but yeah but other than that the rest of the year is away so like you're you're moving and shaking well i mean we're a traveling circus essentially you got all these teams all the all the crew guys um everyone just kind of packs up their stuff, moves on. Race weekend is three, four days in a row usually, and then that's it. But then we've got the month of May, which is longer than normal. It's two and a half weeks.

But, yeah, it's a weird lifestyle. For sure. And obviously we can talk about, you know, instead of 500, but you race in different types of leagues. What's been some of your favorite, like, moments from different leagues to race in? Because obviously different types of cars, even though it's still racing but different types of adjustments you got to get into yeah i've been lucky for sure i mean i i've i've lived a weird lifestyle in racing terms um you know i've kind of done like i i've got to you know i've got

to drive a formula one car uh which you know i feel very lucky to have got to do and uh you know i've raced in the daytona 500 and the nascar you know cup series and indy 500 so like i've got to do almost everything which is really cool um you know sometimes you know your life pathway doesn't work you know i tried to be a formula one driver when i was younger ended up coming back here you know through situation out of my control right but uh but man like the indycar series and the indy 500 there is nothing like this event like i've done i've done the daytona 500 which is obviously like this event. Like I've done the Daytona 500, which is obviously everyone knows the Daytona 500. It's like, hey, that's NASCAR's biggest event.

Like that's awesome. But, you know, even I just had Dale Earnhardt Jr. on my podcast like last week. And he was like, look, I've done the Daytona 500, but there's nothing like the Indy 500. Like when I went there and saw it, like this is an incredible event. And so getting to do, this will be my 11th Indy 500

there is nothing like this event and this is for sure my best memory like my best experience it's just there's nothing like this event and what's crazy I ain't gonna throw your age out there but you know I'm saying he's in the low 30s for you to be doing that many times okay 32 yeah we'll take it for you to do that that many times that means you've been in this event since you were in your 20s which is crazy 21 was my first one, yeah. How was that? Just a young lad. How was that, your first time?

It was crazy. Yeah, I mean, honestly, at that age, I was kind of, it all just happened so fast. You're like, oh, here's my opportunity. You know what I mean? And I wasn't at that pro level yet to where I, like, that was the first time I got paid to race a car. I was like, whoa, that's crazy. Like, I can make money doing this. Like, this is wild.

And I was racing still in Europe full time, so I'd kind of come back to May, did it, and it was an amazing experience. Like, I, you know, cried when I qualified for the race for my first time because it was crazy. We were going up against your guy, Buddy Lazier, and trying to qualify in the race back in the day. But, yeah, but it was an amazing experience.

But the thing is, it still feels like that here every May. Like, that feeling hasn't gone away. Like, that feeling of, like, butterflies in my stomach when I walk in this track and when we go out to suit up for practice tomorrow or when the race weekend happens, it's, this is the coolest thing. You remember what you placed? I placed 20th or 21st. I caught on fire two times.

Damn. Yeah, during the race. So it wasn't the greatest race my rookie year, but we did finish. We did finish just slightly on fire. Was you living like this? I actually did have a motorhome, but they didn't put me in this lot.

I was actually in like the less cool people lot on the outside track. Had to work your way up. Yeah, I had to work my way up. I was like like a little bit outside which i was kind of frustrated by but someone did give me a bus to stay in which i thought was the coolest thing ever so when did you experience this lifestyle when did the after parties be after party well that was 2015 yeah like i i'd missed what the next year so 2013 was my first 500 2014 i was actually racing in Monaco in Formula 2. So actually, I didn't race in the Indy 500 that year because I was over there.

But then 2015, I was back. So that was when things started to get a little bit more real. Like there was a pretty cool after party after that year. I'm not going to lie. That was fun. That's what I care about. The real game starts after the game ends. Pretty cool after party after that year. I'm not going to lie. That was fun. That's what I care about. Yeah, yeah. The real game starts after the game ends.

Yeah, yeah. I think 2015 was a good year for me, too. Yeah, yeah. Hey, good. Yeah, yeah. I had a nice after party. Oh, all right. Hey, what's crazy is, like you said, at that point, you started getting the sponsorships. You know a little bit about racing sponsorships yourself.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, and I own a gym here called The Factor, and we, like you said, we sponsor Buddy. Shout out to Buddy He wrecked What year was it? Was that 2017? Yeah, I think it was 2017 I believe so His first year at The Factory

And he wrecked No, it might have been 2018 Something like that I don't remember I do remember seeing The Factory on the car When we seen it, the last picture we seen, it just said, Turi. You rode it, didn't you? Yeah.

He fucked the vibes up. He was the problem. I just said it, and I ain't going around a treasure center. And I got to ask you about this. In our culture, it is one of the most important things in high school. You're hosting your same age group. But racing jackets was the absolute shit. Did you rock with those, too?

You know what? I did not. I don't think I had any when I was a kid. But racing jackets now are so back. Racing jackets are fully, fully back. I actually got a couple this week. And they're sick. But I didn't have any. I don't know if i was i never thought of myself as like cool enough to wear

racing jackets i was just like a guy that was just trying to do my thing you know i mean i was it man you was out here building the car it was more important all of us it was cooler than i know i'm very self-deprecated i'm just like i just kind of stay i'm just kind of do my thing and i've tried to be the best that i could be silently who is your favorite nascar driver my favorite nascar driver yeah it's a great question i well my boss take like my podcast is under dale earnhardt jr's media shout out to dale jr dale jesus he's uh obviously we're sure a legend But oddly enough My car number For this Indy 500 This year is 24 Oh my god I had this

In the pot So I've got Special shoes and gloves For this race For the Rainbow Warrior They got the flames On them with the DuPont like paint scheme

24 So I've got Full Jeff Full Jeff Gordon Tribute shoes and gloves For this month of May. That's dope. That was my favorite driver because his name was Jeff.

Yeah, there you go. Jeff Gordon's also very high up on the list. That was the hardest NASCAR jacket ever, bro. That leather DuPont. The DuPont. Yeah, bro. For sure. I'm going with our heart.

He's going to be out here this May. Man, help me set that up. All right. Jeff Gordon, baby. I'd love it just to take five minutes of his time yeah i would love to see that interaction i see being here with jeff gordon together yeah we need it unbelievable pay-per-view yeah for sure that's hard now just from a simple standpoint i know you can smell upon in many ways but like for the average person they don't understand

how hard like an actual race is for one you are in your car for how long yeah i mean the indy 500 is about three and a half hours 500 miles without a bathroom break right no bathroom break yeah no food no snacks no no nothing nothing like that we do have a drink bottle that's like attached like through the front of our helmet um but like that's usually boiling by about like lap 30. So it's kind of just there to just wet your whistle a little bit like that's about it. So it's it's tough. It's a lot harder than people think. We have no power steering. It's about 150 degrees in the car ish, depending on the day. So you're you're you're sweating like I usually sweat around 10 to 12 pounds of water weight during the race. And again, our heart rate because you're uh because

there's no power steering the steering is super heavy so you're you're fighting you know three to three and a half g's every corner which is you know there's four corners the lap is 40 seconds so every 40 seconds you're fighting it four times and then doing that for you know 500 miles 200 laps oh um there's just a lot more that's in there than people realize, right? Because they're like, oh, well, you're just sitting in there driving. A lot of people, that's the most common misconception is we're just sitting in there and we're

driving. Because everyone drives, right? We're out on the street and you're driving down the road, but this is like trying not to die for three hours because it is very dangerous, like what we're doing. We're doing 245 miles an hour you know side by side with a bunch of other idiots who are trying to you know make history in racing too and you are at your absolute limit mentally and physically so by the time you're

at the end of this event completely spent that's crazy like hannah asked no saying like dude y'all get slighted as athletes because i am like there's no way that somebody could tell me you're not an athlete first of all if you ever had a messed up car driving without power steering is 40 miles per hour it's crazy that's nuts try to turn it to your driveway without power steering yeah so it's it's we train i mean we train twice a day like like people the funniest part is though is anyone who does say, like, oh, drivers aren't athletes. It's like as soon as you start to tell them, like, I'm not making any of these things up. I wear a heart rate monitor. You can get in that car and try to turn it just when it's off.

And you're like, oh, that is kind of heavy. It's like, well, yeah, it's no power steering. You know what I mean? So we train twice a day. We use the sauna, ice, everything that we can do to be ready. Because, again, you got to stay ahead of the car physically. Because if the car gets ahead of you, then you're like, if you make a mistake, it hurts a lot. It hurts a lot.

I've hit the wall really hard, and it hurts like crazy. Like you said, you caught on fire your first Indy 500. Like, what's the procedure like? I don't know what I'd do if my car catch on fire. Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm like, I'm done. I'm done. First fire, it's over.

So every time we pit, right, the refueler goes in, but you're trying to do it as quick as possible. And sometimes it's 18.6 gallons of fuel that goes in in about seven seconds. That's unbelievable. When you plug in and the guy maybe fumbles coming out some fuel spills and the engine's on and the exhausts are right there and they're shooting fire essentially out so if there's a bit of a miscommunication there for me it like it literally burst into flames and i'm sitting there and i feel it like that's kind of

hot but like you just have to go because that will then put out the fire. So there's usually a guy that sprays a bit of a fire extinguisher. But my guy, my first year wasn't there, apparently. And so I just had to go and basically let the wind, like, put the fire out. But that happened twice. So it wasn't ideal. And listen, you need some baking soda in that. Seriously. Yeah, something like that.

You trying to re-rock on a NASCAR? You crazy. Sponsor my snowfall. Yeah. What's crazy is... The IndyCar Series fire department. I love it. For sure.

I'll be on CD. If he's in charge of saving lives, it's going to be a different sport. Giving him a big day in CD is crazy. My God. He's going to turn into Twisted Metal. it to him. It's nice knowing you guys. Thanks, buddy. Oh, my God. He's going to try to twist the metal. Yeah, great. Elite.

Elite car game. Great game, man. Great game, guys. Elite car game. Yeah. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews,

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And like you said, with the athlete you have on the team, you got your coaches, your training staff, and y'all support. But for y'all, y'all pit crew is so important because they make a world of a difference in that second. Like you said, half a second, pull it out, pause. That could have went real crazy for you with the fuel yeah that saved your life races are won and lost on pit lane and like people don't realize that as well like when when you see the results page it's driver names right but like each driver got there with their team or if someone made a mistake in

the pits like they got they were further down because of it's a team effort right so it everyone has to be on it and and like my guys you know the last three weeks we've been in the shop but we have a race shop in zionsville dry rimbles up there um and uh you know we have a practice car with an electric motor in it where we can reverse it and then go right back into the pit lane and the team actually built a pit stop area with the exact same pavement that is out here in the pit lane to try to you know emulate what that is going to be like and those guys work every day of the week at practice pit stop practice pit stop seven seconds six seconds seven seconds like just trying to get it right because that's what it's all it's all about every tenth of a second it to

be perfect it's crazy we had some of those guys training at my gym up here called the factory and i just watched them carrying 45 pound plates like it's crazy i was like heavy yeah i was like that's how i work out like i was like what are they doing it was like oh they're pit crew i was like oh shit all right it's tough man yeah but it's you know to, when you have a good pit stop, it feels so good because you're like, oh, my guy's got me. You know what I mean? Like, let's go. But when you have a bad one, you're like, oh, now I got a lot more work in front of me. So it's just, there's six pit stops during the 500.

So there's so many opportunities for either you can take advantage of it or you have to come back from it. You know, I got to ask you a question because, like you said, it's you said it's a high intensity very fast everybody's trying to win hey y'all be squabbling like them drivers they get out they be having beef like i'll be punching people through helmets like i can imagine when you prepare so long for a mobile like this and somebody's driving not to save us and nicks you and ruins out i can see why there's so much frustration behind that now well that yeah there's so there's a lot of professionals out here but they're also idiots so like there are plenty of people that you know as soon as you're around them on track they're either gonna make a stupid decision now they're again everyone

out here is very talented but there's also people that just are not there's always dumb people when you're doing stuff and it doesn't matter like they're just people who don't make efficient decisions there's people that you know don't really don't really care but like it's an ego thing right so yeah there's plenty of people who hate each other um as is in every sport right you have your rivals you have your uh you know people that you don't like there's people that i don't like um but uh but yeah mean, what's interesting about the 500, though, is that, like, there's those rivalries, but it's also so dangerous that a lot of those don't play up as much as, like, when we're racing on the road course. Like, there was a road course race that just happened over the weekend, right, the NDGP. So that, there was a bunch of cars hitting each other, like, just bouncing off each other, a lot of anger. hitting each other, like just bouncing off each other, a lot of anger.

But at the 500, if you do that, like you're literally either going to be in the hospital or like, you know, it's a tough. So thankfully that doesn't play up as much or it doesn't look like it does. But there are much more subtle movements at 230 that like make a big difference and that can make you angry. Like even all the practice this week, you're going to have guys running together and someone just tries to block you a little bit and you just want to punch that guy because when you get this dirty air, like the air changes in front of you, all of a sudden your car then has this massive reaction.

So there's plenty of people that hate each other, which is great for the sport. And I am happy to always be honest too about who I think is an idiot. So it's good. Listen, I get pissed off when somebody cut me off at the gas station. which is great for the sport. And I am happy to always be honest, too, about who I think is an idiot. So it's good. Listen, I get pissed off when somebody cut me off at the gas station. I can imagine.

Road rage is real out here. It's true. Definitely. It's true. I mean, if someone – I have said a lot of horrible words on the radio when I have – Talking shit. Yeah, yeah. When someone has crossed paths in the wrong way. Now I got to ask, obviously you drive for a living.

What do you drive in real life? Yeah. So our contracts are not as great as they used to be. But my first car was a 2004 Subaru STI, so an Impreza STI. So I still have that. It's broken in my garage currently. But I have a Porsche Macan S now. So that's what I have as my daily driver.

Something slight. But I do have a great idea for what I want in the future. I want a Nissan Skyline R34. I need one of those. For sure. So furious. I'm a Lamborghini guy at the heart. I want a Lamborghini someday.

Oh, okay. You're a car guy. I am a car guy. Someday. I don't know when. Connor, you'll have to detach. I'll have to get you a van or something. You'll have to slow down.

I know. You might forget. One of them nights. win you don't have to detach i had to get you a van or something slow down when do you think my last speeding ticket was i was just about to ask you that i was about to ask you do you drive like you drive on here on the regular road so i don't i have not had a speeding ticket since 2017 wow i i i can completely switch off like what goes on here because i just like it's not it's really weird because some drivers like marco andretti for example he's at 150 miles an hour all the time like we're getting to dinner at a thousand miles an hour like full attack and my girlfriend says that i drive kind of like a granny so i i don't know what that means but i'm just gonna get us us there whenever I get there. I say, okay, so you detached from the superstore.

Yeah, that's crazy, though. I wouldn't be able to do that. Especially you mentioning them cars. I can't imagine you driving the Lambo at four. I mean, there's, yeah, well, there's some situations I will drive fast, but I just don't want to deal with tickets. That's good that you can detach for real, though. Yeah, because I wouldn't be able to do it Yeah I'd be driving like

Watch out I mean I do get angry Yeah I'd be having the manual going I'd be going wow And if I get pulled over Hey dawg If it's anybody

You should be telling how to drive It ain't me Yeah That's a lot of people You should be giving instructions So it ain't me man I know what I'm doing for sure Exactly

I want to take it back to high school though. You went to Heritage Christian, right? Yep. You went to school during them Kelly Ferris days. Yeah, actually that's a great reference. How was that man going to school? Did they treat her different in school or was she a superstar later on in her high school career? Kelly Ferris, yeah, we thought she was the biggest.

She was our Caitlinaitlin clark right like she was like she like we we were so we went to the you know girls basketball state championship like every year like it was so cool for us as as because like she was one year older than me maybe or two and so we thought it was the coolest thing ever that we had this amazing basketball team uh girls basketball team for us was was so fun to watch and and cheer for um so yeah that's that's really funny she actually came out to the track here last year i saw her and her family comes out here so yeah that's a superstar i remember i'm tapped in with high school but i remember her for sure she was really a superstar back then yeah those were good years yeah one couple state championships speaking of basketball you said your first love was basketball it was yeah i even uh we we had at our school we had a fourth grade tournament each class and the fifth

grade tournament no big deal we did win the fifth grade tournament that's a fourth grade well yes we were that wasn't as competitive as fifth grade fifth grade is more important but uh but yeah man, I loved playing basketball. I was at the Indiana Basketball Academy for like three or four years in a row. I got the IBA shirts, you know what I mean? Todd Abermathy, obviously, he was there helping us out. Yeah, so it was such a joy for me to play. And it still is now.

I'm still not good at it, like it was it was a really fun uh you know fun fun sport to learn and to cheer for like i was a pacers guy from day one so yes sir it was really cool what position did you play i played person who just tried to shoot the ball you ain't seen him in a celebrity game yeah well he was on a i was the c team on the celebrity team i no big deal two rebounds one assist no no big deal i was in the paint michael parsons was hating man yeah somebody asked you a position you put you have to name a position cd you can't say i was not the i was not the point you just wanted to do the point guard. You was playing the two-day. You were shooting guard. Did you have a good defense? I was a big

defensive guy because that was the only chance that I thought that I could have made a difference. The team didn't really have faith in my shooting. So you were a volume shooter. Exactly. But I really tried. I was an effort guy. I was an A for effort.

I was a big effort guy what were your favorite hoopers growing up? man so I wrote a book which I did share with you guys I didn't write a book

I drew a picture that's crazy it was a children's book it was a children's yeah we were asked I think we were in kindergarten

to like write a like draw a picture of what you wanted to be when you grew up and I did not put race car driver I put the Pacers court and I put Jalen Rose on a picture of what you wanted to be when you grew up and i did not put race car driver i put the pacers court and i put jaylen rose on my picture of of basketball not even sure why like i

don't remember if i was like a jaylen rose fan obviously i grew up too like in the reggie miller era so like reggie miller was he was like it was awesome i have reggie miller jersey um but uh but i just love the pacers like we went through all the eras you know jeff teague era boy hibber you had paul george you had um so many there were so many names that we could follow growing up uh austin crozier was actually i grew up in uh he owned the house my parents owned before us so i like i knew of austin crozier like that's a really random name but uh but yeah there was there was a lot of guys that uh it was just it was really fun to follow growing up and we went through the down times too we went through the down times but y'all back up

now we're back up we back up baby my son's episode plays we were beating the knicks you feel me destroyed the knicks yeah yeah get him out of pain ran out of Steam Ran them out of gas Hey you was with us What happened? Last recap you was Doing it with the team I'm back with the Pacers I played for the Pacers I didn't play for the Knicks

So I'm back There you go Perfect That's crazy I'm a Celtics Throwing through Oh my god I do have a

Futures ticket on the Celtics No big deal I did bet on the Celtics To win the championship Okay But I also have a Plus 26,000 Pacers ticket to win the championship.

Now, this might be out of pocket. No, John Tate Porter, have y'all bet on yourselves in racing, or is that out of pocket? That's definitely legal, yeah. Super legal. Only boxing can do that. Okay. Yeah, only boxing can do that.

Yeah, but the whole sports gambling thing, though, this is really random, but for racing like i think it's it's it's become such a big thing for like motorsport that we got to have more of that in any car for our fans to do because people love it like people love following their guy following whoever they're you know supporting um so who knows maybe someday we can get more and more indie car uh you know any cars sports bet yeah i was about to ask you. Do people get on you? You messed up my parlay? I have seen, yeah.

People will come up to me and be like, man, you ruined this, you ruined that. Do they come up to you like that and be like, man, you're supposed to have a top 10 finish? I've had a couple people every year that are like, well, we bet on you to win every year. It's like, when are you going to do it? I'm like, I don't know. I'm trying every year yeah so it's

definitely certainly more over the last two or three years right because it's been you know the huge sports gambling boom right so yeah there's definitely a lot of people i remember there was one uh two 2021 um there was like one of the sports books i think put up a like a when barstool had their sports book or whatever they had put up one of their guys is from indy jeff vibra and he put up like some uh special bet like if i led a lap like what are the odds for me i had never led a lap before at the speedway i led the most laps that year and so it was like i saw a bunch of people afterwards like oh heck yeah like that's our guy like and i was like okay i didn't even know this was a real thing but apparently

there was a bet for me to like lead a lap and uh and i led the most laps that year yeah i'm gonna go ahead and tap in this year i don't know if there's gonna be one like that don't worry about i believe i am not encouraging anything can't do it but not a part of it but no you know no no no but i'm gonna let you know that i am gonna try to lead every lap yeah i'm gonna tap it on my own don't worry about it i'm gonna take it over on cd this year the over yeah i love it wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news previews recapsps, and analysis

delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl.

I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends and who doesn't want that listen now on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast what's been your favorite race you've been a part of so far like individual what's one that stood out to you the most so the the the 2021 indy 500 that I just mentioned, that was my first, like that race was a time where I thought I had a car to win for the first time. Like I thought that feeling when I got to the front, finally led the race for the first time. And I was like, I can win this race.

Because I've had some tough times here. Like this place hasn't been really good to me for my first few years i had a couple crashes and i just like there'd be a couple good moments but i just it hadn't really clicked and nothing had fallen into place and 2021 was uh what was a big moment for me and and i was like i'm gonna win this race and like i thought that i could win this race um and, and we, we were leading, we were leading, we were, everything was in the right position.

Uh, and then a car crashed in front of me and the tire flew off the car. And as I'm avoiding it, it hits my front wing and it didn't do enough damage to like really take us out, but it fully broke the front wing. So I basically had to finish the race with a broken front wing, which is wildly important. So I basically had to finish the race with a broken front wing, which is wildly important. So like we, because if we pitted and changed the front wing,

it would put us all the way to last anyway, and we were already running at the front. So sadly, that kind of ruined our race, and we finished the race with the front wing that was all off, which that's the most important part of the car are the wings, because they produce all the grip. So that was a really tough one to kind of get taken away from me but but the feeling of that and the feeling like we still finished 13th which is not awful

but like we had no front wing nothing so afterwards though seeing all the people like seeing the videos of like fans reacting to when I took the lead like that made me cry still makes me cry like every single time because it was like such a cool like emotional sports moment like that i like i'm a big emotions guy so like if there's a cool sports moment doesn't matter if it's basketball football if like there's a cool story that like like hey that's sweet like that makes you feel good like i love that stuff and that was a really that was that was the biggest year i think for me which was which is just feeling that for the first time here not for sure and as a fellow patrons fan we all know about crying because of sports um that's not

uncommon for us but you talked about like the cars and how important they are these are million dollars constructed vehicles and for you to have you know i'm saying a little bit of an issue it's still finished like that it's crazy but just talk about the how expensive the motor like the breakdowns of the car because i don't think an average person knows what goes into that and why these companies are so invested in those vehicles. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, so for us, if you buy a tub, it's called, it's basically just the cockpit that we sit in. So it's basically our safety cell. They designed this tub of the car to have all the pieces put on it because our cars are designed to if you crash they're

designed to explode and all the pieces to fly away because that's safer like you don't want it to all just crunch you want it to hit and kind of explode into a thousand pieces that disperses the the impact in a better way so when you buy the tub that's like a 350 000 like just safety cell yeah there go that land bar right there there you go that's it but all those other pieces around it so now you put on the suspension the radiators the engine itself we're not actually allowed to own the engine so you know we're we're part of chevrolet for this month of may so chevrolet we we lease an engine from chevrolet we're not allowed to run it unless there's a chevrolet tech there at the shop or here at the track. Um, we're not allowed to get in the engine. It's sealed by them. So, cause it's all, all their, you know, all their stuff. Um, and you know, those, those engines are about 750

horsepower, uh, twin turbocharged engines, um, which are, you know, they're, they're great for, for speed. Um, but, uh, but then, you know, they're all the suspension pieces, all the, uh, the body work, you know, for the 500 alone the 500 alone we had the cars in the wind tunnel for the last three weeks like making sure every piece of the body work is as efficiently you know basically just it's called a body fit because if you're traveling

through the air with as little drag as possible the car is going to go the fastest and here that's the most important thing ever. So if your piece of body work is a little bit off, that could cost you half a mile an hour. So you can't have that. So they spend millions of dollars. The budget for an Indy 500,

just to run a car at a high level, is basically $1.1 million per car, essentially. So when you've got 33 cars out here, that's almost probably $40 million worth of budget that's on the track essentially and y'all blow through tires like cigarettes so yep we have 37 sets of tires for uh for this month of may so like a couple days of practice 37 sets of tires that we got to kind of ration out per day like we can run usually like three to four sets per day of practice but like in indiana the rain comes very randomly so like if it rains we might have to save a set or two and as long as we end up with like six or seven sets of tires for the race then we've used our

tires efficiently damn yeah i want to ask you about the pregame man what are you listening to or what are you doing to get geared up for the race you know it's a good question honestly a lot of people think like uh they they used to ask me what music i listened to and i did enjoy listening to music at one point but now i've actually enjoyed taking in the atmosphere more like what's going on and like all the you know the people the because like my friends and family are here too so like so so feeling that is really cool but my indie 500 tradition is to go to the snake pit for the race like i actually legitimately go over to the snake and family are here too so like so so feeling that is really cool but my indie 500 tradition is to go to the snake pit for the race like i actually legitimately go over to the snake pit the massive edm concert in turn three i don't know if you guys know much about that but there's

35 000 people inside of turn three the morning of the race party starts at 8 a.m and there's a bunch of massive edm artists that are performing from 8 a.m. to about 1.30, like right after the race starts. So I go over there from 9.50 to 10.15 a.m., get up on stage, do a little bit of raging, and then go to the driver intros. So EDM music is your go-to. It is, yeah. For that concert, it's crazy.

Yeah, it's fun. That is a fun experience. Shout out to Carb Day. Yeah, Carb Day too. I mean, Carb Day, because we practice Carb Day, and thankfully the concert's afterwards. So we'll go over and check it out. We'll go over andb Day. Yeah, Carb Day too. I mean, Carb Day, because we practice Carb Day and thankfully the concert's afterwards. So we'll go over and check it out. We'll go over and check out what's going on over there too.

Check out the vibes. What's your best year of Carb Day? We don't got to go into detail, but when was Carb Day really lit? When he was eight? Most men were. Well, there's a couple memories of Carb Day as a young man.

Yeah, as a young man. I might have discovered some things that i saw for the first time you know there might have been all my growth you know some female anatomy that i had only seen for the first time at carb day this is you know back when i was young yeah that's the card there was definitely some things that you might never see again and you might see for the first time there's i've seen a lot of Carb Day. It's been kind of crazy, but my favorite part is,

since we stay here, is seeing the last people who leave the track on Carb Day. They're in bad shape. They're in bad shape. They're struggling. They're in bad shape leaving the track on Carb Day.

That's what we call the last leg. Yeah, exactly. Get smoky. I got one more question before we keep going on or get out of here or whatever. I watched this movie Gran Turismo. Yes. And it was about a guy who played the video game, ended up going pro. And I was the one that asked you, like, do you think the simulators and all those things can help a person really go pro on a race car like racing we are

certainly getting to a an era of technology that it's pretty cool and and it is it is getting close like we've got like video games that are so good that people think that they're actually real racing drivers now a lot of the times that's not true but what grand turismo did and what what the grand turismo story it's totally true. Like that guy literally was in Europe racing the year after I was kind of leaving. And so like I knew the story and we kind of all thought it was wild at the time. But then when he started racing and like producing results and like, oh, this guy, he knows what he's doing. Like he's got it.

And so pretty cool to see. I don't – I think we will see more of it in the future. I do think that as the racing games and the simulation technology grows, I do believe that you're going to see more and more people at least get a chance to try to drive. There are several people,

I remember a few years ago, there was a really good gaming champion and this is back in 2011, so not even, this is like before the grand turismo story yeah um one kid got a chance to test a real race car like after he won it and he got in the race car and like did one lap and was like throwing up everywhere like couldn't couldn't physically handle it because it's a much you know sitting at home and doing that like there's a lot of mental stuff but physically is that's the hardest part of like adjusting to a real race car so i think in the future we could see more stories like the grand

turismo story but still for now you got to get in in like the raw racing cars go-karts and be able to do it better than anyone else still and that's so crazy because that's just like somebody playing 2k and going to the nba which is impossible impossible bro that's why crazy Because that's just like Somebody playing 2K And going to the NBA Which is impossible Impossible bro That's why I couldn't believe That it was a true story I'm like he really did that That's crazy It's pretty wild

And you said 2011 That time period Shit All the cars had passed there And then he got in that car And didn't know what to do Well that's the thing Yeah

It was a It was a very funny story Poor kid was definitely A fish out of water For sure But it was wild I can only imagine absolutely well look cd we appreciate you having us in your wonderful place man inviting us out here we appreciate you

man best of luck coming soon man you know i'm saying we're taking the overall you know i'm saying you ain't got nothing to do with that but we're gonna hold you down uh anything you want to tell people tell people about your podcast too what you got going on as well really appreciate you guys being here honestly this is super cool for me, especially like Jeff. Obviously, I watched you play for years. This is like a very cool moment for me to not go crazy fanboy, but I respect what you've done in your career, what you guys are doing now with this podcast is really cool because I've started a podcast too. It's fun, but it is a lot of work too, but it's amazing that you can create a great product for people to consume and like people love to hear it so appreciate it that's that's awesome i appreciate you guys but yeah i have a podcast called speed street it's on uh basically any podcast platform youtube as well

uh my youtube channel is connor daily 22 i'm connor daily 22 on basically all the social platforms so if you want to follow along please do um tap in with my guy exactly so i i this is awesome i appreciate you guys coming and i can't wait to see you guys get in the race car too before we get up out of here now take a shit like do i gotta put on some equipment because uh yeah you get a full race suit full fire suit and okay so i because i don't wear clothes under my office well man something wrong with him i'm happy i don't have to ride with him. And on that note, I'm about to get up out of here. Like,

share, subscribe, get you some merch. Where should I get it at? Be here. Shop club. He don't even know what to tell y'all because he don't want to wear the clothes himself.

He's going to look great in that race car. He's going to look great. For sure. Shopclub520.com for sure, man. For sure. Like,

share, subscribe. Can I get one of the hats? Yeah. We got you, bro. We'll make sure you get a hat get one of the hats perfect so we out all right thank you wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee the show hits every single game every single week but i can't do it alone so i'm bringing in all the big guns from nfl media like colleen wolf delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week,

but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolfe. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.