Door Bumper Clear - BONUS: Speed Street - Muskets & Swords: NBC Commentator James Hinchcliffe & Standing Up For Callum

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

Joey Mulinaro is back from his week-long horse racing adventure to join co-host Conor Daly on Speed Street. The guys talk about Conor’s race at Long Beach, why Will Power had choice words to the drivers about passing in the last corner, the difficulty of running a fuel mileage race, how Speed Street got Conor a free meal, and why Callum Ilott is receiving a large amount of internet hate after this weekend. Then, they talk with NBC commentator and former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe about how IndyCar can keep its attendance and TV rating momentum heading into Barber, why Pato O’ward and Scott Dixon’s crash sets the precedent for officiating going forward, Andretti Autosport’s heightened performance this year, whether or not he’ll get back in the seat, and prepping for IndyCar’s open test at Indy. Plus, hear how this week’s Ricky Treadway Random Indy 500 Driver was involved in a shark attack.  Want more DBC? Check out and subscribe to the new DBC YouTube channel! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, DBC fans, Andrew Curlin here, your producer of this show, and we've got a very special bonus drop on the DBC feed this week. It's an exclusive, very special episode of Speed Street, our IndyCar podcast here on Dirty Mo Media, where this week, Connor Daily tells us all about a tense driver's meeting in the IndyCar series. Plus, NBC's James Hinchcliff stops by to chat with both Connor and Joey. I'm telling you guys, Speed Street is growing like crazy. And if you like me, someone who likes racing no matter what series, all you know is you like fast cars, exciting drivers, great insight,

man, I'll tell you, Speed Street hits on all cylinders. We've got a special episode for you. I suggest you listen to it. And if you like it, go and subscribe the same place you subscribe to DBC on all podcast platforms and never miss another episode. So without further ado, here's a very special. episode, Speed Street. This is a production of Dirty Mo Media.

We're heading back to the Indianapolis Motor Street, folks. Open testing happening Thursday and Friday of this week. Very, very excited about that. Coming off of a interesting and a little bit of a wild race in Long Beach, but we judge on. We got Barbara coming up next week. And then the month of May is finally upon us, Joey Molanero. Back with you on another edition of Speed Street. Sorry I had to miss last week.

I was fulfilling duties in another sort of racing, horse racing. So I wasn't with the cars. I was with the horses down there in the bluegrass. But I appreciate Ben and Connor filling in, of course, and I can't go anywhere without, of course, the co-host of this program, driver of the number 20 ride in the NTT IndyCar series, my pal Connor Daly. CD, you're in California for a long time.

You're back in Indianapolis. We're hitting IMS this week. How are we feeling, man? Yeah, it feels good to be back. really the most exciting part of this week is that we finally get to go around in circles at the speedway again. So very, very pumped about that. It has just been a ridiculously rough firstly races, so we want to get back to a place that we've had success in the past couple of years, make ourselves feel good again.

That would be nice because Long Beach was a rough one for us as a group, both. with Brinas and I. But yeah, great. Great to be back. Great to have the whole crew here. Producer Vin as well. We have a great guest as well this week. We got a lot to talk about in this show.

We've got some Long Beach. Obviously, a lot of things happen to Long Beach we want to get to. I want to talk a little bit about the, there were some, a lot of online craziness going on. There's some IndyCar tweeting statements about, you know, online abuse for drivers and all this. stuff. Want to get into that and kind of make it real for some folks and then kind of let you know what is actually happening on the internet all the time. And then James Hinchklo is going to be our

guest. James Hinchkoff, obviously a very successful racing driver, very successful TV, human being. And yeah, a lot of great things to talk about. Indy 500 McLaren liverys, 34 entries for the Indy 500 potentially, a lot of stuff. So very, very excited to get into it. Joey, let's get into Long Beach first right out the gate. You know, what did it look like as it from a, from your perspective? Obviously, we talked a little bit out with Hinch,

but it was a tough rebound after, you know, you're coming up the high of Texas, right? Yes, yeah. That is tough. Yeah. Oval to street course. Right.

You're coming off the short oval. You're coming off that absolutely electrifying race in Texas. And, and yeah, you go, you go into a street course and you know it's going to be different, But, you know, with, with, I think it's just kind of set the tone with LEO and the first, what is that?

Three turns, uh, you know, the first flap, right? Straight into the wall. Straight into the wall. Yeah. You know, we, we go green, which I thought on TV, I don't know what it was like for you, but on TV, it felt like the start needed to be bunched up. It was a little weird. So me and my, me and my pals were a little thrown watching it about why they did it. you know, throw a yellow and bunch it up and restart it.

But then it got, the yellow was thrown. Anyway, right away with Elliot going to the wall. So I felt like that just kind of set the tone for what was going to be that kind of a race. We talked about it with Hitch, but it wasn't cool to see Kyle Kirkwood. Sorry, I got a spam wrist calling me in the middle of the street. People wanting to get more bills from me. But I thought it was interesting. I thought it was cool to see Kyle Kirkwood,

a young American driver who's a friend of the show, you know, go pull to winning and a first time winner, which I think is important. So all that to say, a little bit of a come down from Texas, but the event did look spectacular on TV, I will say. Yeah, for sure.

I think Andretti dominance was the, was the, you know, the highlight of the weekend. And Honda was really strong too. five hondas in the firestone fast six um and and you know great for kyle i think kyle obviously it was only a matter of time before he was going to win uh you know gets his rookie year in at foy um you know i i think what people you know i saw a couple different tweets this week about how indy car people were asking like hey explain how cars can be different we we we think

indy cars a spec series it's not kyle kirkwood didn't just remember how to drive join to andretti it's a different team. There's a different organization. You can have a lot of differences in the damper development side. You could have guys that, you know, that's the only area physically in the rule package that you can be, you can invest whatever money you, I talk about a lot on this show. People have kind of think it's probably repetitive now, but like I got questions for the podcast that have been DM to me about like, hey, explain to us how these teams can be so different. Well, that's really it. There's a lot of different setup changes you can make as well. It's obviously you know have get the car in the right window but yeah Kyle very talented driver with

foy he learned the tracks learned a bit about how the races work maybe made some rookie mistakes but he was already set for Andretti which is perfect for him and now he gets to really take advantage of it so I think that was only a matter of time before that was going to happen and then also grojean there boom I mean supportive teammate but also just a powerful weekend for that for that group. And I kind of want to get into a little bit of the race weekend vibes. We started with a bit of a driver's meeting that I found to be hilarious. And I hope Willpower does not mind me sharing this because it was one of the funniest things

I've ever heard of a driver's meeting just to let people know. This is why you listen to this show maybe you get what really happens, you know, in the driver's things. There was a big discussion. and obviously you mentioned the start at Long Beach was awful. Well, it's because the hairpin is so tight, right? You could probably fit two cars through there too wide, but very, very difficult to do that,

especially without stalling the car or hitting someone. And the start was disgusting. Like, we were green, and I obviously started last. I was green, we were green in turn nine, and it was like a traffic jam, and the last hairpin, couldn't see anyone on the street. Well, it didn't even look like the start of the race. But we had talked about,

there was a discussion in the driver's meeting about passing in that last hairpin. A couple of the drivers had brought it up saying like, hey, we should make it a rule to not allow people to pass people in the final hairpin because it can cause easy accidents. You know, paddle got taken out there two years ago. I think Renus was in an erect there last year. There's some people that just, if you try to go for a move there, it usually ends up in disaster. And so it was an IndyCar had made the decision. They're like, hey, look, we're not going to disallow passing on one corner of the track on starts and restarts.

Like, you just can't do that. And I kind of understand. But there was a lot of driver chatter about like, well, should we have like a gentleman's agreement like, no, what passes in the last corner? That's never going to work. And Will Power said something that might have been the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. He's like, well, we should set some other consequences. And he basically said, if you're passing the last corner, you'll be murdered. And the entire room just starts laughing hysterically because Will was already so mad, apparently, about this.

He's like, yep, if you pass in the last corner, you're going to get murdered. And so that I thought was obviously, he's saying this in a comical sense. Willpower is not a murderer. But that was one of the funniest things that I've ever heard of the drivers. I was sitting right next to him, too. and I've never laughed that hard in a driver's meeting. But that's the kind of consequences we want to put out there, apparently, for passing in the hairpin. Obviously, there were no rules that were set, and thankfully there were no crashes in the hairpin.

But, Joy, I thought you would have liked that comment as well. I do. I can just hear it. Yeah, in his accent. Will Powers all see dry accent, sense of humor. His brother is a famous comedian. Exactly. He's got a little bit of that comedic timing to him.

So I do appreciate that. That's great. And I feel like, you know, the reason people laughed, maybe it was a little bit of a nervous laughter because you're like, yeah, that's a funny line, but he actually fucking kills someone. This is a while. You've seen his crazy hands that go up and do the birds that raise control. You know what I mean?

I mean, he never know. This dude probably has kangaroo farms where he could bury you. you never hear from me again. There you go. I can see it. It was a very, very funny moment. That just kind of started it off. But yeah, interesting weekend overall.

Great crowd. Great amount of human beings there. We had a lot of Speed Street listeners that were there yet again. I handed out a lot of Speed Street stickers, too. To those that got a Speed Street sticker, I handed them out at the driver's meeting. Or not driver's meeting, the driver's autograph session. I did not hang him out at the drivers' meeting. Hey, Joseph, you're calling me.

Yeah, not add them out there. But yeah, great to have those folks interact. A lot of people say to listen to this show, and we appreciate every single one. You got free bill. You sent us a nice little old photo. Yes, no, that's true. Saturday night having dinner with my lady out there at the King's Fish House, which is a great restaurant, Long Beach, an incredible restaurant.

No free ads. But, yeah, it was so good. and we had our dinner, I asked for the check, and it had written on it that big fan of Speed Street. I sent you guys the group. I took a picture of it, sent it to the group. I will read out the message that was on there because I thought it was great.

Happy 100 starts, love Speed Street, who's your fan? So we appreciate the human beings that the human being that paid for my dinner. Thank you for listening to the show. So, man, I didn't know this show was going to get us free dinners, honestly. That's huge bucks. It's a day and night, got paid for. I mean, it's crazy.

I respect that. Joe, I think you're next. We're big balling in front of the lady, man. I mean, I can get like four meals or maybe four bottles of wine paid for a year. Just to do that slow to get on here and BS with you about IndyCar. I'm cool with that. That works for me, so we appreciate. What was it, King's Fish House, you said?

King's Fish House. Yeah, very delicious. If you're out there in Long Beach, got to check it out, man. They're a friend of the program. That's great. Yeah. Well, it wasn't an employee of the King's Fish House. It was someone else who was also dining there.

Yeah. It wasn't the restaurant that paid for it. It was another fellow Indycard patron that had paid for us. So we do love the King's Fish House, but thank you to his first. It's okay. You're good. I'm just kidding. Exactly.

You mentioned that Long Beach was this particular, Long Beach was an interesting one was a struggle one because it became a fuel race. A fuel state. Yeah. Explain just kind of that process. How it became that and then why that sucks. Yeah. So honestly, the interesting thing about that race is it's a two-stop strategy is the most ideal

strategy to use there. And, you know, for us, we were starting at the back. And so that first yellow that happened with Elio, we just took fuel only. So to make the short, like, we started on the primary tires, and our goal was to make the stint in the middle with the green tires the shortest stint possible. So when we took extra fuel at the beginning, we were actually the only one to do that. A couple of people took fuel and tires, but we just took fuel. So we jumped about three or four people in the pits because we were on the primary tires and basically wanted to go long and try to make the short stint with the reds or the green tires just just short um and it actually was working out fine like we went green already had made up four positions three or four positions um past benjamin peterson pastingray rob uh got up to the back of the next pack um things going well honestly for us race pace wise we made up like nine or ten positions by you know about like coming to the end of

the second stint um but uh but yeah the the the the the the The second pit stop for us. Basically, what happened, well, what happened was when it went yellow for Dixon in the wall, or went yellow for whoever it was in the wall, Dixon, I think it was. That came at a lap where it was too close to the pit window to not take, because there was, I saw a stat, there was almost 100% chance for a yellow with like 10 to 15 to go or something like that. It was a crazy history of this track for yellows.

And so everyone had to take that pit stop. And it was a shame for us because we had had more fuel than anyone else. And we were ready to go very long on that first stint. But if we would have stayed out, let's say, and gone straight to the lead, tires are older. It would have been a real battle. And it's only about four or five more laps that you're going to do anyway. So it's a really tough balance.

So we had to take it. And then as basically as soon as that stint started, you're like, all right, now we got to make fuel mileage. And everyone was kind of in the same boat. The problem is, is we got to, I, I think I didn't realize how much fuel we had to save at the first, at the beginning of that stint. And again, if you get a yellow at any time, that changes everything, right? So you're kind of just going until you get a yellow. But what that meant for the rest of a lot of people's races is a lot of lifting.

You're not driving as hard as possible. It's a different art. You're lifting early, breaking a little bit later, trying to shorten the brake zone, still be fast, but be lifting early. And it's just tough because you can't really push as hard as you can, as hard as you're supposed to push. But at our second stop, we had an issue with the air jacks anyway. The car never came, the car never got up in the air. So we had about a minute pit stop anyway. So we were already out of the race by that point. But even still, we had to get to the finish, right? So being all right. losing a minute and losing so much track, all the track time, and then having to save fuel, it's almost like the most boring race of all time. So it's tough, certainly tough for us. We've had so many issues these first three races, and it's just, it's hard to take. But we saw how many people also struggle with it. You know, the, the, the, the, the Honda's dominated, right? Maybe that was a bit of a difference. We didn't see any Penske cars really threatening for the win there. And I thought that was very, very interesting. So that was kind of the,

the summary of the race. I really want to get into, though, the craziness of Paddo and what was going on there and the him wrecked Dixon, and we talk a little bit about it with Hinch, too, so we won't dive too deep into it. So stay tuned for that interview. But wild move for Patter to just put Dixon in the wall

and be like, yep, not sorry. Great for the series, I think. I think we talk about what that does rules-wise, deeply with Hinch, but just to see him driving basically side-slapped Dixon, or as Paul Tracy say, give him the side horn, you know, that's kind of wild.

And he also basically almost wrecked three other people, too. And again, we're Patomania fans. We love that. I think that's great. But boy, that's, if you're going from what he did at Texas, pretty mistake-free, having a great race, and then even St. Pete, maybe he was getting hot inside that car and he's like, I got, I got a win. And obviously, that wasn't for the lead. That was, you know, I thought it was kind of crazy to see. It seemed like,

it seemed like a mixture of maybe he was getting a little too full of Paddlemania. And he had to, he had to puke up somewhere. And then, yeah, it was a mix of that. And I think, like you said, race three, I've been on the custody of these last two, give me this checker flag. I've been up here. I had a top five finish year last year. And, you know, just knowing Patto personally and through the series and everything,

he has that mentality. I could definitely see that being the case. Like, he's got that kind of like the the parallel for me. Got a fire to him. Well, he's got a fire to him, but the parallel would be, because I always go back to football analogies,

you know, the parallel for me would be like a gun slinger quarterback, right? Like, he's going to do some things where you're like, holy smokes, that's amazing. But he's going to do some things you're saying, my God, would you just reel it back in and not throw it over the middle of the field off your back foot? You know?

Like James Winston, buddy, if James was successful. Yeah, like, you know what he is? He's like the Mexican Brett Farve who doesn't rip off people from the state of Mississippi. That's not like, what a comparison. Playing was, it was. Yeah. That's, you know, pat up.

Maybe like a Baker Mayfield. you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Baker Mayfield. Exactly. He's got trophies. Exactly. So what I'm saying is that he's just got that gunslinger type of driver to him, I think.

And he just fully, those two things combined, was kind of going for it. And then, yeah, that interview afterwards, it's like, I loved it. But I kind of wonder if he wasn't fully surrounded by his patilomania posse, if he would have said the same thing. You know, there's like, he was almost putting, he was almost he was putting on a show in front of an audience

after the race. Like they were about to start a chant, like, for real, like, oh, maddo. Yeah, like, Scott Dixon is a dummy.

Like, he should never have even tried to stay there. It's like, well, no, he's actually probably one of the smartest people ever, but yeah. Right.

It was a great, the funny thing was, too, that I was walking back from the race and I had seen this crowd around the McClough, We were pitted right next to McLaren or in the garage area. And like I see the crowd that there was a crowd at McLaren all day, every day. Again, great for IndyCar.

I love this. Love the buzz around McLaren. Well, Zach Brown was there. So he's a driver's survive character. So they were asking for his autograph a lot, which is great. We love television stars. But it was funny to see because I like Patto and the TV cameras, they were actually deep inside the tent.

So at some point they must have decided, hey, do you want to do the interviews surrounded by all those folks? Because I had walked by and they were over there, like far away from the fans. And then they were like, nah, let's just dive right in. Let's stop. Yeah. And, you know, he's already out of his suit and everything. It's one of those post-race interviews that it was very NASCAR-esque.

Like if someone at the end of a NASCAR race had wrecked someone else, he got to interview him. And I love that. Like, we need more of that in the sport. So, yeah, interesting weekend. end overall. Not as much chaos, not as much, I guess, attrition as I think most people would have expected.

You know, the fuel race thing was weird because, like, you know, I was running ahead of Lungard and Lungard finished like 13th and I was like, oh man, it was a shame. I think we missed out on an opportunity for a good race, but again, these things happened for sure. But in general, I think it was good to have first time

winner, good to have Andretti kind of resurgence because again it's kind of, it's been such a wild up and down first three races for different people's successes. Points kind of flopping all over the place. Erickson obviously being the most consistent. Of course,

he's leading the points. But yeah, fuel races suck. Hopefully we can have a better race at Barber, but you know, there was a lot that happened after the event as well. One thing that we also had to point out, This is kind of funny for those who listen to the program. IndyCar Memes was there, apparently.

The very hilarious, I think, account that has done some hilarious work for the IndyCar scene. It looked like whoever this person was was live Instagram storying from the track. I still have no idea. It is never want to know. I think the anonymity is hilarious. So IndyCar Memes, if you listen to this, keep on being hilarious. I'm glad you were at a race. glad you exist

maybe tip of the cap tip of the hand a little bit there the west coast base they just make a trip yeah don't let anyone know

who you are please I don't know yeah that was great to see on social some other stuff that we saw on social that was interesting I want to get your thoughts on

all the the wild stuff that happened with Kalamai lot he did some some online hate he's getting some online threats

he calls it an out we get some back and fourths going on, that we have IndyCar itself. The IndyCar social media channels putting out a statement saying, you know, this is not what we agree with, the Represaid, you know, we want our fans to encourage them to be respectful. And I hadn't seen really anything like this in the, you know, last handful of years where I've really come on strong with IndyCar. And you've been around it way longer than I have, Conner.

So, so what did you think? Yeah, very interesting. Well, first of all, I mean, the IndyCar social team is obviously way more on it than they have been in the past. You know, they're throwing out so much content, which is great. I think that's hugely positive. So they're definitely more engaged, I would say, in the past. So they probably see it more than they used to. But Calum I lot obviously was struggling with some of this stuff. There was a lot going on. And again, I didn't really see the incident between him and his teammate, Augustine Canapino. Both of those guys are great dudes, too, and I think they would work well together as teammates.

But I guess there was a certain situation that went on where Augustine was leading and Callum was trying to not go a lap down and there was some sort of interaction. It actually doesn't matter what happened. It really doesn't. But I think what I want to tell people, like Callum had put out a couple things. So, you know, obviously some of the Argentinian fan base were going after, right? and I would say South American, Central American fan base is very passionate, very, very, very passionate people. And we need that. I think, I see this all the time. Like if we think this is a new thing, just letting people know,

there's a lot of really supportive EDD car fans as well. Like there's a lot of great support on Twitter and Instagrams. The comments and stuff like that are great. I don't really go to the Facebook comments because those seem like to be the worst place ever. But this isn't like a new thing. So like the fact that like IndyCar put out this statement, you know, I guess that's okay and great. But like literally every week I block like 100 people. Like because they're like we just get trash thrown at us all the time. And I don't know why people think. And honestly, it is really, it's awful to read these people that you have no idea who they are.

Just coming at you that don't. know anything about you, but they feel like, hey, you know what? I need to trash this person's life in existence. But that's, but like that is what happens every day. So again, I would love to eliminate that because, look, I think we're fine. I don't, I don't really care. I had all Mexico coming after me two years ago after Paddo was leading at Road America. I was trying not to go a lap down. I pulled away from him, didn't actually stop him from winning that race. But boy, did Mexico want to kill me. Like, it was true. I know exactly how that feels. I, deals. But I mean, I don't care. Like, if I look at it, I'm like, yeah, well, guess what? We're all

racing. Like, it's, it's, you guys, I blocked all those people. And I never see them again. So, they're dead to me. Like, I don't care. But it's not fun to have to read and go through. Like, it sucks. So, like, I understand where Callum's coming from, for sure. It's annoying, but we're never going to get away from that. Because these people that tweet all these things, these awful things, that us as drivers, I mean, it could be anyone. I mean, never go to Facebook because everyone there is right. But it's something that sadly we're not going to stop. And I think it makes me appreciate the good side of the IndyCar fan base.

Like I've got a lot of great fans and supportive fans, fans that have known me since like I did win a lot. You know what I mean? And so like that's really cool to have. But hate to see that. I guess you, Joey, we talked a little bit about before the show. So as someone, you are very highly followed on the social media's, right? Which means that you get both a lot of positives and also some attacks as well.

Like give us, I guess I'm trying to put it in reality. Like for people that are at home and doing their thing, you know, imagine people every day you wake up and on your social media, someone is attacking you for what you do at your job for no reason, people that you don't even know. Like it's kind of annoying, but you have to be prepared for it. Right. Yeah. Um, yeah, no, it's, it's, it's definitely, it, maybe, maybe this is, maybe this is what's happened with, with Callum a little bit. You know, I get, I'm not speaking for him, obviously, and I'm

not making excuses for people making death threats. I mean, there's no place for that anywhere. Anybody who does that on any platform, any way is a huge coward and is really just insane. And like, so there's no place for that kind of stuff. But I, you know, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, When I started getting more of a following in my career change and everything, like it was a weird adjustment period, right? Because used to, you would just, you wouldn't be maybe you'd hop in the comments of something and you would know that no one knows or has anything to say,

what you're doing, right? And so like you would just maybe get some positives of friends or people who know you. It was like, oh, wow, like you're, look at you. That's cool what you're doing, right? And then all of a sudden, it changes to where like, it doesn't matter what you're trying to do. what you're trying to accomplish, you're going to have somebody just absolutely eviscerating you, right?

Oh, yeah. So that is a weird adjustment. And like I said, there's no place for people who want to make crazy threats or or have really hate speech type of nonsense like that, none of that. But to your point, and this is something that I had to accept, is something that you've long accepted, you know, a long ago, I'm sure. Being someone who is in the public eye, if you will, you being a professional race car driver,

me being in entertainment, comedy that has a following, that's more of a public person who puts themselves out there for a living, whether it be on the racetrack or whether it be through sketches and comedy, things like that, that has always been something that people in the public eye have to deal with and that's always going to be that way. and I think maybe to IndyCar's point of making a statement maybe it's just because they're trying to get ahead of it of avoiding that toxic kind of fan base

to where it's not just like a a meme or like a light joke it's it's something that's like really aggressive and unnecessary and toxic and bad uh which makes sense you don't want that you want to get rid of that uh but yeah man i mean it it's a weird adjustment for everybody who goes from being somebody who maybe just works in like the private sector, if you will, or has kind of a private life to then go into more of a public life in a public sphere. It's a weird adjustment that everybody faces at some point. For sure. And, you know, one thing, here's a weird spin zone. I think it's great for IndyCar. I think the fact that

we like, that not great to have all the best force, but like if we're, popular enough to where we have to issue as IndyCar has to issue a statement like that, and there is a lot of attention. Like I saw that tweet that Indycar put out the statement, got a million views or something like that. Hey, I'm not going to lie, guys. I think although it is tough and that is not good, I do think there are more eyes paying attention to this sport, which again, we don't want the hateful eyes, but realistically, if your sport grows, there are going to be more people like that.

So, yeah. I mean, you see people like soccer players in Europe. I mean, oh my gosh, the fan base is for soccer players in Europe. Forming the one fan base. I mean, Formula One is so massive on a worldwide stage that you literally had Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fans, like almost lining up at a civil war type battlefield where muskets and swords, like after the World Championship finished.

Like, look, that is a toxic group of people over there too. but hey, as your sport grows, you're going to get that. And we're going to have to deal with that. But realistically, there are still more positive people, I would say, than negative. Certainly in my case, I've been very lucky and thankful. But like, if more people are watching, you're not only going to get more fans, but you're going to get more and more haters, which again, we are in a sport, and you are in a profession as well, Joey, where you're going to get that.

But as you grow, you're going to get more of each, right? And so we just have to be prepared for that. I think no matter what, it's never going to stop, absolutely never going to stop, because hana scumbags in the world, obviously, and just people that are dumb, no offense, like, well, actually, offense, but people that just don't understand well enough to comment properly on things. But we appreciate the fact that the sport is growing. I do see a growth in our sport.

And honestly, passionate Argentinian fans, Like, I drove for Ricardo Yucos. Love the passion they have for motorsport, right? Not good to be throwing bad death threats. Cancel that. That's out. We're not doing that. But like, I really want to race in Argentina.

So again, I think there is, again, awful stuff we don't want to have happen, but I think if you have to look at this as a whole, it's always going to be there. I'm sorry, but that's just the case. It's always going to be there. I had a couple NASCAR drivers reach out to me, they're like, what's going on with IndyCar? We get this stuff all the time, you know what I mean? So, but that's a bigger sport than we are.

So, like, again, this is going to be something that is prevalent every single weekend. And we as drivers just have to be prepared for that. Not fun. Doesn't suck. I mean, it's not good. But it does not give anyone permission to do it, but you're never going to avoid these people. That's what I would have to say about it. So again, SpinZone, IndyCar is popular or not.

to where people are talking about it and throwing crazy, awful, terrible things, but we don't want those. So keep your hate at home and don't tweet it. Yeah, it's a real double-edged short. Really is because like you said, I think your point, there is something that you can be said where it's like, oh, wow, there's that many people who care. There's that more people who have eyeballs on it and they care. Their passion is, you know, their passion is mistaken for crazy statements and things online, right? Just think 10 seconds before you tweet it. Just think, like, hey, what if someone said this to me?

And I often think, if that person literally read that to themselves, maybe they'd be like, wow, that does sound dumb. Definitely. And second. Yeah, I really wanted to get to that, but there's a lot of really great stuff that we get to with Hinch here, but some Indy 500 stuff. Obviously, we got the open test this week, which is very exciting.

I can't wait to get on track tomorrow. We're recording this on a Wednesday. We're testing tomorrow, Thursday, Friday. It's going to be on Peacock. Please watch. Same. Great subscriber numbers. You know, our TV ratings from Long Beach, we had over a million people, which is what we want.

And that was going directly against NASCAR. So again, this is a positive people for sure. This is a positive. I know it's not a huge gain, but boy, did we not lose. And that's good. So I think it's great for us. We've got to keep that momentum going to Barber. I'm very curious to see what.

with the start times for NASCAR and IndyCar are there. But I think we can- What was the USA race last year, wasn't it? I don't think so. I think all the first ones were NBC, as far as I'm aware, but I'm not sure. What I'm excited about is the popularity growing. We need to do that.

The first episode of 100 Days to Indy, I guess I can officially talk about that because we all saw it, and it was great. I would like to give a quick synopsis on that. be prepared to see three drivers on the very first episode, but you have to realize that they build characters. If you watch Drive to Survive, everyone's favorite Netflix show, some drivers were not talked about at all in the first episode,

but they came into the third episode. So you have to realize they got to build characters, and this is a week-by-week series. So I thought it was great for the three drivers that were a part of it, but they showcased a lot of great action. I just think obviously some of our core fans, they're going to be, everyone's going to nitpick something

because that's what the world likes to do. But if you appreciate it as something that helps our sport, I talk to a lot of people that were happy about it. So I think it's going to be fun to watch. Please tune into that April 27th. That's episode one on the CW. It's going to be on Vice as well. You're going to be able to watch it.

You're going to be able to watch it somehow. some way. So literally everyone has to have CW. But yeah, Indy 500 news, we're going to have bump day. So I don't know if anyone, if anyone missed that, there is going to be a

34th entry. R.C. Enerson, who I would love to interview on this show, R.C., former teammate of mine at my rookie year at Coin, very, very talented, underrated driver, I would say what he did with us at Coin, I think, was very, very, very impressive. We both had some great races there together. And I think this situation too

with Abel, Abel Motorsports, Jacob Abel and his family and their team, a lot of great people of that team. One of their engineers there was with the Schmidt Indy Lights team when me and Joseph were there. Great engineer. And John Brunner is there as well, who worked at, I believe, Forsyth Motorsports back in the day in the Champ Car days. A lot of really good experience at that team. And I am, I'm excited to see how that works for them. I think it'll be, it'll be way better than what RC had last time. But excited to have bump day.

It makes qualifying crazy. Who's going to be the only car out? That's going to be tough. Like obviously we hate to see one person go home, but that's the Indy 500. I'm sorry, this is what, this is what you show up for. This is what you tune in for. qualifying is going to be a hundred times more exciting because something is on the line. Someone's going to have a tough day. Someone's going to have the greatest day ever.

So love to see that. I mean, Joey, that takes qualifying level as a fan to a whole new level. No doubt, man. Yeah. I mean, I've known that last year. Obviously, there was, last year was different because Scott set the record, you know, and the speeds last year was just insane. Oh, yeah. So that provided some excitement. But yeah, there's just, again,

going back to what we've talked about, harped on for really, kind of mean, you started the show is just like that drama, the storyline, the drama that everybody wants to get me on, who's going to be in, who's going to be out,

holy cows, to come down the last second, is he going to get another runoff, right? Like, it's all cool stuff. It's all very, very exciting. And, you know, I think it just adds an extra, you know,

then month of May and Fast Friday qualifying the race weekend, it's all one big cake, right? But then I think when you have bump, you know, it's just that nice special icing that you love. That's just on top of it all that really just makes it that much better. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I, the funny thing is I said to my girlfriend, Amy, she hasn't been in any 500 qualifying. I was like, well, now you're going to experience what it's really like. You know what I mean? Like this is the drama, the craziness.

you know, we obviously hope to not be involved in that drama and craziness, but someone will be. And odds are it could be someone you won't expect. You know what I mean? Like everyone's thinking, well, maybe it'll be Catherine and RC trying to make the race, but like, what if the Ray Hall-Litterman cars are fast? You know, what if all Hondas are fast? And it's, you know, it's a, it's a Chevy battle to get in. Who knows? It's going to be interesting. So I'm excited to see it. We also had McLaren reveal all their Indy 500 liveries, which Zach Brown was there for. They did a big reveal in Long Beach. They did it after three cars, basically after their Triple Crown victories, LaMalle, Monaco, and the Eighty 500. Very cool.

I think they could have done maybe a little bit more, but sometimes simple is good. Like, Patto's car is just all black. But, like, if you look at it closely, it's like black with like pearl flake in it, which I think is... Like a charcoal. Yeah, like a charcoal. And then the white on the top looks really, really good. cool. So I definitely love the

sort of almost marl type colors, but orange and white instead. I like what they did. And then T.K.'s livery with the black and orange. It's just a good mix, and I think for them as a McLaren brand, very cool. So great work to them. I thought they were

I mean, I'm a big, you know, my, I always joke with Ben Polici, but my fashion sense is kind of the three Cs, clean, cool, classy, you know? Yeah. You can't really go wrong with simple, like you said. And I thought that's what they did. And the storyline behind it, I appreciate it.

But also, you know, I think, you know, somebody like, inch and the fans out there who's going to be watching, it's going to be a lot easier to tell these cars apart from, you know, last year where you have maybe like a slightly different blue number. And that's how you're, you know, tailing at 230 miles an hour who's padowed. Oops, Felix going by and sometimes, just because that's kind of all of you were really working with. So I thought they were, I thought they knocked them out of the park, man. I thought they were really cool.

Yeah, I agree. Great stuff. So we got a lot of really cool, a lot of really cool news going on this week. And this will be an extra long episode, which is great. But I think we should get to our guest now, Hinch. If you would like, Joe, you have one more thing. Yeah, just obviously Connor's going to be at the test day because he will be driving and working. But for anybody who's out there on Thursday, I will be out there on the Mounds in turn two as well.

I'm bringing my son, which I'm very excited about. So it's his first time seeing and hearing cars on the track outside of the womb. So if you see me and you want to say hey, say hey, I'll probably be enjoying a nice Miller latte or something out there, watching Connor and friends go around. But yeah, I hope to see everybody there. I'll give you some Speed Street stickers to hand out. We'll give you speed street stickers to hand out. Yeah.

I'll clip those in the strollers so I can have them ready to go when, yeah, on hand. Cool, man. Yeah, let's do it. Let's get the hedge. Great combo. Well, we have a very well-known guest this week, very, very exciting Canadian man, a man who has many IndyCar trophies, a man who has many trophies really throughout his life. He has a wonderful wife.

He is a bourbon officinado. He is really one of our first political figures as well. He is a mayoral human being in the Canadian lands. James Hinchcliffe, we appreciate you being here. And also NBC guy, of course, we wanted to list your current job as well, NBC Man of the Hour. James, thank you for being here. How did you feel about that intro and? Are you happy to be on this podcast?

Well, I mean, let's just say, guys, thanks for showing up. We're out of time now, and we'll see you next week. That was the most in-depth intro I've ever had for anything. And I appreciate it all. I appreciate it all, buddy. It's a thrill to be here on Speed Street. It's been a long time coming. I'm not going to lie.

I've been a little weirded out that I didn't get this call sooner. I thought maybe I offended somebody or something, but we finally did it. I mean, honestly, James, we just had to establish ourselves first. You know what I mean? I was on the off track with Hinch and Rossi program, and I appreciate that. But you guys were already successful, and we wanted to get to that point of like, hey, we got to at least get enough listeners to where it's like, oh, we do want to hear Hinch, not like people that, like, you know, 18 people that you already knew were going to listen.

And we want now to you to be exposed to even more folks from the Dirty Mo universe. So I was going to say, you guys did your big old at the Dirty Mo program. And I respect the hell out of that. That's a huge get, guys. I got to say, I am a little offended, actually, because he has been on about 17,000 vacation, beach vacations. That one yet received one invite or one, hey, you don't want to fly down to this private island? that I met. And so I am a little offended at that. But other than, you know, I can, we can sweep by to that. It's all good. I mean, it's, it is shameful. It is shameful. But I was holding out for

this invite. So now that I've had this invite, Joey, maybe. Let's, let's go hang out on a beach, buddy. Well, it's a step-by-step program. We understand how these things work. We're just all trying to build each other up to maybe eventually end up on beach vacations really more often. You know what I mean? That's the goal in life is to successfully get your way to do doing beach vacations on a regular basis. I feel like that's got to be it. That's it. That's it.

And I mean, Joey and I are kind of kicking it off because I think we're going to be neighbors at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year. I think we're going to be a bus lot buddies. I can't say bus bros or bus lot pros. That's taken. But we're going to be bus lot buddies. That's very exciting.

We should start like a like a satirical little little, like YouTube show called bus lot buddies. That's just a complete rip-off. I told you have my information and I look forward to planning more of that oh man that's I tell you what Joseph's going to love that since he's a big fan of already what he's got going on

James to get into serious topics well not really serious but we just had a motor race a motor race in which you were also inducted into the Hall of Fame of said motor race which is very exciting. The Long Beach Grand Prix,

a Hinge Hall of Fame guy. He's got one of those big... Is that a storm drain they gave you? Is that a storm drain they put on the ground? Okay. They gave you a storm drain. We love that. Very, very cool.

But you got to see the race. Now, I still think you should be in the race, but you got to see the race and commentate upon it. I did not watch much of the race. Obviously, I will not watch it because it was awful. But the motor racing that I did see via clips on the internet, I thought there were some interesting things happening. I want to get into a few things with you on it. But overall, what did you think of the race? Huge fuel saving rate. Like one of the

biggest fuel saving races that I think we've seen in a while, which are the worst sometimes. But what did you, what was your kind of initial thoughts on basically the program in general? Because I thought a lot of people watched it too. Well, we can get into ratings too. I thought that was not bad. Yeah, the ratings were very decent considering what we were up against, you know, head-to-head with NASCAR and it's, you know, the kind of strongest year-over-year race that we've had so far in the season, which is always nice.

And look, it's Long Beach. It's like the coolest event outside of the 500. I think it's almost a unanimous feeling across the paddock. The turnout was the largest turnout we've had in like a decade and a half, half at the track, almost 200,000 people over the weekend. Bananas, awesome, great vibe over the weekend, weather was good over the weekend. The race itself, look, we had that caution on like lap 20 or whatever it was. I guess that was for Dixon's deal with Potto.

And that just destroyed the race. We actually had like a pretty good race kind of coming with a few of the drivers in the top 10 starting on the primaries. The rest of the guys on the alternates. It was just getting to that phase of the first stint where the primary guys were really going to get after it. All of a sudden starting to fall off the cliff. And that yellow came, which did two things. It essentially reset the strategy. So everybody was on the exact same strategy.

And it made it a fuel save race from that on out. And look, it's not fun from in the car. It's not the most exciting thing to watch. But at the same time, we've got to see an interesting, I think for the first time in a long time, a heads up, fuel mileage comparison Honda to Chevy. And I think there was a bigger difference there than what certainly I had thought was kind of the program at the moment in the series. We got to see a first time winner, you know, in a sophomore driver, which is always

exciting. We got to see Andredi Auto Sport have a nice comeback after two garbage weekends to start the year. So it was, though not the most like thrilling on track motor race, it was still a cool event. And the race result was still awesome. And so I'm glad that everybody tuned in to watch. Hitch, what do you think can the series and, you know, TV, I don't know how much you can go to the TV,

but what do you think the series can take from Long Beach to kind of help that momentum for whatever magic pill they got working out there? Is there something or is there a few things, maybe? I mean, I think the big thing is you hype up the fact, that we had a young early 20s second year driver win a race. I think we got to push that youth movement in a big way. That's always a good thing. You look at the battle for the championship. You have had three different winners from three different teams so far in the season. So I think there's a lot of good momentum and a couple good little nuggets so we can take out a Long Beach and kind of

bring to Barber. You know, Pano hasn't won a race yet. He won that race last year. So that's, you know, he's probably the odds on favorite going into that one, which would make it four different winners out of four races. So yeah, I mean, it just really highlights how competitive Indy car is right now. But what about even like the at, you mentioned the attendance with over 200,000 people? Like, how do you, is it possible to kind of get that at the track momentum to transfer? Or is it just all dependent on location? I think it's dependent on location, man.

I think it's really dependent on the promoters in each event. You know, some have different strategies and others. Some strategies work better than others. And I think Long Beach has always done a great job at it. It's also been doing it the longest too, right? I mean, after Indy, this is the longest running events on the calendar by a couple years. And so they have that experience. They have the formula.

They know what works, what doesn't. So, yeah, if anything, you know, there's a big meeting at the start of the year where all the promoters get together. They sort of share ideas, things that work, things that don't, to try to help each other out. Because obviously, they're not in direct competition with each other. and the better each individual event does, the better the sport is as a whole and keeps growing. And then the other cool things,

speaking of growing the sport that happened in Long Beach was we saw the preview of the first episode of 100 Days to Indy. So we're all hoping that's going to bring more people out to the track. So a couple of different things that hopefully we can, you know, use to carry the momentum forward. Yeah, I mean, Long Beach is one that we've really never had to worry about people coming there.

Like, it's always a great event. But this year, it did feel slightly larger. and it felt like there was just more attentiveness, I would say. Like there's a lot of people that go to Long Beach just because like it's Long Beach and we're going to have a couple beers, some King Tacos, all the things, you know what I mean? But this year and the amount of celebrities, even with Coachella going on, that was a tough one. A lot of people were at Coachella. Even Lewis Hamilton was at Coachella.

You know, we saw a lot of people over there. But also, you know, I would say the attentiveness here and celebrities, and folks that were, I guess, high-level individuals that actually were even more interested, I would say, than normal. Like a lot of celebrities we get to the track, and they're like, man, cool pictures, here we go. But a lot of the ones that I talked to were, like, genuinely more interested in, like, hey, this is like really cool we have going on here, the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

So I thought that was great. And I hope that, obviously, our audience, of course, we got a million people. Anytime we get over a million people watching, I think that's a positive thing, especially when we go up, head-to-head against NASCAR. That's like a death sentence usually for us. So I hope that now that then translates to Barbara. Because Barbara is in,

I wouldn't say Barbara is the greatest race on the calendar. I don't think it's the greatest race track for us. But if we can continue that momentum and get those millions of people at Barber, I think that would be great. And again, a lot of drama at the end of Long Beach, so hopefully that keeps people engaged. Paddle hit everyone, it seemed like.

I don't know how that happened all of a sudden. I saw all the videos and I was like, well, now we've set an interesting precedent because there were no penalties, as far as I'm aware, right? No penalties for essentially just driving Scott Dixon directly into the wall. Interesting precedent that's been set. And I think I'm going to have a question at the driver's meeting, certainly at the next event,

because that's dangerous when you set that, because now it's like, as long as you put your car there, It doesn't matter what happens to the other guy. If you wreck them, well, great. Then you got one less person to worry about. What did you think about that, Hinch? I thought it was weird because, and, you know, Ross and I had this discussion slash debate

because we're not entirely aligned on this one. Yeah. And I seem to recall at some point there was always a, there was two things that the officials used to kind of tell drivers, right? One is the needle of responsibility. Yes. That was a turn that they liked to use. And there's more responsibility on the passing car than the car being passed.

That's just kind of a universally accepted truth, right? So obviously, Potto is the passing car. So there's more responsibility on him going into the situation. The other thing that they, I remember them to say, apparently, you know, I've spoken to someone who had a conversation with them where they kind of argue this point a little bit, but maybe you can back me up on this. The outcome of contact in terms of do both guys just drop a wheel and maybe lose a position?

Does one guy lose two positions? The other guy keeps going. Does one guy's race end and the other guy carries on to win? You know, like that does play into whether or not a penalty is involved. In this case, you had one guy's race essentially over. I mean, I know he continued, but he's lapsed down. So he's essentially over. And one guy carried on with absolutely no issue.

So I was expecting a penalty. It was a very late move. It was from pretty far back. There's nothing Scott could have done. But Pato's argument that he was alongside him is like, yeah, you were alongside of at point of contact. But like if you watch his onboard, how he got there, when he got there. It's like there's, you know, as soon as you get the brakes and turn in, you're committed to your line, especially on the street circuit. There's nothing you can do.

And so, so Scott wouldn't, he would have looked at his mirrors, wasn't even close, hit the breaks. At that point, Pato counted one Mississippi, too, and he said. Mississippi trim Mississippi then hit the brakes. There's nothing Scott can do, and Scott races over and Pato keeps going. So look, it's a racing deal in the sense, like I don't blame Otto for trying to make the move. I was just surprised that there was not any repercussions from any car. So I'm curious to see how they answer that question at the next driver's meeting. Well, exactly.

But also, like, Paddo literally like threw himself into like another three cars like either before or after that. I didn't see that incident on track because, like, my team was like, oh, there's a bunch of cars in the wall and turn eight. And, like, they continued. And I got there and, like, everyone was, like, rummaging around and continued. But, like, when I saw that clip, like, again, Paddle legitimately, like, had no hope of making that corner. And that could have been, like, a track blockage. You know what I mean? So, again, we last, on our last show, Paddlemania, happy that he's getting a lot of support.

but like you i i think that was if you look at last year you see joseph fencing grozion at nashville right you look at that and like there was no penalty for that right no penalty there if i remember correctly there was uh scott mclaughlin rossi and felix yeah so i rossi and felix at Toronto. Exactly. No penalty there. But even at St. Pete, you had McLaughlin and Grojan, right? Like, now both of them ended up in the wall.

But McLaughlin got a penalty for that. Am I right? So I believe so. I don't remember actually. I think maybe. Yeah, or no. Well, Kirk would also got a penalty. I don't know.

Yeah, maybe he did. But like, it's just, there's a couple of incidents where I look. And like, now this is smaller, but like, Devlin's shoving me off the track with the NGP. like it's the same thing. If there was a wall there, I end up in the wall, right? It's the same, it's the same thing. And there's no penalties being issued. So I guess I don't know if we should be cool with that as a sport. Like, I get it. But like, as long as you're aware that it's going to look bad when like everyone starts just wrecking everyone because you can. Like now the, the precedent

is like, put your car next to the other car. Don't care about said other car. He is now in the wall. Like that, I don't think that sets a good, because again, we want to have the best racing, and I think we do have really good racing. But like, race control hasn't done anything. I got a penalty last year for making a half block move to Grojan, had to let him by. And I was like, well, that what? Like, we're going to allow people to crash each other with no penalty. But then, like, if I make the wrong move because I looked at my mirror late and tried to block them,

well, up, that penalty. I find it a little bit a little bit odd, I would say. So what I'll say to that is, there's always two sides of the story, right? And so looking at it from the other side, I will say that you want to race control, they can never want to get involved, right? Of course, yeah. As removed and step back as possible. And so you don't want to discourage drivers for making moves.

So I think that definitely plays into their decisions. And then the other side of it is, I see what you're saying. And kind of Scott made a similar comment in his post-refer. race interview kind of gloves off if that's how we're going to race let's race for the thing I think it's important for people

to remember that it's really hard to do that in an indie car and also get away with it yourself like yeah yeah yeah we don't have bumpers and we don't have you know like our wheels are exposed

so like well he didn't get away with it the first time like he didn't get away with it when he spun himself into the wall so like no that that was the second one yeah exactly yeah yes and and that once

he did stand up and say 100% my fault I got it to do deep and that that's the one he actually, he could have taken out three guys. Nobody actually got taken out by that, which was very lucky. But I think that

even though the drivers are seeing this precedent, if you want to put it that way being set, I don't really think it's going to lead to too big of an increase in that type of incident because those, it's hard to do that right. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like it's, if you gave Pato 10 more laps and Scott Dixon 10 more laps, I'm probably like, all right, recreate that exactly where he goes off and you have no damage and carry on. It's really hard to do. So I'm not too worried about it getting too rough and tumble out there. And I know race control doesn't want to get too involved. And look, fans are passionate. If Pato gets a penalty, there's going to be a raft of fans that are like, oh yeah.

FBS, this was a racing incident, whatever. If it doesn't get a penalty doesn't mean raft of fans, be like, how can you let people drive like that? This is crazy. Hinch, when you're in the booth now and we saw it at Texas a little bit, You know, because you in Townsend and even Lee with the Rossi Kyle Kirkwood incident in the pits, you guys came out on the broadcast, and from your Vance point, you're like, yeah, that looks like Kyle. And then it comes back afterwards, and we have all that mess, and Kyle's quote tweeting IndyCar on NBC. Now, incident's on the track when you're in the booth.

Is it a weird balance for you? Are you thinking about I need to kind of sit on a line here a little bit, or are you just not afraid to keep throwing up the opinion. Yeah, I mean, look, my job is to call it how I see it. And, you know, I was in the car for 11 years. I know what it's like to be in most of these situations. And I just have to give my opinion how I see it. The fact of the matter is, people will disagree. If I was involved in the incident in the car myself, people are going to disagree with your opinion on it, right? And you're not going to get everybody on the same page. So I have to be very conscious of the fact that my job is to call it how I see it. I can't protect anybody. I can't protect my

friends, you know, whenever, all the guys are my friends. Like, I get along with everybody. If someone has an issue with something that I said after the race, I'm more than happy to talk to them about it. And I did. I did talk to Kyle after Texas, actually. And I mean, that was a unique one because, I mean, I've got over the videos on that, all the different angles, a hundred times. And it's just like, there is such a good case for both sides of that being at fault that I would say at, at, it was a racing incident. It was a really hard one to put a penalty on when I really kind of dissected it. Still thought it was maybe a little, I think there was more that the combined 27 group could do to avoid that the seven group, given all the information. But yeah, I mean, you have to just, you have to just call it, man. It's tough sometimes. You know, you're going to pissing people off maybe, but you got to do what you got to do.

You think it's more difficult for you, though, being like, it's like, you know, the kid who graduates high school than like four years. years later, he's back teaching at high school, right? It's like, what the hell you were just here? Right? You know what I mean? People, is it a little bit more awkward and weird for you? It happens to be. Yeah, for sure.

But I have to forget that part of it. You know, I have to just, when we're on air, I've got to just do my job and be professional about. Yeah, yeah. And then like I said, I'm sure there will be times where I'll say something on air because it's how I see it. But then I'll immediately go find that guy. I'd be like, hey, man, I didn't mean, like, swing at you at you.

But like, that's just how it looks. I mean, tell me I'm wrong. And we can talk about it. but like, you just got to do it. That was one of the things they told me. They were like, when I first got the job at NBC, they were when they first offered me the job, they were like, just so we're clear,

you're going to be okay calling out your friends, right? Like, we can't have everybody just, sure, treated with, with gloves, you know, with white gloves on and whatever. I'm like, no, no, I'll do what I got to do. Yeah, I mean, I completely agree with it, because I dabbled in a little SRX commentary, you know what I mean?

And like, yeah, got the boys in there that we know about, but, you know, you got a, You got a call like you see it for sure. I think we did a little research on that, that issue that we talked about. Scott McLaughlin did get a drive-thru in St. Pete. So, like, to just cap that off, interesting that that ends up with a penalty,

and the paddle thing doesn't. So I think it'll be very curious to, we could get into it for hours, but, like, it'll be very curious, basically, just to see how that progresses, because Paddo coming out saying, I ain't going to apologize with his, huge posse of fans behind him.

Love that scene. Honestly, as a fan. I thought that was fantastic. Probably not the greatest thing to say, because, like, you did literally wreck six-time champion Scott Dixon, like straight into the wall. But great for the sport, I think.

Great for the sport. As long as we just don't get into demo derbies, great for the sport, right? I think so. I think what I, What I could see being a topic or a rebuttal from the stewards when that question is asked is the situation with Scott, he blatantly lost control of the car, right? Like he had a rear lock up, it stepped out, and you could say that loss of control is part of the reason why the penalty was applied. In Potto's case, I mean, he didn't lose control.

He didn't lock a front tire. He didn't lock any rears. He just fired it in there. So maybe that's where they draw the line. but then it goes back to Toronto with Felix and Alex where Felix got a big oversteer on exit and that's what snapped his car into Rossi's car

and that's a per Rossi into the wall. No penalty there. You could argue loss of control. So it's like, I think when I talked about this with Rossi, his big thing is just like, I want consistency. He's like they didn't call a penalty on a Felix situation and I ended up in the wall

and Felix ended up on the podium, I think. So he goes, I'm glad they didn't give a penalty or else I'd be even more angry about Felix not getting a penalty in Toronto. He's, I don't care what the outcome is as long as it's consistent. Yeah, and that's exactly the point. We just want to make sure. This can't be a confusing message because let's say you get three races left in the season and there's a championship on the line and you might not have called something for the Pato incident here,

but then you decide that, okay, he went off and fired off one of his championship competitors or someone else fired him off, and, like, he's expecting a penalty. It's like, dude, you didn't get penalized for doing the same thing in Long Beach, so, like, they have to be consistent. It's one of those things that that's where it just becomes, like right now, hey, you know what, racing, boom, bing, bong, everyone's in the wall. It's at sometimes, like, that's fine, but the consistency for sure is the key. So, Joey, well, let me ask you this.

Yes, so as someone who's had fewer indie car starts than Connor or myself, You're watching that from the out, but you've watched a bunch of any car. You're watching that from the outside. Do you like that race control didn't get involved in that? Did you think like that was the kind of move that you're like, that seems a little too much, maybe should have been penalized? Like, what was your take on it? No, after doing this for almost two, well, over a year and a half now.

And then, yeah, and talking with folks like you guys, I was the same opinion as Connor. Just because I'm kind of looking at it and exactly what he said. I'm just like, if that's not, then what is? And so that's where, you know, I'm sitting there at Daredevil Brewing and Speedway with a couple buddies, you know, Hedge, and he's kind of losing it. And he's just like, how is there nothing going on there? What is the paddle doing? And yeah, so from my vantage point, it's the same thing.

And I know that there's been instances like Connor said with Devlin last year where we had a full podcast episode essentially about that. or we're not only breaking down the incident but also what Connor said you know over the radio which was great I guess that's just kind of my thing and I look at it I always try to do like parallels and analogies here like you know like Colin Coward if you will

but like for the non you know for someone who is just a very casual fan of racing you know I look at it as like okay it if you have that defense that's really really aggressive right and they're all over the receivers

in the first quarter and they're not calling it. They're kind of set the precedent, right, that they're going to let him play, you know? And then like you see in the Super Bowl this past year, all of a sudden, at the most crucial time, they call kind of a, you're going to call that,

olding penalty? So to Connor's point, what he's saying, if, you know, three races left or, you know, you're out in Portland or whatever, and there's a championship on the line,

you look back to Long Beach and April and be like, where is the line here? This is a very great, area and I can't figure it out. So that's how I saw. Hinch, so to get into a little bit more, we could talk about IndyCar all day because that's what we do. This is our job sometimes. What about those who are, let's say, members of the mayoral community, Hinchtown visitors? When can we expect to see James Hinchcliffe, let's say back in a race car? Like what is?

Because like I know I've talked to you every now and then personally. I think people probably don't maybe how close you've been to this, that, and whatever, maybe sports cars, maybe another indie. Do you have any interest in doing a one-off at the Indy 500 again? Obviously, you don't want to show up in anything that's not competitive because, you know, we know how that can go. But what's the latest on driver hinge? And what are our chances of seeing you behind the wheel again soon? In a plaid outfit, it potentially, who knows? Yeah, yeah, no, that's a great question. Yeah, for sure.

I'm interested in all of it. I have been very close to a couple sports car programs, as you sort of alluded to, do that for, you know, reasons, life racing, whatever you want to call it, sort of all fell apart at the last minute, which is kind of a bummer. So still interested in doing some of that and getting back behind the wheel in that world. And yeah, I mean, as far as IndyCar goes, you know, the 500 is the only thing that's kind of, you know, left for me, desire-wise, to get back in and do.

And as you said, it's got to be in a car that's worth doing it. And so, you know, I had some conversations over the last year about, you know, 22, about 23. None of the programs got me excited enough, to be honest, to do that, to really put everything that you are into doing that race and trying to win it. You know, I don't need this another starter ring to sit on the shelf. I want a, I want a baby board. So if the right program comes up, 100% man, I'll jump back in and wheel it around the speedway any day. One thing I find interesting real quick as well. You were with Andretti, I would say the, in I would say years where they were struggling. I would say Andretti has made a huge step forward this year. And I think our driving styles have been probably not as favorable towards this aeroscreen era call. but what do you think has been the major upgrade to the Andretti program since, since you've been

there? Because again, I would say probably just a tough, the last year for sure, a tough couple years at Andretti there, but they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, they've, think it's a couple things. I do think there was some pretty big investment over the off season. In the broadcast, we had a lot of conversations and pre-production meetings over the first couple races about how for the longest time, you know, we've talked about the big three teams in Indycar being Penske, Gannasi, and Andretti. And then when you really look at the last 10 years of the series, all 10 championships have been won between Penske and Ganesi.

And so it's like, okay, well, is it actually a big three? Is it actually really just a big two? And then there's like a middle three, which is Andretti, McLaren, you know, Ray Hall, whoever else. And so I think that Andretti as a group recognize that. They're angry. They haven't been in a genuine championship fight for a couple years. And so they pulled the trigger on a couple things. And then I also think that there was a big talk about, you know, how to do.

just work together better as a team on a race weekend. It's, it is so tough to balance four programs, you know, four different cars. You've got four different drivers, for different engineers, potentially four different philosophies that you want to chase or, or paths of development. You want to do it on a weekend. And it's easy to get lost, especially as, you know, they started taking away practice time from teams. And so I think it's a combination of, I mean, they've always been good on street circuits, and that's been two of the three races we've had so far this year. I think that they did find some stuff to even make their very good street course car even better

and then I think there's a lot of harmony in the team right now I think that the drivers are all working all together I think the engineers are all working in a slightly different way and the results are showing I mean the results on paper haven't been what they wanted the first two races were pretty bad but the speed was there there was a lot of bad luck involved in that like Gerojan fighting for the win in St. Pete you know Herta got into the top six I think in Texas

and Grosjean was right there, maybe it was top seven. But then a lot of issues that took them out, you know, Kyle had his thing in St. Pete, he had a mechanical in Texas, whatever. So it was great to see them one, two, four in Long Beach. I think it just shows that they've got a lot of good pace. And yeah, for whatever it is, a combination of a bunch of little things,

I think, have really turned that team around. Open testing, IMS, Thursday and Friday, Hinch. You'll be in the booth for like 18 hours. What do we got playing? And we got any wild-lucky segments? We got a plan that we can look forward to? Or are we the boys? Oh, God, I hope so.

I hope so. We know, there's a laundry list of taped elements that I think we're going to burn through over, I think it's seven hours on the first day and six hours on the second day. But we'll see. No, look, I'm happy that we're broadcasting it on Peacock. I think fans just love seeing indie cars around the Speedway. And so it's always fun to get to be there, see cars on track. The programs I imagine most people are planning to run are not going to be the most exciting to watch.

So like don't expect that sort of happy hour, you know, full fuel race down force, pack running at the end of the day. I don't think we're going to see that now. 25 mile an hour wins tomorrow too. So really everyone's going to be thrilled to be out there. Yeah. And then potential with some like some rain on Friday. So it might be a slow. couple days, but it's still, it's still any cars in Speedway. And, uh, yeah, we might have to get a little

creative, Joey, to, uh, to Phil stuff at that time. I think it's going to be great, though. I, I love that peacocks doing this. I think, I think also the streaming numbers, too, from Long Beach were big. I mean, you got over 50,000 people watching, uh, the race via streaming platform. So like, that's great for us. It's great for our partners. It's great for everyone. Um, I don't want to take up too much of your time, because we do have an indie test literally tomorrow, and I'm sure you have some preparation to do. Shouldn't you be a track? Yeah. Well, we're unloading right now. It's fine. No big deal. I got to go there in about an hour.

I want to get a quick speculative indie 500 top three from you. Let's get a little prediction right now at the gate with no preparation allowed. And it doesn't have to be in any order. Just give us a three human beings that end up in the top three positions. James Hinchcliffe, this is all you. Scott Dixon, Colin, heard of Alexander Rossi. Okay, that's fair. That's fair. That's probably solid. That's probably solid top three. Alex has had a rough. Mixed teams. Yeah. Alex had a rough go, but yeah, like I look at what, you know,

Pato and Felix did there last year. So obviously the cars are competitive. They've thrown Tony in the mix. You've got Alex as a, as a previous winner, tons of experience, very fast there. that's a good combo. Colton, I think, really wants to make up for what happened last year. That car made crash, you know, go to the backup car, just a disaster of a race date for him. And And Reddy obviously always had threaded the speedway. And then you got Scott Dixon, the guy who should have probably won the last three, you know, in a lot of ways. And then the Ganassi cars last year, I mean, based on last year, you should say if the top player are going to be Martin Saracen, Alex Polo, Scott Dixon, and Cumbasato.

Yeah, the top, there's a top four. I mean, the Hondas have been fast, too. I mean, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, them, yeah. It, I think in qualifying, yeah, I think it qualifying, yeah, I think it qualifying the Hondas have had an advantage. I think in the race pace, though, it's pretty, at the 130 boosts, it's pretty even, I would say. Yeah. I don't think they have, I don't think they have the same advantage. Yeah, I mean, I, I'm a team Chevy guy, of course, and we love, we love Chevrolet, but I think, I guess we'll know a little bit tomorrow, but you never really know until you turn up boosts for,

for fast Friday. You're not going to know anything tomorrow. But like, man, they were, I mean, they were so fast last year that, like, it's going to take a pretty considerable, you know, jump from, even as someone who ran right behind a Honda in P2, and Scott had a lot of speed. And those Guadassi cars were so fast. But if that's a thing, that's a day, you've got to be careful because you can, you can say the Honda thing, but there were five Gannasi cars.

Oh, yeah, yeah. All in the fast 12. Yeah. Like those cars were so fast. So they skewed the numbers a little bit, I think. That's true. I do still thinking quality trim. Honda's got it small edge.

I think a race trip is pretty, is pretty, you know. Yeah, I'm excited for it. Real quick, Hinch. I know off track's got an event coming up. Friday, what are we got going on at the track with you and Rossi and them? Yeah, man, pretty excited. We're doing a live show at the Speedway on Friday. So we're really hoping the rain holds off because we've got a sweet and turn two.

We've got a bunch of people coming out We're going to try to catch the last hour and a half of practice And then once Rossi's done messing around with his engineer She's going to come up to the suite They got Prime 47 catering it And we're going to do ourselves a little live show And have some fun So Connor, you're welcome to swing by bud

We'd love to have you Joey if you're at the track You'd want to come check it out please stop by I would love to have you guys there And yeah, it's going to be a good time But I mean as you know Hinge right Right Then get them tell them where they get tickets

Oh yeah, get tickets. Tickets. I mean, tickets are going fast. So if you want to come, it's this Friday. Tickets are on Ask OffTrack.com. And we're down to the last couple, guys. So if you're listening, get on it. Well, as you know, Hinch, it's hard for me to pass up events with free food. So that could be a potential for me to be there.

I appreciate you coming on to this podcast. There's a lot that we could talk about. If you don't listen to Off Track with Hinch and Rossi, well, you probably do if you listen to this show, so please do if you don't. And yeah, let's have a successful indie car season. Please watch the races because Hinch will be entertaining you on them. So Hinch, thank you so much, and we'll see you on the peacock.

Thank you, guys. I'll be entertaining you on them. You'll be entertaining us in them. Joey and I will be having wild nights in the bus slot all May and culminating in your show at the Vogue at the end of the bus. which I'm excited about. So it's going to be great, guys. Let's have ourselves at time.

Thanks for having me. Thanks, Inch. See, buddy. Well, that was a great chat with Inch, I think. We could honestly, we could have probably spent an hour talking to him, but we got to go to the open test here soon. Got to go to the track to get things ready to go 230 miles an hour. You know, last year, the open test, the quickest lap was like 229.

So we could be ripping tomorrow and Friday. Hopefully the rain stays away. there's going to be win so please watch on Peacock for sure but great chat with Hinch he'll be on the Peacock broadcast he'll be trying to fill time with crazy chats and all kinds of weird things

so yeah loved loved having a great conversation with him I same love Hinch but I texted him about a month ago and I was like hey man what's your like are you going to be back in the driver's lot this May or what's

your status kind of and he was like man I don't really know I'm not for sure He's like, are you going to be back where you were? I said, I think so. He said, well, shit, I'm just going to tell Dougie B to put me in the museum lot. So that's very, very exciting and something to look forward to as well. Selfishly, I'm excited because then I'll get some Hinch time because, you know,

he's got way more downtime than all you fellas who have to be in all sorts of driver's meetings and with your, you know, with your engineers and everything. So look forward to some bus slot buddies action from me and Hinge, no doubt. Connor You got a random N500 driver this week I hear Yes

So one of our favorite segments The Ricky Treadway Random ND 500 driver The week Honestly we went deep Deep into the ND500 History for this one And I'm not gonna lie

I did get a little A little hint A little maybe Suggestion which I don't usually take On this one from president of IMS, Doug Bulls. He thought this could be an interesting story, and Doug does know more about the Indy 500

than all of us. So we went deep into the archives. We went to the 1925 Indy 500, the 1925 race. And we're going to go with the 13th place finisher in this event. Earl DeVore. Earl DeVore finished 13th.

Now let me read you the Wikipedia story for Earl here. Francis Earl DeVore was an American race car driver. DeVore and fellow driver Norman Batten, also an Indy500 driver. I believe he finished in this same race. He was not in this in 1925, but he was also a driver. Norman Baton and Earl DeVore were aboard the SS

Vestris Ocean liner when it sank. He is credited with saving the lives of his wife and Baden's wife. Both Batten and DeVore were lost at sea. Reports indicate that DeVore was eaten by a shark in the icy waters. Oh man.

This is our first shark attack driver of the week. we lost two Indy-5-100s on a boat crash Are you kidding me? The SS Vestris sank two talented drivers That's crazy Did you Google that, Joey? I was following along.

Added to the Lewis, man. Yeah, we got a good tweet. I think last week in the week before somebody was like, you know, their reaction when one of our random Indie 500 drivers isn't a felon or dead. So I've looked forward to what people hear about.

This week is shark attack. And the bowels of the belly of a shark. Yeah, so poor Earl was lost at C, RIP Earl. But thank you for saving people's lives. Hero. Interesting about Earl as well. His son, Billy DeVore, went on to do seven Indy-500s as well, starting in 1937.

So that is awesome. So we have a family, a hero who saved people's lives, got eaten by sharks, and then his son, boom, seven-time $8,500 starters. So that is, what a wild story that is. Two drivers lost at C, RIP to Mr. Batten as well, Norman Batten. So, wow, that's wild. We got a little bit of two-for-one deal here, two-for-one deal. Earl DeBoard, more like Earl devoured by shark.

Oh, geez. Oh no Oh man On that note We will get out of here It's been a great one Thanks to Hinch Hope you enjoyed it

Hope maybe you're listening to it On your way of the track Out there on Thursday Friday Looking forward to being back At the world's greatest race course Always a good day to be there Especially when there's cars flying around

On the track so look forward to that Yeah good deal Be sure to follow us Everywhere you get your podcast We keep pumping this up We'll get guests every week the month of May is just around the corner. You've got to be in here.

You've got to be on the Speed Street, man. You've got to be with us. It's going to be fantastic. For Connor Daily, for Ben Weldon, for Joey Mulliner on myself. We'll talk to you next week on Speed Street.