The Dale Jr. Download - 281 - David Hobbs: Paddock to Telly

Episode Date: November 5, 2019

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with one of his favorites, legendary racer and broadcaster David Hobbs, to discuss the most important race in NASCAR history, the 1979 Daytona 500. The two chit chat about working with Ken Squier, Hobbs' diverse and dangerous racing career, dealing with an era where death was a regularity, Cale Yarborough's engine mimicking, an Intimidating interview with Dale Earnhardt, the Englishman's role in Stroker Ace and more. Dale Jr. and co-host Mike Davis debate the controversial Bubba Wallace spin and sound off about Big Hoss TV insults. Mix in some hunting stories and Dale's unusual Odd History reading cadence and you have a very interesting episode of The Dale Jr. Download. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is a production of Dirtymo Media. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girm, of all ages, step right up and listen to the amazing Dale Jr. Download. Drop to you in podcasts. And on NBC in Technicolor. Take a seat and enjoy the show. Hey, everybody. Back again for the Dale Jr. Download. Dale Jr. co-host, Mike Davis is here.

Out of the deer stand, I see. Yeah. Yeah, I did a hunt. Did you get anything? No, I saw a bunch. Really? Oh, yeah. Where were you hunting, you cared toil?

At my property. Yeah, my place. Oh, your home? Yeah, yeah. At your house? At the bottom of my field, yeah. Oh, how many did you see? About 10 or 12.

That's pretty good for North Carolina. I mean, I don't look at North Carolina as a very good hunting, your hunting place. Really? I saw a, uh... It's actually my first year to hunting it. I saw a little spike on the drive home from Concord Airport last night. Yeah, I just love watching them. That's kind of in your neck of the woods, I guess.

Yeah, sure is right down the road. Matthew Dillner's here and Liam Bond. How are you guys doing? Great. Awesome, thanks. Great. Excellent commentary. Great.

Thanks, Cotton. Addition to the show. We love having those guys. Well, let's get started. It was another race weekend in Texas. We only got a couple weeks left, a couple shows left. And we're going to wrap this season up. And then we'll start again, right?

Oh, yeah. Just take a little break. Yeah. You think we'll do a show during the winter? I've always asked you to do a show. We, you know, we did one in December last year, but that was because Jeff Gordon, you know, all of a sudden became a... No, you can't give Jeff Gordon no credit. I really think that that's why we did it.

This is a room of no credit for Jeff Gordon. There's a no Jeff Gordon credit zone. Yeah. We're hard on Jim here. Fair enough. That's right. Okay. Are you saying you want to do one in December?

I think we should put a poll out immediately at this moment. Where do we think the results are going to be if we have? I think we should put a poll out. Hey, should we do a sort of maybe a mid-offseason show? I don't know whether it needs to be too early. Mike? Mike? In the off-season, but maybe, you know, when everybody gets back from New Year's,

something early January, first, second week of January? Early January is fine, although I like the theory of leaving people wanting more. I like that idea. I do, too. What if we just did a 20-minute hey, guys? What are you all doing? What if we did a 20? Yeah, what if we did some YouTube live stuff?

Just a little hey, ask junior, or just to get together, how everybody's doing? How was Christmas? I like that idea. No guest. If people don't want to watch it, they don't have to watch it. Which is true now. Maybe consciously I'm just trying to make sure we don't get too rusty. I got you.

Or are you going to miss us? I mean, I miss doing this. I miss you guys for sure. I'm going to see y'all. You don't work here. He's still our boss. But I think I just think it'd be good. I like the idea.

Greece the wheel a little bit. There you go. All right. Well, we'll talk about it. I don't know. Did you put it out a poll yet? I have not. Oh.

I'll do it right now. The expert. The social media expert. I wasn't sure where we were going with that. You never know. We'll see what we come up with. I'm sure I can encourage you guys to put something together. I think you got to qualify.

You're always looking for content. Yeah, yeah, of course. You know, there's another thing, though, is that you got us doing a lot of content already in the offseason. Man, what you wanted to start a media company. No, no, no. Hey, I love it. Don't give me wrong.

I love it. I'm just saying your schedule and our schedule is quite full. The only, what else we got? I got, we're going to do the North Walesboro weed eating, surface cleaning sort of escapade or whatever you want to call that. That's coming up so that we can scan it for the irasing online semi-examination. What is what's the content? A television show that we're building, remember?

Oh, yeah, well, we are. It's kind of a big deal. We're doing it. We've got a TV show in the works that we haven't announced that I'm pretty excited about. Matthew, you're excited? Slightly. Oh, yeah. Hey, minute.

Slightly. This has been your dream. Slightly. He's being facetious. I'm being sarcastic. Yeah. This is that sarcastic face. Couldn't tell.

It seemed pretty real. Me and Matthew had this really unique passion in, that we share, and I am so glad to finally bring it together. That's right. But let's not reveal too much, because that's, we are. It's not a pizza show, though. They are, or hockey. You don't like hockey.

So you guys are going to do a New York Islanders hockey show. Is that what you're doing? It's ice carving. Ice carving. Chains old. And the second segment will be about curling, obviously, yeah. Broom ball. Yeah.

You know, we had a race this weekend of Texas. Kevin Harbock dominated. Yeah, it's a so-so race. I know you'd listen to it in the Deer Stan. Was that what you were doing or what? No, no. I was listening to you. I was listening to NBC.

I had the NBC. Oh, the telecast. So you'd listen to the race. Yeah, a good bit. First stage was crazy. All these cautions. We had six cautions, and then no cautions in stage two. And then Kevin Hartwig dominated stage three.

and just interesting. Denny went in, 24 points above the cut line, leaves 20-something, 22 points below the cut line. Pretty crazy race for a lot of people. Let's see. Before the, oh, intentional spin by Bubba Wallace has everybody of arms. It's getting a text from a couple drivers after the race about that and what NASCAR should do.

You were or he was? I got to come. You were. And then Larson, I think, said something in his post-race. about maybe NASCAR stepping in. I think Tony Stewart said that NASCAR shouldn't step in, that they shouldn't be involved in that. And he threw in also, you know, while we're at it,

they shouldn't be involved in the yellow line rule as well at Daytona, which I thought was great. And I tend to agree. I guess that they shouldn't, you know, go into that judgment call area. And I only think the reason why is because it's hard to trust them to make that call right every time. And the question is, is like, obviously, it's easy for me to sit there in the booth,

and I said it, he's spent out on purpose. All right. Now, I'm not driving the car, but with my eyes and my judgment, my perception, I think that that's what happened, right? But are we wanting sports to be judgment calls, right? Do you want, do you want, do you want, I like black and, I've always liked,

black and white rules right or wrong yes and no i don't really like uh someone's interpretation yeah playing a role in the decision right and so i almost feel like in this case that would have to be what what would happen people would have to interpret okay i i interpret this as intentional spin and then there's going to be disagreement and agreement and and you know also the different series, Exfinity, Cup, and Truck, have different directors in the tower, different people in there that are making those decisions for each series. And that's why there's a lot of, there's a little bit of ebb and flow of decision-making inconsistency from some, from race to race from between, if you'll go to and watch a race weekend where there's trucks, Exfinity and Cup, they may call

a yellow line rule or a guy blocking below the yellow line one way in a truck race and then different in a cup race. Well, that's because there's different people in the tower. that are governing that series, right? And their interpretation of what that block was or what was intentional or what, who was, you know, who was wrong or right is different from Saturday to Sunday. So you're going to have that little bit of inconsistencies in those type of judgment calls, and I think that you have the same sort of uproar, I guess, if you went into deciding whether somebody had an intentional spin or not, I feel like that the best way for this to go

is for the drivers to police themselves. You know, if it screwed over Larson and a couple other guys, then they should go to Bubba and say, Bubba, you know what? I know you're trying to do something good to help yourself. We've all done it. But that ruined my race, and I'm trying to race for a championship. And, you know, maybe next time Bubba makes a different decision.

Or maybe he doesn't, you know, right? But there's some things in the garage that sort of police themselves through the teams, drivers, the crew chiefs. And that, I think, is one of them. You know, when things sort of get out between the lines or off the blacktop, when things sort of go awry, sometimes the drivers have to sort of police it back. Maybe somebody speaks up. Maybe one of those guys that everybody trusts goes to Bubbin or whoever's intentionally spinning.

You know, we've all done it. We've all done it at some point, sometime. I think Joe Ligano did it the week before at Martinsville. You know, had a flat tire, turned his car around, trying to get a yellow. if he pits and doesn't bring out of yellow, if he just comes gingerly to pit road and we go green, he goes two laps down instead of maybe one or maybe none.

You know, so he's, you know, that's, that's a driver trying to do, trying to do something desperate to save himself. And I don't like NASCAR trying to get in the middle of that and trying to, trying to handle that. But they have before. There's precedent of them doing it.

Well, let's name a couple of those. Well, I mean, the one that sticks out is, that's glaring is the one from Richmond. where Michael Walter Pacing brought out of caution to really affect the race. Okay. So in that regard, in that sense, they never, I don't think that they ever went after the idea of an intentional spin. They went after the radio chatter, one of their cars pitting multiple times to drop down through the standings. they went after really the sequence of events after Clint spun out.

They never, I think, went to Clint or solely put the spotlight on, did Clint spin? Did Clint not spend? That was never really in my mind in that experience, the discussion. I thought it was the team order. Yeah, the direction. The team order to cause a caution. Yeah, I don't think so. I think that, you know, we all, it's the public.

Now, the public court of opinion went after, oh, you know, Clint scratching his itch and all that. That's right. Right. So the court of public opinion formed that idea that, yeah, Clint spun out on purpose, and then this happened, that happened, that happened. I think Brian Vickers was asked to come to Pitt Road for no damn reason at all. And there was a lot of radio chatter that was easily easy to piece together what was going on. on there. And I think that nobody ever went back and said, you know what? We're going to

penalize Clint Boyer for spinning out intentionally. That never happened. I have to disagree that there was a precedent set for intentional spinning at that moment. Now, there has been times when guys have stopped on the racetrack to cause cautions and they've gotten in trouble. They've gotten called to the hauler. If you have a flat tire and you just parked the car, that's the same thing in my mind is intentionally spinning out. You're causing a yellow. You're trying to stop you're trying to stop the race so that you can no longer be lapped and get to pit road with with minimal collateral damage to your race right and so that has happened before i was penalized i was penalized for spinning out intentionally but i got out of the car and bragged about it you know

and that's a different scenario than what happened bristol martinsville martinsville bristol at bristol bristol right you got called to the holler that's the one where you and the areas i got so that was um well no that was different that was a different. Bristol. But I, you know, I just feel like that there's not a precedent set for intentional spinning. It's something that's probably happened a lot throughout the sport, and it probably will happen

a lot more. I don't think that we need a rule or I don't think we need NASCAR governing. I think that that's something where the drivers get together and say, hey, what are we doing here? All right. I agree with that. I like that approach to it. I think that for it to really matter, this is just a.

just my opinion. You can tell me it's completely out there, but it needs to be drivers that weren't completely affected by the outcome. In other words, somebody, like you said, trusted drivers, right? Somebody that doesn't like the look of the sport. It's an integrity issue, not, oh, you screwed my race issue, because of course anybody that had their race screwed like Kyle Larson did, is not going to be happy with Bubba Wallace. The question is, are you not happy with Bubba Wallace if it didn't affect your race whatsoever, if it's an integrity issue? And then maybe, it'll change. Maybe it won't,

but I'm saying to me, that matters more than, oh, you screwed up my race because that means you're just taking it situationally. Yeah. That's not a legit,

you know, beef. But so anyways, that's just one of my thoughts there. Well, if we're, if we are going to hold NASCAR accountable for throwing bogus yellows,

then as, you know, as a driver on the racetrack, I mean, again, I know I've done it. Come at me. I'm guilty of doing it, and everybody is.

I think if Larson came up to Bubba and said, hey, I'm in the championship battle. I just pitted. I was running in the top five, having a great day, and that sucked. And I don't know that, you know, I can't expect Bubba to go into every race going, hmm, I don't want to ruin somebody's day. What could be happening to this guy and that guy? I don't want to screw somebody over. It's not going to imprint in his mind to think about Kyle Larson every time he has a flat.

How can he? Right. But I think if he could understand how that affected somebody who's in a real serious situation to try to race for that championship, you know, maybe a once-in-lifetime opportunity to race for a title. And I like your idea as well, Mike, is adding in a trusted veteran, and somebody that this is not, this is not to single out bubble.

This is just maybe the press, you know, something going forward as far as how to be, how to be handling that situation. I don't know if they got to trust a veteran, to be honestly, that would carry that much weight. I mean,

Harvick maybe, I guess. Yeah, I think, is that right? Yeah, Harvick, I don't know, you know, Jimmy Johnson. Yeah, you're right. There are several guys in there. The other thing that was interesting

this past weekend, and I don't know if you guys, And you all probably didn't see it. And I don't know if this is that big a deal, but it pissed me off when it happened. During the driver's intros on Sunday, on the big hoss, big giant screen on the back straightaway, so the drivers are,

there's a driver's intro stage, and they're walking out of that stage facing the front grandstands. So behind them on this big, big screen, was a bunch of one-liners that were terrible. Like Parker Klingerman came out to driver's introduction. Hey, Parker Klingerman from such a lot of, in such town starting in 30, whatever, and driving the da-da-da-da.

And then on a big house that said, Parker Klingaman, even wrecks on eye racing. Whoa. Really? Are you serious? That was a nice one. Oh, man, they were mean? They were very mean. Some of them pretty bad.

Like Garrett Smithley's already in the way or something like that. That was his. They were really aggressive. It is aggressive. Sort of roast-worthy. Yeah, yeah. wrote and and and so all right it popped up on my Twitter one of the journalists down in the media center was like man that's strange those things are weird whoever had whoever wrote those had some balls and

I'm sitting there in in the TV booth watching it the drivers don't see it they're coming out and and this isn't about hurting the driver's feelings they don't care right they're going to run a race it's more about perception all right and so the drivers are coming out to getting introduced and then there's these one-liners on the big hauls that only the people in the stands and can see, and they're really bad and aggressive. And in my mind, I'm thinking, what are we doing? Like, what are we, are we building our, are we building the sport up, or are we just tearing it down? That's such a parental approach.

It's like, you know, you say to your kids, did that build somebody up or did that tear them down? What did you accomplish with that? Yeah. Okay. And somebody on my social media timeline is like, oh, get over, man. You know, are we going to get butt hurt about everything that happens? I mean, these drivers, if it hurts their feelings, you know, they need to have thicker skin. And it's not really about that at all.

I mean, I don't, I'm not worried about the driver's feelings. It's more about perception of, all right, imagine, you know, 1987 All-Star race. Remember that brawl they had that race? Yeah. was for the sport, probably not good for Bill Elliott, but imagine the intros. Della and Art from Cannapolis, North Carolina, wrecks everybody. Terlebone.

Corporate Christian, Texas can't drive a nail. I mean, why would we imagine those intros happening during the spectacle of the pre-race at Daytona for the 500, the honored traditional event, right? You know, you go through this sport, you go through the season with all this pride and excitement and trying to, we're working so damn hard to change a perception of the package, whether the racing's good, how, whether we have great personalities. I mean, we're busting our ass. Everybody, the drivers, the industry, and then we have something like that. I mean, it was just a small thing, right? And it's not, and only a tiny group of people saw it. Okay, but let me ask you, were any of them personal or were they all driving talent later?

I would say they were personal. There was a couple in there personal. I wish... Oh, man. Go ahead. That sort of reminds me of... Some of them were pretty personal. California Speedway made that big mistake a few years ago, letting the fans online just submit superlatives. Yeah. And it got disgusting. Yeah.

And it was a PR nightmare for it. It was disgusting. Well, I don't even remember that. See, so this probably isn't going to be membered by anybody either. but when I go to Texas, I sort of have my guard up. You know what I mean? Back when me and Teresa were sort of having a disagreement or, you know, a public sort of quarrel about, you know, whether I was going to stay at DEI or leave, they had billboards on the highway outside the racetrack about the wicked stepmother and all that stuff.

It was uncomfortable, and I fell at times over the line, you know, and personal. I don't have a problem with them taking Denny and Joey and saying, hey, here's two guys that got into it last week. Buy a damn ticket. But some of those things I thought kind of were personal to the drivers, and it's not up to me to decide that. It's up to that individual driver to decide whether it's personal or not. But I just wonder, you know, is that helping us? Or is that, you know, because everything for me is really about trying to create health and in the sport and doing things that are good for it. And I don't know if I would have chosen that path had I had, you know, had I been putting on a race that day,

I would have been talking about how all these guys are warriors and they're going to go out there and raise hell. And we're lucky to be here today. And it's, you know, it's going to be a battle. And this is a playoff race and there's a championship on the line. So it was only fitting when, you know, about 12 laps into the race, the sign blew off the fence. Yeah. How about that? Yeah.

Yeah. So. Karma. Yeah, maybe spending a little more time attaching those signs coming up with clever quips. Yeah. I thought that was funny. I will say, man, with all that said, Eddie Gossage is one of the best promoters that we have in a sport. You know, and I don't know, there's a lot of people involved in how that race gets put on and all those sort of decisions to do that.

Somebody thought that was a good idea, and I doubt it was Eddie. I don't know. Maybe it was, but I doubt it. but somebody thought you know what let's do something funny and try to entertain somebody and it just just was out of touch maybe it was yeah absolutely swing hard in case you hit it sometimes you're going to miss it

I guess yeah did you see the news I just forwarded you guys didn't so Penske Corp oh yeah yeah yeah tell Mike what's going on basically Penske Corp has purchased the IndyCar series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway including you know Indianapolis Motor Speedway production but Indianapolis Motor Speedway is now a product of Penske Corp, its own, and the IndyCar series.

This is monumental motorsports news. Yeah. For the better, you think? I want your opinion. I mean, I am not as immersed, I guess, in the IndyCar world, for sure, as I would be, I could certainly understand the ramifications and positives and negatives if this were happening in a NASCAR world. but, you know, knowing the kind of guy that Roger Penske is, I can't see this is a bad thing.

I think that, I guess, you know, I look at that racetrack and think about its entire history and the ups and downs and how close they came to losing that racetrack entirely to development at one point after the war, the Second World War. It was just a, it's just had a really interesting, delicate, existence at times. And when you see what it is today, it's this amazing thing. It's this incredible sporting event that is more than a race.

And that it would carry on, that it would grow and succeed is in everyone's best interest. And so I think that this is a move that's a positive. It'll be interesting. I think certainly I'm curious to read comments from those in that world. drivers, other owners, and so forth as to how they view this move. But it sounds like to me it's in very good hands going forward, which is a good thing. Cool. I think that was a solid open segment.

Is there anything you want to add, Mike? No. You did go hunting. You saw some deer. Any bucks? Not yesterday, but the day before I had a, they're starting to chase dough. That was what I was looking for. I went hunting with Martin this week, and we had great success.

You did. You did. Y'all, you're all monsters. I mean, monsters. And if you had, let me ask you a question, if you had killed a big buck, would you have posted that picture on Instagram? If I'm you, no. If I'm me, maybe. But maybe not. I'd have to think about it. And I know why you're asking that. And because if I'm you, and I know you, you don't like making people upset. I mean, in just, just in general. And I know that that sounds like a very cliche thing, but there are people that don't mind it. Kyle Petty, he posts the picture and not think twice about it. He don't care what other people think. You do. And I think that's, you know, that's, to your credit, I think. So now I wouldn't have posted it. But for me, I would have to think about it. And I probably, because I represent you, I think that we all, in our social media feeds, even though they're

personal feeds. We always have to use logic. And, you know, if it ever brought, even one person brought heat on you, I probably would have to think, you know, in my role, I would probably choose not to. But I tell, I tell everybody about it. Yeah, I guess telling everybody it's one thing. Yeah, I was a little torn because we were taking pictures of this awesome deer that I'd got. And Truex had the same experience and just two amazing, amazing, beautiful bucks. we were able to get.

And it's, I have been hunting solely exclusively on this one piece of property for the last five years. And this is in those five years in multiple, multiple hunts, the second deer I've gotten. So it's, and I passed on a lot of deer. I passed on some bucks that I just was like,

you know, don't want that deer. Doesn't excite me. Doesn't, you know, I don't need that deer. I don't want to, I don't want to mount that deer.

and I don't know what that means for my hunting career because, well, I have this idea in my mind and I don't, you know, that I just got to get bigger and bigger. Every deer, every deer I shoot, the next one's got to be bigger than the last one, right? And so that's a real unrealistic sort of goal because right now I'm near, I'm, you know, sitting there looking for a 170 or 180 to walk out and that's not going to happen. and so which I think too also keeps me from being just careless and just shooting a lot of deer that aren't unnecessarily need to be shot and it helps us sort of manage the herd that we have as well and grow and I'm really enjoying more about learning what we're doing with land and while we're doing it we move the crops why do you move crops around why you got to why do you need to change the crops in this field year after year after year and for the for the health of the soil and so forth and moving, understanding the movements of the deer, I had no idea that deer do what they do and travel as far as they go. I mean, when they go and rut, those bucks, it's crazy how far they'll go. They lose their mind chasing the girls.

It is. They just do. They literally put their head down and run for freaking weeks. Yeah. It's crazy. With their tongues hanging out. You'll see them on the cameras. I know some people like that.

Well, you'll see them on the cameras, and they've been eating and eating and eating and eating, and they're all big and huge, and then they'll go in the rut, and they'll literally lose dozens and dozens and dozens of pounds. By the end of rut, you'll see them on camera running around their tongue hanging out, because they've been running literally for weeks chasing these doze trying to find something in heat. It's just so crazy. But I enjoy it. I love it.

But I do feel that sort of, I wish I could. You'd love to get to a point where you could, where everybody could appreciate and see it through the ethical lens in which you see it. And that is hard to do because nobody sees things the same. They just don't. You're right. So it's almost better to just not get in the middle of it. But I tell you this, I saw that deer.

You should be proud. I am very proud. It looked like a mule deer. I mean, it was huge. True X's. Oh, did I tell you how it happened? No, no. It's so awesome.

All right. So this is the experience. And the people that like the deer hunt, you love this. If you didn't, if you don't like the deer hunt, maybe it's cool. Just skip this far, get to the dog, David Hobbs. Yeah. It was a morning hunt, and we had put a stand in the woods about probably 20 yards off a tree line, expecting, obviously, the deer to be feeding out in this field.

And so I would sneak in through the woods, get up in the stand, and I'm waiting for the deer to come out the field and hopefully come by the stand instead of going in all the other directions they can go, right? And I only bow hunt, all right? So I need these deer to get within 20 to 30 yards of me, right? I don't want, I'm not going to shoot beyond 30 yards. I'm not, I don't trust my shot. I don't need to wound them or miss or or injure them in any way.

So I'm going to make sure that, you know, it's a 30-yard shot or less. And so I'm, I had hunted. Within eyesight of this particular stand the day before, the morning before, about 60 yards away, we had another stand. So you put two stands that close together for the wind, depending on how the wind's going to blow, you can hunt either stand. And so the morning before, I was sitting in one stand, and I saw all the deer come in out of the field, and they went by this chain up that was about 60 yards away.

So the next morning, the wind turned, and it was just right for that chain up. I'm like, that's where I want to be. That's where the deer went. Now, I only saw those the day before, so chances are I'm going to go back and see just doze again. But if it is, if they are starting to rut, the bucks are just starting to rut, maybe they're going to be chasing these doze a little bit because it was right on the verge of the rut really kicking in. Sure enough, the next morning, I'm in that stand, seeing the same doze kind of come right by me that I'd seen the morning before. And I looked into the tree line

to sort of view the field that I was hunting over. And again, it's about 20 yards to the tree line. I can't really, I can see movement in the field, but I can't really tell whether it's, you know, a big deer or a little deer. But I could see through the, through the webbing in the tree line, the mass in this rack of this buck. And I couldn't see the body. I couldn't see the head or count horn, you know, count the rack or see the points. But I could see the mass in the webbing.

And I thought, that's a big buck. I got my bow ready. And when he comes in, if he walks toward that, tree line and comes into this sort of pathway that these other dough have used, I've got to decide really quickly whether I like what I see. And so he pops his head in there and takes a look into the woods right on that path. I'm like, sure, he's coming. He's going to walk right by me, just like these dough did. He looks in there, huge, giant deer, way outside the ears, really wide nine point, big nine. He turned his head out of the woods, back to the field, and then went and walked down.

the tree line in the field away from me. So he didn't come in in the woods. And I was like, oh, crap. That was it, right? But I had this grunt call, and it wasn't, I've not used a grunt call hardly at all before, but I've practiced a lot, watched a lot of YouTube videos. Me too, yeah. Talk to TrueX about it.

Truex is a really great hunter. Yeah. I happened to just ask Martin the day before, I said, listen, man, just try to talk to me about this grunt call again. I don't need to be just grunning for the hell of it, right? Yeah, like it's a party announcement. And he's like, no, probably only grunt when you have a buck walking away. If you got a buck and you'd like to bring him in, try to grunt then, but only then.

If you don't see any deer, probably just don't be grunting for no reason. And I thought, okay, I got to just remind myself because I'll sit in that stand and if I decide, you know what, I'm getting out at 10 in the morning and it's 9.30, I'm going to grunt, just to see. All right, that's what I would do. But Trix is like, no, just only grunt when you see. them bucks and they're not coming your direction. So here I am. I grabbed that grunt call and I grunted.

And I'm like, I hope that he thinks this is another deer and not some idiot in a stand, right? I hope this sounds natural. And he turned and looked back toward me and then turned his head and started walking away further. Oh, walking

away. Gotcha. Yep. Didn't do it. Okay. So I grunted one more time. He stuck his head up in there and turned and ran toward the tree. Oh, ran. Like he was coming in there to whoop who's ever asked that was in that, in the woods. That is so cool. He's like, I'm going to kick this.

I'm going to kick this out of the books. Yeah. Yeah. But that's how they think. Yeah. Right now, during this time. Right. So he come running in there.

And as soon as I seen him turn and run, I'm like, oh, crap, I got to get my bow again. I grab my bow and I put the release on and I'm ready to draw. And he comes walking in there and I'm looking at his rack and I'm thinking, yeah, that's absolutely a deer. that I would want to have and drew back and it was awesome he um he was uh we we we waited a couple hours and then went out there and and tracked him and cleaned him up and sent him off to get mounted we we take a lot of the uh we took we took we kept some of the meat brought it home we actually ate some of the meat uh while we were there yeah and uh donate the rest it's a good hunt a lot of fun oh yeah i'll donate that's it that's good there's a lot to donate there's a lot to donate there

if that was a big deer. Yeah. But that is by far my favorite thing to eat is venison. I mean, it is so good. Yeah, we ate really, really good. We'd eat in so many different ways. Truex's, uh, Trix had a relative come in, and one of his buddies from way back in Jersey came down and brought a smoker and cooked all week.

And so we ate some good food. And my uncle, Robert, cooked some turkey that we had shot at a hunt before. And so it's a great, man. A lot of fun. Good. Congrats. Thank you. I have some Twitter poll results. Oh, hey.

If you're interested. 94% absolutely. Only 6% of people. We might should, no, we might should, you know, consider it then. That was pretty overwhelming. Some of the people. Yeah. Yeah.

Almost 750 votes in half an hour. So, yeah, so people don't want us to take a break. Goodness. I'm more tickled by the 6%. No, definitely do not. You're done with you guys. Don't do an off-season. Anything.

That was me, sorry. Quick update in fantasy football. Lost to my wife this weekend. That was a tough one. What's that like? Yeah. Nice, because I like when she's happy. There you go.

All right, before we bring in our guests, let's make sure our teeth are clean. Yeah, I mean, it's important. Yeah. Don't want to be rude. We got to have bright teeth and our breath. Smelling good. And the only way to do that is with Quip.

Quip was created by Dennis. and product designers. So dentists and product designers got together. Yeah. They focused on what actually matters for your oral health. Glad that dentists were conversing about it. And that's healthy your habits, Mike. Got it.

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Yeah. So, well, you've got to change them heads, man. Yeah. You need to do bristles. Right on schedule every three months. The sleek, intuitive design is simple to use and comes with a travel cap that doubles as a mirror amount. I like that travel cap, man. I don't like my brushes working around in my bag with my hair brush and everything else in there.

Yeah. Germs, man. Gross. Yeah. And I'm, yeah. Yeah. Can't do that. These thoughtful features make brushing something you have.

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You got it. I like using my quip on the road. Traveling the NASCAR schedule for NBC. Dillner, I know you're actually a first-time electronic toothbrush user. What do you think about your quip? I've never wanted to brush my teeth. Like, you do it because you don't want your teeth fall out, but it's literally enjoyable. Now you want to.

Love it. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, I went to a quip electronic toothbrush, and I can't go back. I mean, I can't. I feel like when I'm using a regular toothbrush, it's not doing anything. Right. Does that make any sense?

I think if you use electronic, you know what I mean. I feel like when I'm brushing with a quip, it's cleaning more. Right. even though my hands making the same motion, I'm getting more accomplished. You have to try it to understand. Quip starts at just $25 and you'll get your first refill free at getquip.com. Get quip.com slash Dale Jr., D-A-L-E-J-R. This is a simple way to support our show and start brushing better.

But you have to go to getquip.com, get quip-u-u-I-P-com slash Dale Jr. to get your first refill free. Go right now to get quipped.com slash Dale Jr. You've been using your quip. It's obvious. Look at them. They look good. They look good, don't they?

Yeah. Yeah, I use my quip. David Hobbs. Uh-oh. Oh, here he is. That's not me there. What's that? What?

Oh, man, if it was, I mean, I bet you've got some. No, that's about Buddy Baker. But you do look like him. Now, I got a picture like that one. I drove that. car in 76. You drove that car? Well, he drove eight cars. No, I drove eight cars. I drove. Banyi past his backup.

So usually, David Hobbs, thank you for coming. Usually, David... Thank you for asking me. Yeah. Usually, I started at the beginning and asked a guest what their first race car was or what prompted them to get started in racing, but I don't want to do that today. I've got to get something off my chest, David. I was introduced to you not as a driver, but as a broadcaster. And not just any broadcaster. Like a broadcaster that covered, in my opinion, what is the most important NASCAR broadcast that was ever and ever will be the 1979 Daytona 500.

All right. David, I have watched that broadcast more than a dozen times. He has. I have. I ride around in my car with it playing in a DVD player. He does. I have, before I met my wife, it's what I would go to sleep listening to. Oh, my gosh.

But if they ever make time travel commercially available, I'm going to go to the 1979 Daytona 500. And then after that, I'm going to go back to 1979 and watch that race in my grandmother's living room with her. On a tube television, of course. That's right. Did you realize, I guess, in that moment, what you guys were a part of? You know, I don't think we did, although Ken Squire, who is really, responsible for all of that. I still say every time I'm asked to speak on the subject, I always say that NASCAR should be paying Ken Squire a million bucks a year. Because, I mean, he really did

put NASCAR on the map. Absolutely. I joined CBS in 1976 and we did a bit of everything. You know, we did Formula One. We did some, well, we didn't do many sports car races. We did Lamont once. And we did some NASCAR, but they were all to tape. So we used to go to the studio in the middle the night in New York or Chicago and we would put voiceover on NASCAR races so they're obviously delayed you know a week or two delayed and

that voice over stuff is very difficult because it's all the video's all timed out so you have to speak exactly to the video and it's hard to do yeah never and then all this time Ken kept saying to CBS his bosses at CBS

you know NASCAR's where it's out that's where it's all going to be at well of course living up in New York then back in the 70s and 60s, NASCAR didn't mean, he didn't mean nutting to him, you know? Them old rednecks

from down south. What do they know about New York? And anyway, in 75, I went to be interviewed by CBS to get the job. Yeah. Well, talk about cringe

embarrassment. I mean, it was a worst interview I ever did. I mean, sweat was pouring down my chest and down the back of my neck. And this guy's asked me questions about obviously knew nothing about racing at all. Well, I won the Formula 5,000 championship. What's Formula 5,000?

Oh. Well, it's kind of like Formula One, about the same speed as Formula One, but stocking, you ever won in Indianapolis? No, I haven't. I've done it, but I've never won't. Okay. Not impressed, he said. I mean, when I went out the door, if ever there was a, don't call us, we'll call you, that was it. Well, ironically, and extraordinarily luckily for me, that was in about September, October, 75.

In 1976, I went to do the Daytona 24-hour race with BMW, and Benny Parsons, and he and I were driving together. And as a quid pro quo, I got some Coca-Cola sponsorship. He was going to put me in his backup car for the 500. So, and that same guy that had interviewed me, finally after Ken kept pulling and pulling and pulling, came down to look at the Daytona 500. Yeah.

and he and his wife came to town and I was on the Ken Squire show at the Hawaiian Inn on the beach there Yeah And I'd had about two or three gin and tonics So I was sort of right on top of the cam And I sort of started Hadn't started to go around the backside And anyway this guy

Clarence Cross his name was Was there with his wife And I went on for about 10 minutes And Ken and I had the whole place hysterics I mean Richard Petty was there And the Yard Kiel Yard was there Most of the guys were there because they're all like Ken's show.

And this guy, Clarence Cross, had come down specifically to look at NASCAR with a view to CBS taking it on. And so I did about a five-minute stick and it was all very funny. And when I sat down, his wife said, my gosh, he said, you shouldn't be driving raceguards, you should be on the stage.

So I said, well, don't tell me, tell him. Yeah. Anyway, that got me on to CBS. But it also, ultimately, obviously at that visit, so to see and I drove in the 500 not very well but I did drive in the 5th well I mean I qualified on

I came 8th in the race on Thursday which can't be that bad no it's good although the first lap of the big race when I'm now on the 8th row and those days those cars took a bit of getting up to speed

you're picking up you're picking up speed and you're picking up speed and you finally get around to turn 3 and now by the time you come off turn 4 you're about up to speed and I'm in the middle of this pack and there's smoke and dust

and you can smell the concrete where the odd guy scraping down the concrete you smell the tires, but they're all touching each other and I'm in the middle of this pack thinking, have I done the right thing here? Probably not what I should be doing. You're questioning your life decisions

as you're free-wide. That's funny. But that's all beside the point. The thing was that Clarence was there and obviously took back good reports to CBS. and in 1979, as I was still working for CBS, I was part of the broadcast team.

Big Bill did not like the idea at all. He thought it was the worst thing they could do because he thought it would take away from the gate. Wow. Blacked out in Florida, blacked out in Georgia, Alabama, maybe even North Carolina or South Carolina. But, I mean, he blacked out a lot.

And I mean, everything was like, like, you know, you couldn't read about it, really. You couldn't write a story like that because the race was okay. And of course, Kale and Donnie Allison were dukeling out for the lead. And they were way gone, you know, and they were just followed each other around. And, you know, well, you all know what happened.

Of course, on the last lap, I'm not quite sure who went down on who. But, I mean, the next thing is they're both on the apron going to three. And then one of them goes up and hits the wall, and then all hell breaks loose. They start this fight. And El Cale, you know, he had a bit of a coma a job.

Well, of course, when he took his helmet off, this hair saw now as wafting around out here. He's fighting Donnie. Meanwhile, everybody's hero, Richard Petty, comes through from a distant third to take his umpteenth win to take John of 500. So half the crowd think that's the best thing since life's bread.

Meanwhile, Bobby Allison, who finishes, I don't know, second or third. Yeah. He goes around on the slowing down lap. So he jumps out the car down at 2-3 and joins in the fracker. And of course, Ken Squire is going mad in the booth. And the icing on the cake was that up in New York, up in the northeast, they had a terrific snowstorm.

So everybody was stuck at home. And they had, I mean, they're thinking they're going to get, you know, maybe a couple of three million, maybe. And I think they had like six and a half, seven million people watching this race. Yeah. And the dramatic end was just, you couldn't, like, you couldn't read it, you couldn't write it. And so that, did we know that, you know, this was going to be like the absolute moment for, as it happened, it was the absolute turning point for NASCAR because then, you know, CBS were going to do Talladega 500, Michigan,

good 400. Yep. And we always used to do the Charlotte race, too, the 600. And it just transformed because then suddenly all the TV networks are knocking themselves over to do NASCAR. And as you say, I mean, it was really the quintessential moment for NASCAR. It just put them right on the map. Yeah.

I wonder as a broadcaster, so back in those days, obviously we cover the practices and the qualifying. I remember even just some short time ago, practices and qualifying, they weren't on TV. But I know that there's a lot of preparation that goes into broadcasting a race, and I'm certain that in that moment, you and Ken were both making sure that you had every eye dotted

and every T-cross throughout the week. So you're at Daytona for Speed Weeks, getting ready to broadcast that race. What's your preparation like? It was a big deal I mean, you know, CBS really did push the boat out I mean they didn't mess about

Our director was Mike He used to do One of their top baseball guys Everybody was new to racing And the producer The production levels were very high We had, you know, we had 100, the big crew

And what was then regarded As a lot of cameras But probably by today's standards It would be pretty weak Obviously we had We didn't have any on board then that was to come. No, there was one.

Benny Parsons had the on board, and it sort of half worked. Yeah, well. And he fell out with some mechanical problems, but that thing was huge and weighed several hundred pounds. Well, that was the thing, and the teams were very reluctant to put them in because they weighed a lot. And, of course, the guys putting them in, the crew's putting them in. It took a lot of time. And, of course, the crew, the car crew didn't like that at all because it really did. It was pretty time.

They still don't. That's true. Dale Jr.'s got stories of Tony Urey about the, getting mad about those cameras. Because the expertise for those cameras, and funny enough, didn't come from here. It came from Australia, Channel 7 in Australia that Lee Diffey used to work with. They had some guru. They put them in their cars in the Bathurst 1,000, which is a sedan car race around this big mountain circuit just outside Sydney. And these were the guys that were doing that.

And then when we really got serious about it, a couple of years later, we had one in Kail's car. And these guys all through practice, I said, we got this funny kind of feedback. We don't know what it is, you know. We looked at all the wiring, and we looked at this, and we looked at that, and go out again. God, it's still there, you know.

What the hell is it? It's some sort of feedback. It turned out that Kale, when he's driving, mimics the engine. So he's sitting there going, and he's sitting there going, and these guys are looking all over the place

for some sort of wiring malfunction. And he's all the time, it's all the time it's killed in him. So this, this, I believe, is like the 1983 or 84 Daytona 500. Yeah. And if he won the race, right, Didn't he?

And if you listen to the broadcast, you can hear it. You can hear Kale in there going, well, there's all there you go. For the first year, they just didn't know what the hell it was. I don't think that anybody, to this day, I mean, I don't know that I've ever heard that story told publicly. Like, Dillner, you're a historian and you've never heard that Kale Yarborough. Carol, Mimicked the Engine entirely.

Causing the producers all kinds of chaos. Imagine his whole career. I wonder what he did on the short tracks. That's hysterical. What did he do for the brakes? Right, right. What do you do for the crashes? Pow!

Owry! Yeah, owie, yeah. So if you get back to that 79 Daytona race, you just said at the beginning that, you know, those people in New York just look at NASCAR, some southern redneck, you know, just a bunch of rednecks down there. After the race, did you go, yep,

that's about what we saw a bunch of rednecks fighting on the well no whatever they obviously they enjoyed the fight probably more than the race but most rednecks do but I mean as far as CBS was concerned I mean it just changed their whole outlook to the whole thing

and of course the racing itself by then was actually pretty sophisticated the cars were getting I mean I drove that car of Benis they were a bit basic then but nowadays I mean they're just real so stately I mean, you guys actually, I think NASCAR, spend more time in the wind tunnel than Formula One. Yeah. Because the car is supposed to look kind of like the real thing.

And you want to eke out that extra tenth of a second, extra tenth over the two and a half miles by some sort of arrow work. Right. It's difficult to achieve. So they have to spend hours in the wind tunnel a little of a tweak here, a bit of a tweak there, but it's still going to fit the template and a lot of other stuff. So obviously these days, I mean, it's incredibly sophisticated because you've had to go look at the times and the speeds. and that sort of stuff to realize that this is real racing. And CBS got it.

And like I say, they jumped right in on it. And we did quite a few of the other races, including the, it gradually wound down until they only did Daytona, Tadaleaga 500 in August, and the Michigan 400. And we did that for, and I worked for that. I did 18,500, 17, 500 and 17, Michigan. I was in the booth for about 10 years.

And then I was replaced, and they put me in the pits, which is not really my deal. Because to be in the pits, you really need to be a reporter. I'm not a reporter. I'm a driver, so, yeah. So that wasn't. I understand exactly what you're talking about. That wasn't my place, really. We get to, with NBC, there's a couple weekends where they'll stick me in the garage for a practice or two, just to make sure I remember how hard that job is.

Yeah. So that I have good respect for Kelly Stavis. and Marty Snyder and those guys that are doing their job. But for you, I mean, I was always very amazed, but how well received I was in the garage by all the drivers of the time, including your dad, because I was amazed at so many of them knew who I was. Is that right?

Yeah, I've sort of, you know, I'd won a lot of races, but I didn't think they'd be interested in another racing. Well, of course, it turns out they're incredibly interested in other racing, especially the Formula One. Everybody sits glued to the Formula One down in the garage area. So I was, well, I was impressed with that. And I had an experience with your dad. I was in the pit.

By now I'm in the pits at Sir Michigan 400, and he dropped out. And as you know, your dad was a very intimidating guy. He didn't call him the intimidated for nothing. And everybody tiptoed around him all the time because he was pretty volatile. Anyway, we finally get, and you know what it's like in the garage. You're doing an interview. You got the guy. He's just come out of some horrendous crash.

So he's all hyped up. The adrenaline's flowing. you know, you know how you feel. I mean, you're on edge. And the director says over the headset, we're just going to commercial. Oh, my God, you know. Yes.

So can you just hang on a minute now? Sure, when he looks at me in his area. Yeah, sure, yeah. Anyway, we do the interview. He goes back inside the truck, you know, inside the motorhome. And they said, unfortunately, we didn't get that properly. Oh, no.

So do you do it again? Oh. I mean, talk about how exactly am I going to ask Dale to do that again? And he was just as good as goal. Hey, Dave, I understand these things so I didn't work.

Did you go up in there? How did you do it? Well, I don't remember the full gory detail. It must be very intimidating. Hello, Mr. Erhard. It's your old pal, Davey Hobbs here. We just thought that was a rehearsal we'd like to do it.

I don't know what I said, but anyway, he came out again, it was good as good as gold. But it was a bit unnerving. I bet. Yeah. So that's funny because when y'all, when y'all were doing the 1979 Daytona 500, he was just this, you know, this kid from Canapolis.

Yeah. And I don't know, you know, then to see you do all those races, and he transforms himself and his persona into this sort of intimidating thing because he wasn't when he first ran the 1979 Dayton 500. It wasn't nothing intimidating. about him. But, so it's funny that he sort of had that, had that effect on people, even the people that knew him for so long.

Yeah, well, you know, he kept himself to himself pretty much, but like you say, in 1979, when he was just really getting going. I mean, he was the problem then. Yeah. Not a real problem to talk to at all. And the real, the top guys, you know, with Richard Petty and Kale Yarbrough, the Allison brothers. Who was the best guy to work with?

Like, who was the best guy to work with? was the best interview and as far as the back in the cup days probably in the 80s throughout the 80s well quite honestly it was darrell yeah i i always used to say to the guys that back at production meetings and when we're all having dinner and you know getting completely smashed i mean having a quiet evening drink uh i used to say then i tell you what that kid darrell walter was here when he retires i said he's got he's got a job absolutely for sure he'll be in television Wow. There he was.

Because he was a great interview. I mean, he always got something stupid to say, something funny to say, but at the same time, obviously he was very coherent and knew exactly what he was talking about. So he was a great interview. He, I remember him particularly. Some of the others were always a bit nervous, you know. They're so big and balsy on the track.

But you get him in front of the camera, and they sort of a bit like you, really. Shire, yeah. So, no, I mean, he was a good interview. Yeah. How well did they receive you, though? You spoke about it a little bit. I mean, you came from a lot of big-time racing and were well known.

And a lot of times that whole, that paradox or that paradigm, when people cross over into other, you know, forms of racing, sometimes it's not received well. Sometimes it is. How was it for you? Well, as I say, I was always terribly impressed with the NASCAR guys, how, how, how, how, how. while I was received because I thought you know this could be a bit tough they're going to say I was some snotty nose elitist Formula One driver or something

but I never had any of that at all never did no and every time I'd go into the garage area when I was a pit reporter people were always terribly willing to speak to me more than they were to say somebody like Mike Joy who they did regard as just a reporter I mean Mike has gone

onto a fantastic career and he's one of the best out there but you were a driver but I was a driver and they all knew that and they respected me for it and they're very much so. It was the same when I went to the Indy 500

I thought there these guys are going to get all weird but they weren't they were tremendously good in fact when I first very first race in the States I was about 21

and I went to do the Daytona 3 hour which was the forerunner of the Rolex 24 hour and it was a 3 hour GT race it was called the it was called the 3 hour

continental and Big Bill really wanted to internationalize his Speedway. He wanted to be Daytona International Speedway. So he had a whole bunch of guys come from Europe and I'm one of them. And we were all terribly well received at the time. And I remember being particularly Donnie Allison took me sort of under his wing and showed me around and looked after me really well. So always had good respect from them. And, you know, when we go to the

Hall of Fame meetings in March in Daytona, the Allison brothers are always there and they all we'll just get on really well together. As you get old, of course, all that competitive stuff dies away. Yeah. When you're still in it, everybody's looking at each other just a bit wary. I know exactly what you're talking about. Like a couple of fighting dogs or something like that. But, you know, when you all get old, you reminisce about the whole thing, it's all very different, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm a really, really good friends with Martin Trix Jr. And during our racing career, there was always this sort of hint of competitiveness, always underlying, even in some of the best moments and now it's completely gone like completely gone and every time we hang out it's there's nothing there's there's not another there we're not going to run a race against each other the next weekend right yeah you know and it's the best it does i mean bobby out of bobby answer always used i used to find a bit intimidating because he did a few formula 5 000 races um and i always found him a bit

intimidating and a bit insular but i mean since he's retired we've been to a lot of events together and he's been mild because now he's not terribly well at a moment and, you know, he's got the wheelchair all the time. But it's hard, and it's hard to think of someone like Bobby, unsur, in a wheelchair, but he, but when we got together after we stopped racing, I mean, our whole outlook on life just changes completely. It does.

And as you get older and older, because it changes even more. Because that light at the end of the tunnel is now getting bigger. Only it's a big, bloody black hole at the end of the tunnel. It's not a light. That's the trouble. It's the black hole at the end of the tunnel. It's getting bigger.

You mentioned Ken Squire and working with him. One of my favorite things about Ken is what I would call the Squireisms. And it's these phrases, like, you know, freight train down the back straight away. Covering a city block in a second or he just had these sort of, things that he would say. Yeah. And how, had you worked with Kim before that, before the 19th, 790-500?

Yeah, I worked with them all through 76. All right. So, yeah, I'd worked with him quite a bit. And the reason I got on to CBS was actually Ken put me up for the job when I went for this terrible interview. Right. But it only because of he had interviewed me at races and things. When he's, when he's saying some of these things next to you,

what are you like, damn, that's good. Where did that come from? Well, yeah. Because nobody's done it that way before, I think, and nobody's done it that way since. The first time you hear it is great. You know, the 700th time here, loses edge of it. But the big thing about Ken, you're always going to watch him before the race started, because we'd go up on the roof at daytime.

What are you going to talk about? Ken and say, well, they said, what did he call the Great American Race? That was his big phrase. and I remember one race I can't remember which race it was it'd be like early 80 early 80s we'd done about 4 by then

and we'd go another but he said what are you going to talk about and I said well it's a lot hotter it's the hottest day we've had this with the last three weeks by far I mean I'm sure it's going to change the track a lot

because it's very much hotter the sun's shining like it hasn't been and the temperature has gone up like 10 degrees track temperature is going to go up a lot so they'll have a big effect on the cars and where the groove is. Okay, all right. We get up there,

I mean, it's a big deal because now we know there's at least 8 to 9 million people out there watching us and he's standing there at the end of sunshine trying to look like a, not look too much like a twerk while he goes off. Welcome to the 99th, running or the 80, whatever it was of the Daytona Firefront

of the Great American Race. I'm Ken Squire. Dave and today on the pole is who it was on the ball and all that stuff and he said, what's even, today the drivers are facing a big quantity,

the temperature's gone up, the track temperature's gone up, the groove is going to move, and he said every damn thing I was going to say. Left you with nothing. No, he looked to me and said, what do you see,

Dave? I said, yep, I didn't know what the hell to say. Yeah. So I just said the same thing. We talk about that. A couple of times,

we joke about that a little bit in the booth. But you don't, you still got obviously a lot now and you're going to be in it for the next 20 years. Well, I hope so. But we do any opening

for the Talladega 500. Have you been in the booth? Well, I might have changed now. But on that horrible ladder to get into it? No, it's changed, yeah. Well, it's this awful, bloody ladder to get up

into the little tiny booth. And we used to have an assistant our assistant producer was Diane Keogh, Diane Patterson, she became. Anyway, we hunched it, and we were at this, Ken and I standing quite next to each other, and who else was in there was on,

there's three of us, but anyway, there's Kenai standing there, and the cameraman's about where you are, or even closer, in the lights, the camera, and on the light, it's okay,

like two minutes to go, a minute to go, and I mean, with about 30 seconds to go, or less, maybe 40, maybe 45, I say, Ken, sneeze.

Ken sneezes. And this great lump of snot goes all down his tie. Oh, no. Diane Keogh says, You! You know, imagine a few expletives. Yeah. Her whips out some bit of tissue.

And it gives him we're down to about 20 seconds to go now and scrubs his tie and some of the ken, ooh. The dangers of broadcasting. There's always something. There's always something happens right before you go to the show. NBC now does a spy cam with Dale Jr. So now all those things that happen.

You can't see. Can you imagine having a spy cam on you during the entire thing? I cannot. They tell us at least we're going to be on TV. They tell you. Yeah, right. Let's take a break and get comfortable. Not too comfortable that we don't get back to talking to David Hobbs,

but comfy enough to get this point across, Dale. That's right, Mike. There's no more coming home and changing into sweatpants, right? Good Lord. No more leaving the studio going home and putting on those things. No. Now you can have pants that feel as good at the podcast studio as they do it home on the couch with public wreck.

They're the first sweatpants that have waist and inseam sizing. All right, so you know what that is? Yeah, I know what both are. All right. Just explain it then. And insim sizing. Well, I mean, you've got a waist, don't you? Yeah.

Yeah, and that's a size. And inseam sizing. Yeah, that's the length from your waist down to your ankle. So what it's saying is, you know how sweatpants? It's like one size fits all. You're going to stretch them out. They're going to run loose. This one, it's more fit for you.

Yeah, that's right. So if you're short, you're tall, somewhere in between, they fit perfectly. I like the design details. The elastic waistband with internal drawstring. The two deep front zippering. pocket and the fake front fly it fools everybody that's right i ordered a pair at first i figured i'd wear them just around the house uh but then you know i like them so much i wore them to the podcast and just kept on wearing them you know i had amy actually look at them before i left the house and

she said hey they look great no no problems you know what she probably wouldn't let me walk out of a house in a regular pair of uh sweatpants for sure she said where the hell you're going dressed like that and we wouldn't let you in the studio either right You would have? No, probably not. So the window between I'm in work pants and can't wait to change, and finally I can relax, that window's disappeared. At work, at home, everywhere, these public wreck pants are comfy, they're suitable, wherever you go.

Public wrecks all day, everyday pants are the most versatile, stylish, and comfortable pants you'll ever own. And right now, they have an exclusive offer only for our listeners. Head to publicwreck.com slash Dale Jr. today and you get 10% off your order automatically applied at the checkout. That's public rec, rec spelled rec.com slash dale junior for 10% off. Don't sleep on this rare opportunity to get that discount. Publicwreck.com slash Dale Jr. What was the, what made you want to get into broadcasting? You'd been a driver for all these years and raced all types of race cars.

What was it about broadcast? Well, I've always been a bit of a blabber mouth and fairly self-assured, although like you, I'm also very shy too. But I don't know. The whole thing appealed to me, and there wasn't so much money in racing then. I mean, obviously, we never had money like you guys had in NASCAR. Nobody did except the Formula One guys, and I wasn't in Formula One, and I wasn't in NASCAR. and so I kind of did it as a secondary income for a bit

and then obviously when the racing stopped it became my primary income and then I started that dealership up in Milwaukee which we've got now, David Hobbs, Honda but that came about really big you know it's just another thing and I always felt that I could explain things pretty well and I think over the years I proved that I could actually explain things

and everywhere we went you know don't talk down to the guys like you, to the real experts. Don't talk down to the real fans because they hate it. But on the other hand, networks are always wanting to get new viewers in. And the only way you get new viewers in is to make it entertaining as well as... It's still all been a whole bunch of experts.

It's got to be entertaining. Yeah. I mean, that's what TV is. It's entertainment. Even the sports, it's entertaining. The news has got to be entertaining now. So I think we always covered it pretty well and tried to make it, you know,

for the non-N NASCAR fans, obviously the CBS are trying to sweep in millions of people who have no idea what NASCAR is. So you try and explain it without being too basic and upsetting the people that do learn what it is. Right. And I always think I did a pretty good job at that.

I did too. That's a tough line to walk, and I think we do it today. There was a particular moment in the race yesterday where Kevin Harvick was out there on the racetrack and he was racing and he turned his ordinator off. And he did that. to gain a couple miles per hour out of the motor or a couple of horsepower out of the engine.

And his crew chief was telling him, hey, watch your votes. If you're going to run that ordinary switch off, make sure you keep an eye on your votes. And during the commercial break, we're talking about this. And we were making the decision whether to share it with the audience. Because you don't want to, you got to walk that line between trying to not get, you don't want to go in the weeds with technical stuff, but there is that hardcore fan that would love to know about that information, right? And so I think it's even in the broadcast today, we sort of talk about, man, what, what, what's, where are we? Are we, are we entertaining right now? Are we? How inside, yeah, inside,

insider do you want to go out? How insider, yeah. That was actually the phrase that Marty Snyder used in the conversation we were having. He's like, this is insider baseball, but inside baseball. I think that's a good idea. I mean, I, I, I didn't know you could switch. I didn't know you could do that. As you say, save a couple of horse power. But obviously, you might make sure you don't run out of juice. Absolutely. If your philosophy is, don't talk down to the fans, what is your philosophy about other racers that you're actually broadcasting?

Because we have a real funny clip of you basically just calling it as it is, but you basically call the guy a dork, right? You call the driver who crashed. Matthew, do you have that? Oh, that. That's just such a boneheaded move, you dork. So I love that. Do you know how much we love that?

That is great broadcasting right there. Did you ever worry about what the other drivers think? No, I never did. I never worried about what they thought because whoever was it. I couldn't see the clip. That's just such a boneheaded move, you dork. Well, there you go. a netted movie.

He goes, I stand behind what I said. Yeah. Yeah. And of course, that's what attracted a lot of viewers to my start of broadcasting was exactly that. And I never got any complaints from any other. And I never got any complaints from management. And they, I don't remember them ever saying to me, by the way,

you better be a bit careful because so-and-so got hold of us and said that he didn't appreciate what you said about him. I never heard that. Really? I struggle with that as, uh, As all the drivers, you know, having it. Well, it's a bit difficult view because you're right in the paddock with them. I know.

They'll give you a, they'll give you a flat nose. Yeah. They know where I'm at. They got my number. And you want to, but the fan knows what happened. The fans watching it. They know what a door, you know. And they like it too.

They know a dork when they see one. But the thing, because the funny thing about driving, I just still find it absolutely fascinating how people have, how drivers have such adoring fans. And I mean, they get so incredibly kind of passionate about it. And like an Alonzo fan in Formula One. I mean, people just absolutely rave about him being the best ever driver. And he was an incredibly good driver.

But I'm just wondering where this passion comes from. What makes suddenly somebody decide that this man is sort of kind of next to God? And it's just something to be revered. I never thought that way I mean you ask me why I got in broadcast you everybody thinks everybody thinks I'm a car man because I race cars but I'm not really

I'm not really into cars I mean when I was a kid I liked to race you know running races and I like to play competitive sports and then I got over it it's motor bikes and then it was cars and I really wanted to win and I really wanted to

I really just loved going fast and that being right on the edge which of course on the highway back in my youth was relatively easy to do in the UK because the roads were pretty narrow, twisty, so it was good fun to drive on the roads. And I just thought, if I'm going to drive like a lunatic on the roads,

I might as well drive like a lunatic on the track. So that's what I mean, I really just always enjoyed the racing, but I never particularly enjoyed watching it, quite honestly. Oh, really? No, it wasn't. You know, I wouldn't really go miles and miles and miles because, you know, Dale Earnhardt or Dale Earnhardt or Fernando Alonzo might be in the race.

It would never occur to me to do that. But to go there to race, that would be different. Right. Speaking of that, let's go ahead, you know, dive into your career as a driver. Oh, yeah. Well, not much to see there. Well, your first race car was the, what was your first race car? My first car was my mom's Morris Oxford, which is a 1952 little sedan.

You took your mom's car and raced it. How did your mom feel about that? Well, she didn't really think much about it. But I had modified it, so I modified the exhaust system. So it was very loud and noisy, which to me as a 19-year-old was very important. It had to make a noise in a race car. But to be clear, most moms do care about that. Yeah.

So what she thought when she'd go to the hairdressers, driving down the main street and this thing making all this noise. But she never complained about it. What did you do? Take it and put a number. number on it and go down to club meeting. In those days, exactly what you did.

You drove, my first race was about 120 miles from the house at a place called Snettleton, which is a, I know, yeah. An old converted air, World War II airbase. Wow. And you race around the perimeter. That's how most racetracks on England were. You raced around the perimeter of old airfields, which is exactly what Silverson is. Silverson was like that. Snettenden was like,

Alton Park was in a park. Brandt's Hacks was built. Goodwood was a big racetrack. and I say that goes around where you've been to Goodwood. I haven't. You haven't? No, I've never been to Europe. I've never, well, never been over.

I can't imagine. I can't believe you haven't been invited to go to Goodwood. Well, more than likely. Probably has. I just, I'm dying to go. Like, I want to go to Le Mans. I want to go to Brands Hatch. I've drove on all these tracks on video games, right?

Bathurst. I got to go to Bathurst. In my mind, Bathurst is one of the most dangerous tracks in the world. Oh, my God. I mean that in a complimentary. way. Like a brave, it takes real, real guts. Going over that mountain is.

It's insane. That's just Australians in general. That's who they are as people. Gutsy, palsy, not afraid to do anything. Is it the most dangerous? I mean, you've been on all of them, right? I mean, like, what is the most dangerous? Well, of course, the most dangerous of all used to be the old spa, the first spa,

which is the same as the current spa, but a lot with another five miles out of it on. Yeah. And of course, when I first went there, I mean, there was nothing. The road was just a narrow country, Belgium highway. Yeah. And it ended in the grass verge. And then there would be fences to keep the cows and the sheep in. And there were usually barbed wire.

And then you'd go through a couple of villages, and you'd go past people's houses. Just right at the edge of the road, were they garden wall. Dog would come out from time to time, run across the road, stuff like that. Crazy. They were really. And of course, even then, you know, with the four GT40s, you're averaging nearly 150 around this racetrack with a couple of hairpins. So it was all wide open.

And the Formula One driver, by the name of Chris Bristow, had his head cut off when he went off the road in the Formula One race. And because he went through a barbed wire fence. That was a bad day, because Sterling Moss broke both his legs in practice. Chris Bristow lost his head when he went through the barbed wire, and a chap called Alan Stacey was killed when a bird hit his head all in the same weekend. And it used to be like that. How did you as a driver compartmentalize that?

Well, I don't know how. When I talked to my wife now, she was the one who really had to compartmentalize it. And how she did it, I don't honestly know. Because we've been married now for getting on for 60 years. And she was there right when I started, she was my girlfriend. I hadn't even started racing. I was just falling, we were just going fast on my motorbike around the countryside

and she was on the back and so she'd always used to the speed and then when I started a race she liked that she found it good social fun and we used to take our friends and go with friends and race and it wasn't very serious and then when it started to get serious

she accepted it all very well and how we all accepted all that death I wouldn't do it now I absolutely would not but when you're 19, 20, 21, because in 1968, I went to Jimmy Clark's funeral. And that really did make me think,

if you can happen to Jimmy, I guess it could happen to all of us because he, to me, was a hero and just absolutely was the best, and still is one of the best ever. And quite amazing. And I was at the funeral with my expense. And we were both pretty teary-eyed

at the end of the, I mean, the church, obviously I can imagine it, was packed. We're pretty teary-eyed and my expense was picked up by Colin Chapman who was

Jimmy Clark's owner and owned Lotus and he sent my expense to fill in for Jimmy Clark to Indianapolis and within a few hours of getting there

my expense was killed so I went to Jimmy Clark's funeral with my expense one week and two weeks later I went to my expenses funeral two weeks after that

Ludovico Scarf Yotti who was a top top Italian driver was killed in a hill climb in a Ferrari and a month after that Joe Slesser was killed in a Honda Formula One car at Ruin going down the hill towards the airpin so

1968 was a pretty bad year and yet I don't know why we all accept it because today it just would be absolutely totally unacceptable I wonder if people are born with that I've always wondered to that because even people

asked you about compartmentalizing the dangers of racing and I always just wonder, there's some people that are born with it, I don't know that you develop that after a while. I think it's something that you just ingrained it. I think it must be because we, I know we knew it was there and yet we'd still race

why, I'm not quite sure, but we did. But I wouldn't do it now. I wouldn't drive down the road now at any sort of speed without a crash hat and, you know, full harness bells. all that sort of stuff. Because when I started, I mean, I erased a nylon shirt and jeans. Right.

With an open-faced cork helmet. Yeah. But as much use as putting a sticking blast on your feet. I mean, it was, yeah. And fire was a thing that we all dreaded most of all. Yeah. Yeah. Because there were no bladders running like that.

Everything was in an aluminum tank, you know, just a regular gas tank. A pop a hole in there. Easy. Yeah. And the pipe to the engine would be just held on by, you know, know, Jubilee clips, what we call Jubilee clips, you call them, those screw clips, you know, I mean, that's all it was. When I drive Formula Junior, they were pretty short races,

you know, like 50 miles. And if we ever did like a 60 or 70 mile race, we put an extra gallon of gas because it was a tube frame, spindly little tube, I mean, not as big as this tube holding its mic up. Right. Very, very spindly stuff. I sat in the gas tank because being a bit tall, the cars were made for shorter guys

so I had to take the seat out and I sat straight in the tank and then we put another gallon gallon a half on top of the frame behind the dashboard held on by bungee cord with a plastic pipe that went from it down into the main tank

right by my right knee actually had any sort of a crash your knee would have just rip this pipe right off and I mean there's just gas everywhere that's nuts nowadays the gas on all forms of racing is really well hidden in the Formula One cars

it's right in the middle of the car it's all dry brakes so if everything falls apart the fuel won't come out and of course fire got a lot of people in those days yeah always frightened the hell out of me that did yeah fire is you know fire is always say this and

it sounds stupid to say it but I'd never been in a fire before until I was in that Corvette fire. It is hot. And I know that's, I don't even know how to make this understandable, but fire, like when you stand around a campfire, you get an idea of what, of how hot fire is or could be. And maybe you've, you've got burned by stove or touching a hot surface. But that is not even in the freaking ballpark. No. fire, like the heat that created by a fire in a car, is hotter.

It's hot as the sun, man. I mean, it is like a, it's like a million bees. It's so hot. Yeah. And it is, and it is nothing to be playing with. It used to frighten me. We raced with a guy called Peter Proctor. He was a lovely guy.

He was very successful. He did a bit of formula. He did a bit of single seat and stuff. And he drove a Ford Anglia. Well, if you've ever seen a Ford Anglia, I mean, it's a little tiny car. Anyway, he was racing out at Goodwood because the British saloon car racing was very popular. Just like NASCAR is here.

And it was all Jags and Austins and Morris's and Fords and all racing there together. And he had a big crash at Goodwood. It'd be 1960, I think. And it caught fire. And poor old Peter has been terribly disfigured ever since. And he is just so normal about it. You know, his face is all burned, his lips are burned, his eyelids, everything's burnt.

And he's very disfigured. And he and his wife have also been married for nearly 60 years now. They bicycle around France and they do all sorts of really good things together. And he goes everywhere. And, you know, you look at him and you talk to him and you never, ever, ever give it a thought. But he's been like that now for 50-odd years. And because we had those little cotton driver suits, those d'allel. unlocked driver suits, you used to soak them in barastic acid, a barastic powder or something,

which is supposed to make it fire resistant. Well, of course, it didn't. Didn't. Not really. Now, nowadays, you know, the suits are fantastic, but it seems so. But even as you said. Well, the thing about fire is that people, I think a lot of people sometimes wouldn't be aware of is it not only, I mean, obviously the fire itself is dangerous, but the heat from the fire. So in the Corvette crash, the interior of the car was got peaked at 750 degrees.

Wow. Yeah, I mean, even though you may not be near flame, that intense heat you can only handle for seconds. Just seconds. May at the boat. And apart of the else, it sucks all the oxygen down in the atmosphere, anyway. Yeah, absolutely. Quickly. Yeah.

Like that fire with Nikki Lauder, who just died a few weeks back, with a lung, they gave him a lung transplant. And, of course, if you ever watched the film rush. Yes, I've seen it. I thought it's fantastic. The racing scenes weren't great, but the story about these two guys going for the same championship in completely diametrically opposite ways,

the way they both approached life was so different. So wonderful. A great story. But those scenes, when they're vacuuming out his lungs, because of all the debris in there and the burnt flesh, it's a miracle he lasted as long as he's.

did. Yeah. I mean, obviously his lungs must have recovered mostly because every time I met him, he seemed to be fine. Obviously, he's a bit burnt, but fine. But obviously he got him in the end. But I mean, he was into his 70s. Sure.

But I mean, we all hope to have that full of the life. Yeah, absolutely. You've been in a bunch of crashes yourself. I mean, and if I know the story right, you correct me where I'm wrong. One of them, you were about to actually make your. your F1 debut, right? And this wasn't in a race. This was in a, is that not right?

That's exactly right. The only times I've ever been, I never got, I mean, I don't know whether I'm proud to say this or whether I should keep it quiet, but I race for 30 years in one of the most dangerous periods of 1959 to 1980 when cars, the speeds went up absolutely the massive rate, mainly because obviously a lot of it was engine development, but a lot of it was Aero, but most of it was tyres. I mean, when I started racing, tyres were that wide,

always had tread, then suddenly Firestone and Goodyear got into European racing into Formula One and into sports car racing. And tire sizes went from like that to like a foot, you know, like the 22 inches across the tread, you know, and of course they went to slicks.

So the grip just changed unbelievably. So speeds rocketed up. And the safety of the cars, the integrity of the cars didn't change much for a long time and nor did the circuits and in all that time I never even broke a fingernail in a race car meanwhile I had two road crashes

one I fractured my skull and was in hospital for a week then the other one I was on the way to my first Formula One race but part of the deal was I had to go to Tim Parnell's race shop in Slough just outside London right by London Airport and pick up the car on a trailer. So I had a tow bar pull on my Ford, Cortina,

and was driving down to Slough to pick the car up. And the laundry van coming the other way, and I was doing about 80, 85, and the laundry van coming the other way, suddenly did a right-hand turn into a industrial complex. And I mean, we just slid into this truck, turned this big 10-ton lawn.

you van over and flattened the car and I had my seat belt on but my head hit the steering wheel and I broke my nose and my cheeks and a jaw and my right arm because I don't think I thought

to let go the wheel so that obviously I didn't do my first Formula One race and yeah I mean and I was in hospital for quite a long time with that the worst part about that was my nose had got broken

and every morning a nurse would come along with a blood glass tube and stick it up my nose so that it didn't heal together inside it. Wow. And it used to hurt like. I imagine. Of course, I would yelp. And she said, I thought you were supposed to be a tough racing driver.

Yeah, but you're sticking glass up my nose. I think there's something. They should just left it up there once you got it in there. I just said, leave it in there. Yeah. So you don't have to shove it in there tomorrow. Yeah. I hadn't thought of that at the time.

And my wife, of course, we were on vacation. I'd gone, we were on vacation at the seaside in East Anglia, and I had gone back in the car to get my racing gear. Of course, of those days, you were always ready to go. You know, every time you went to a race, but you took your helmet and your overalls because you're never looking for a drive. Not like today, you know, you were always looking for a drive. And a friend of mine called Jack Brown came with me,

and I put a seat belt on. which was just a diagonal and a lap strap, but not an inertia reel. I mean, it was a fix you were in. And he said, oh, well, if you're going to put your seatbelt, and I better put mine on it because in those days, people just didn't put seatbelt. They had this irrational fear they were going to get trapped in the car

and it would be worse as getting thrown out somehow. And I got all this banged up, and old Jack Brown was sitting next to me, and when I looked at the wreckage a couple of weeks after I got out of hospital, you know, a couple of weeks later, but I got out of hospital, I mean his seat and the dashboard just all looked like one where his legs went I've no idea and somehow he didn't get hurt because he had the belt on if he hadn't had our belts on it would probably both be dead wow so you've been uh you've been you got an amazing uh history in

formula one and and racing overseas and 24 hours and all kinds of different things and you know you know pretty much every type of motorsport or have witnessed it or broadcast it or raced in it. What's the preconceived notions of stock cars over in Europe? What are people, I guess, Formula One fans, even drivers? What's their opinion of stock cars in NASCAR? Well, I think people appreciate it's difficult, isn't it? And a lot of the NASCAR stuff is live on various cables in England. You think it's probably changed tons over the decades as far as the respect level for both sides, right?

I'm sure. Yeah, it has. Now, because I live here, so I really don't know what they're thinking over there, because I'm here more than up there now. Now, I'm an American citizen, and we lived here, we've lived here for a long time now. But it's like everything, you know, the world is swamped with sport. Bernie Eckler could never understand how it would be possible that Formula One wouldn't take off in America. America and become the number one of the number one sports here like it is in the rest of the world. And we always say to Bernie, they got four major, major leagues. Obviously, the £800-pound gorilla is the NFL.

Then I said they got baseball. They got hockey and they got basketball, all of which are huge, huge national sports and take up a tremendous amount of time. If you think that one of those networks like ABC, NBC or CBS is going to preempt like an NBA game or an NFL game to put on a Formula One rate, I said it isn't going to happen. You're not going to be able to sign a five-year contract where they've got all these races and they're going to preempt.

It's a thing going to happen. Still don't quite get it. And of course in England and in Europe, there's a tremendous amount of single-seater racing. and obviously there's the World Touring Car Challenge, which is in Europe, which is all the European cars. And in England, you've got the BTCC,

which is a very touring car challenge. My very favorite racing. Which is absolutely incredible racing. It's like stock car racing in my mind in Europe. It's exactly like stock car racing, but it's all on road courses. And so for them, there's so much stuff to watch, just like there is here.

There's so much stuff to watch. But obviously, you know, NASCAR has risen to the top to be the number one. you know, motorsport Indy car you know helpful by help by NBC

I think a lot is making a huge comeback and the IndyCar racing the last four or five years has been tremendously close yeah

I mean the qualifying times the races you know like nine what three years ago when I was last doing nine different winners in all in what 16 races

so you know you can't do much better than that and Formula 1 is steadily making in roads But over here, and of course, you know, you saw yesterday at the US Grand Prix, I mean, they had a huge crowd. Yeah. And they had a very big crowd on Saturday for qualifying.

Weather was perfect, a bit cool for some reason. Yeah, very cool. But so, you know, NASCAR in Europe, well, obviously there's a lot of people who will love watching it because what, it's very, it's such close racing, a lot of lead passes, a lot of lead changes, all that sort of thing which America's love. The Europeans aren't quite so fixated on that. But there's so much for them to watch. But it's still in there.

Yeah, it's in there. A bit like Formula One is in here. But there's all sorts of other things to watch here. There's all sorts of other things to watch over there. Yeah, you said you don't like to love to watch racing much. But what are some of your favorite types of racing to watch these days? Well, I mean, obviously, I watch a bit of an ask. Oh, I watch a bit of everything, you know.

Obviously, I'm still interested in the Formula One, so I watched out as much as I can. I like to watch Le Mans, but I mean, I used to love doing Le Mans. I mean, I did it 20 times. And it was one of my favorite races to drive in. It's not my favorite race to watch, especially on TV, because it's one of the things that makes it difficult for just a non-real, keen spectator to watch. It's once they start getting all jumbled up, you know, after about the first half an hour when the leaders have started a lap people.

And nobody, and because you've got so many classes now, GT GT GTD and you've got the pro am and this and that you've got so many classes in there and you've got a whole bunch of 9-11s running around all look exactly the same and they're actually running like three or four different classes plus the prototypes are so much quicker than anything else that it's hard for a non a real non fan to comprehend but if you go to the 24 out I mean there's you know three or four hundred thousand people there Of course, it's eight miles long. Right. Spread around.

I've always wanted to go to LaMalle. You should go. It's a great event. It's like a, it's like a must attend, like you must go to Daytona 500. You must go to the Indy 500. You want to go to La Monde. You've got to go to La Monde. You've got to go to the, if you can, you've got to go to the Super Bowl.

There are just some things. What's to go to an F1 race? You go to LF1. Well. Or location. It's got to be Monica, right? Well, it is, but it's because it's the worst race to watch. because there's least overtaking

and viewing is terrible there because it's also confined obviously it's helped enormously now by the big screens because they flash by it you can't see them for far I mean somewhere like Silverson if you're a spectator there you can see the cars for quite a long way

as they disappear in the distance but all road courses unlike that's the thing that's the other thing about ovals if you're sitting in the grandstone at Daytona you can see the whole thing you can see the whole thing's right there plus you've got a giant screen as well and you go to somewhere like Road America

which is four miles around you're down at turn 5 you see him coming down the straight see them outbreaking each other going up the road to turn 6 that's all you see unless you sit on the hill you can see a couple of corners but if you go a big screen there it makes all the difference whereas the big ovals you can see the whole thing which makes a big difference

have you been to an F1 race I haven't I would love to go to I love via supercars in Australia I went to Phillip Island and got to watch that race. Oh, did you? Yeah. That was a lot of fun. We took a rental car and drove over to Bathurst and went around that racetrack in a minivan.

And we went to the little tiny hall of fame, or not a hall of fame, but I guess it's like a museum and watched a video and went through the whole process. But got to hang out with Paul Morris and. Oh, did? Yeah. I drove in the Bathurst in about 1980 with Danny Holm. Really? Who was a New Zealander. Yeah.

Same as an Australian to you and me. Yeah. He's a New Zealianer. And he was a world champion in 1967. And he and I drove a BMW in the Bathurst race. It's a long time ago now. Yeah. And of course, poor Denny, in the end, when he died,

he died of a heart attack in the Bathurst 1000. As you come out of that dangerous bit you were talking about going across the mountain. Yes. With a walls there. Oh, God, it's pretty scary. And then you come out, Long downhill straight. Fast.

Which is fine, but there's all these houses on the left-down side. Yeah. With their guard, their front yard comes right down to the track. Even today, during when it's not race season, it's a public street. Yeah. And Danny, apparently he felt something coming. I just pulled over and just died there right in the car. Wow.

So, I mean, if you're a racing driver, that's the way to go. I suppose the most dangerous race in the world to me now is, the Irelandman TT motorbike races. Have you ever watched that on video? I've seen some of that. I mean, now that is stupid. It's a 37 mile lap on public roads. And they come down Bray Hill.

They average 130 miles an hour. And they go right through all these towns and streets. And England has these pillar boxes, like a mailbox. and they're cast iron, and they're right there, right on the curb. What the heck? And there's no barrier anywhere. It's all curbs, trees, gardens, people's yards, come right and gateposts, brick walls everywhere.

I mean, the thing talk about, and they hurtle through there, and they jump all these jumps, and they come down on the rear wheel, and, oh, my God, you watch these guys. And they've got video, they got on YouTube, you've got video going around on these bikes, and you just cannot get your breath. Now they go off at timed intervals, so they're not together much.

Yeah, right. But nevertheless, I mean, if you want something dangerous to do, go to the Al-a-Mah. I'd like to go to Brands Hatch to watch a race on the indie course, the small one. Oh, yeah, right, yeah, the original, yeah. And then a British Turn and Car Championship race. I'd love to see that.

I'd like to meet Jason Plato and Matt Neal, the two guys. I watch race for something like forever. Well, on TV. We get some of those races over here

and I've watched them almost their whole career because I don't know what it is. That's a physical beating and banging style racing. Yeah, very much.

About the most physical style of racing that I can think of that I've witnessed from Europe. And so that's kind of the stuff I'm into. Have you ever watched

those truck races in Europe? Well, I mean the big trucks. Oh. Yeah. I've never seen you. I can never quite understand why that hasn't taken off over here. We like our trucks. We had that.

We had back in the, I think it was the late 70s and early 80s, they ran semis on, they had a semi-series, and they had a semi-series, and they ran like four races a year. They ran Atlanta, Rockingham, and there's some video and so forth. And they had several, they had like 25 entries. I mean, they'd get, and they were basically. semi-modified trucks. It still exists. Like,

just not, not broadcast nationally, but that Bandit series, they come by here a bunch, they're pretty big in the Midwest and whatnot. But that's nuts. Yeah, semis.

It's crazy. They raced up at Hickory. They ran Dover. I remember they running Dover? Just billowing diesel smoke. Diesel smoke. Just pouring out. What gets me about those

are they go places like Silverson or Brown's Hatch. I mean, I can't imagine what they do to the guardrail when they go sliding the road. They must smash everything up completely. I'm amazed at the tracks let them race there because the damage, potential damage, must be just horrendous. Man. The thing weighing thousands of pounds plowing into your guardrail. I think that it would be cool to have a NASCAR cup race at Brands Hatch on the indoor. Oh, man.

The course is like the smaller of this. There's very, a lot of configuration. But it's a real, it's kind of a compact little course. You don't think it's too narrow from NASCAR. You think it's too narrow? It's probably getting on for it. But I mean, yeah, I mean, actually, NASCAR Silverson. NASCAR Silverson would be pretty good because it's pretty wide open.

I mean, the Formula One cars average 148 or 150 mile an hour around Silverson. There's no real tight turns. Did you run at Monza with the big banking? Well, funny as you'd ask that, I am the last person to win a race on the banking. Really? Yeah, Paul Hawkins, well, the golf team in 1968 when I was driving for Ford GT40 Gulf, the John Wires cars. One of the races was the Monza 1000Ks.

And in those days, it incorporated the whole track. So the pit lane, or the pit straight at Monza is, still is incredibly wide, and the pits were here then. So on the opening lap, you go down the pits. At the end of the pits was a chicane, and then you go around the banking, which was very rough, which is why they had the chicane. was already, it's concave

you know, it's like parabolic banking, so the high you go, the fast you go. Obviously there's nothing to stop you going over the top either. There's no rail. And it started, and it started a scull up out between the ribs where the ribs held it all up. And then there was a

chicane coming off it so that you couldn't just go absolutely flat out. And then, when you came off it through the chican, you were now on the opposite side of the pit lane. The pit road then was probably 80 yards wide. And then you go on the course they go on now.

Except there were no chicanes. That first chican you go around there, that wasn't there. He just went straight through the Curva Grandi. And straight down to the Lesmos, now there's a second chican. And you went straight down to Lesmos, through the two lesmos. And then coming back,

the left-hander, which is now the Ascali, Varyanti Ascali has a bit of a chican going into it. There was none there. So then you go around the Paralyamani. Bollica, now you're back on the pit lane, pit side, and into the chican. So it was about a,

it was about a seven-mile lap, six-mile lap. And Paul Hawkers and I won that race, but they've never raced on it since, as far as I'm aware. Yeah. So, and he and I won the race, and I think that's the last race they ever held on it. I mean, it's still there. Oh, the banking's still there.

It's fascinating, yeah. It is. Yeah, well, it's kind of creepy. Yeah, it's kind of a Titanic landing at the bottom of the ocean. That's kind of you like. Because when they race that, They had that European, the Anglo, what the American challenge there with the Indy cars, race the Formula One cars.

A lot of Formula One cars didn't show up because it was too tough on their suspensions. Even the American cars were found that because the load was terrific. I think it was pretty bumpy even then. That was back in, what, 50? Yeah. My curiosity, I guess, is that Europe built banked corners and shaped in, I mean, it has an oval-esque sort of. field to it. I always felt like that, you know, NASCAR sort of, like the Oval, where did the Oval start,

right? Was it in, you know, where did the Oval start? Where did banking come in play? I think the first Oval was Brooklyn's in England. Really? Down the, right by McClain. Yeah. McClain, the Woking is just right by. Is that a bank? And that was very back. That was again, it was parabolic. How big was? And they raced there before. I'm not quite sure about, it probably. Probably a couple of miles or a mile and a half. It looks like a big test track. Yeah, and they used to race there before the war.

Then when the war came, I think one of the aircraft manufacturers was building a factory there, and they took up a lot of the space, and obviously it's never been used since the war. Yeah, I think it's still there, right? There's a little tiny bit of it there. Like one turn. Yeah, yeah. So that might have been the first banked track ever. Man.

So banked ovals almost originated and spun into... I mean, imagine if banked ovals were all you had in Europe instead of road courses. Right? Like over here, there's road courses. There's fain road courses. Well, Bill, I think Bill twigged that the big thing about a bank course was it has to be an even bank. You're not parabolic. Yeah.

Because the speed at the top is so different to the speed at the bottom. And the thing about having a straight bank at a 36 or 24, whatever the degree is, you can race side by side. And that's what makes, that's what gives NASCAR this big appeal. is you got three or four. Four wide. Four wide. Yeah. How do you spell wide?

Wad. W-A-A-A-R-D. W-A-W-A-A-A-A-D. W-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-F-A-A-R-B-A-A-R-B-A-R-B-A-R-R-E-C-RAT. because you can't do that through any sort of a road course corner, very rare. I mean, we saw Lando Morris. We saw a few people going around the outside of people yesterday in the Coda track.

But it's, that's what makes NASCAR what it is. Is that straight banking? You asked me about the racing if you're going to see a Formula One race and you said, Monaco. Obviously, Monaco is the place to go. If you want to see Ferraris,

Bentley's, Rolls Royces, Lamborghinis, yeah, go to Monaco. They're more expensive cars per square foot in Monaco anywhere else you can imagine. But probably one of the best races to go to is spa. If you want to watch the race track, great tracks. It's 4.2 miles long.

And although it's a long way around, it's easy to get to across the infield. You can go to various corners walking around. That's important. That's important. The only time with spa, you want to take your raincoat. And the other one, if you want to get the feeling of ambiance, what Formula One is.

That's what I want. It's got a Monza. Yeah. Especially if you're a Ferrari fan, you know, because it's just big crowds, an amazing setting, the park,

you know, they can't mess around the park too much because it's a historic kind of monument as well. So they always have trouble when they want to widen corners out or give a bit more runoff.

They've got to cut some trees down. There's a whole bunch of people go ballistic. And it's right outside Milan, which is one of Italy's biggest cities And it's a fashion city I mean if you take your wife there Oh man now we're talking

Now you're talking big bucks Yeah That's the thing like Take your wallet, take your credit card Amy's like Ami's like man now that you're not driving All the time I really got a couple things I don't want to check off the list

I want to let's go to Europe Yeah that sounds awesome She love Milan I mean Milan the shops in Milan Are just unbelievable And it's right We're having 20 miles Yeah but when I say Yeah I love to see Lamont

It's like silence She's like, oh, I don't want to go to a race. I'm like, if I'm going all the way over there, we've got at least go to Lamar. See, this is why we brought you here. How do we talk to our wives about going to races and it makes sense? This is why you bring Bible. This is it. Milan, you've given it to us.

You have to be like me. You have to talk to him about going somewhere. Then when you're there, you say, oh, by the way. The Italian Grand Prix is just... It happens to be that same weekend. This weekend. Did I... I told you that.

That dress you bought yesterday would be awesome. For the race. For the race, yeah. I mean, my wife, she hasn't been near a race for years. She said, she's 30 years. I'm not going to do anymore. So, which is quite reasonable. I have the same opinion.

And as I say, I mean, Lamont, for me now, is great. great for practice. You go watch the practice and that stuff. Because the thing about Lamont, it's like in that late week, middle of June. And at that time of year, in France, it's late, late until like 11 o'clock. Gets light at 4 o'clock in morning. Great long days, beautiful countryside around there. Lots of wine to drink you out wine.

And the one thing that I've heard is pretty interesting is the celebration in the town throughout the week where they tech the cars in town. Yeah. The tech weekend is the weekend before now. It used to be like on Monday and Tuesday. Now it's the weekend before. And that's pretty fun. And that's a lot of fun.

It's right in the Cathedral Square. The Cathedral itself is huge. And if your wife likes Cathedral, she can have a look around now. There's a lot of expensive shops in Le Mans these days as well. It's quite a big town, quite a big city. But then they have on the Friday of the race week. of a race weekend that they have the big parade

through the town where all the drivers or she probably wouldn't want to watch that but you know have thousands of people come to that so that's a big deal

but the race itself is yeah I mean like I say unless you ride into it it's hard to once it starts it's hard to keep up with

yeah absolutely but to drive it's a you love the circuit it's just fabulous and one of the best race that I had would be about 19803 or 4

I was driving John Fitzpatrick's Porsche 962 and we were doing about 200 I don't know 238 down the straight which in those days was four miles long got two chicanes in it now which is normal life of traffic islands big big traffic island and it was about a four mile long straight

and then you go through the Mulsar and hairpin at the end of that and then there's another long downhill run and you get up to the same speed about 238 and then there's a the right-hand sweeper, it goes into what they call the Indianapolis turn because it's about the only

left-hand turn on the track and then you come out of there and you go through the Porsche curves and up to the pit. But I had a fantastic race with Klaus Ludwig who was also driving 962 and we were drafting a lot

and it was a beautiful after it was probably about 7 o'clock the sun was lowish in the sky and it was a beautiful, beautiful afternoon and we just fooled around there because they already do about 45 minutes, 50 minutes on a tank of gas, you know. And we had 40 minutes of absolute tremendous fun. Well, I was 45 at the time, so it must have been 84.

After I'd pulled in and we'd change drivers. Didn't change drive every time to swap fuel, but I mean, it was time for me to change. Got out and wandered around, and Clausville and he comes up to me, he says, how old are he? He was about, the class, at the time was about 25. He comes up to me, he said, how old are you? And I said, I'm 45. So you're too old to be driving like that.

But it was fun. Real briefly, I just want to ask you. My friend Eric Morse asked me to ask you about what you learn from wearing fancy underwear while racing in South Africa. And I was so intrigued by it that I had to ask you. Well, back in the 60s, string underwear became the thing. You wear string vests. So macho and kind of area, I know. So I had a pair of string underpants

bought from Marks dispensers in England. And I did the Kyle Army Nine Hour in South Africa with Jackie Ix as my co-d. And Jackie Yix had broken his leg at the American Grand Prix at Watkins Glen some week before. So the ankle was still a bit stiff and everything. So I did quite a bit of drawing.

Now the GT40, the filler cap was one of those great big historic, you know, great racy-looking thing with a big lever and you flick it up. And of course we filled the car with cans then, just like an ass car car car car. Anyway, I'm sitting in the car in the pit stop. The engine's off, but I'm sitting there in the pit stop. And a lot of fuel got spilt out of this filler cap. Well, the driver's seats here and the A pillar's here, and the filler cap's there just outside the windshield.

Well, it all went, came through it. Anyway, I ended up sitting in a pool of gas. Now, today, because you'd go out and they'd dry it all out, and they'd take it all out before they'd let. I fired the engine up with all this fuel in there on the floor, on the floor and around my rear end in this seat. And so I'd go off and do my stint. Well, about, I mean, halfway,

and the stint was about another hour, an hour and a half of some other. Well, my butt is absolutely stinging like hell, you know, with that fuel, just sitting in that fuel. and of course it's soft skin unlike your hands where you put fuel on your hands or your arms you can't even feel it

but round my rear end I mean it was sore as hell anyway when I got out I mean I ripped my overalls off and my underwear and I had you could have played

check at Chris he could have played norts and crosses on my back side for about a year it burnt the shape it burnt

the outline of these string underpants into my right cheek I mean it was really well and truly better and bounded it. It lasted about a year, year and a half. Damn.

So that's what you can tell Eric. Yeah. Geez. I've never asked another man a question like that. Sorry. It's all right. Oh, you're on Twitter too now. Yes.

I was a bit disappointed when you went on to Twitter. After about four years of Twitter, I managed to get 42 or 43,000 followers. You enjoy it? And the day you went up, you got 400,000. I thought, well, that puts things into perspective, I guess. Well, I do I just find that people

Talk about fans Yeah I mean people get absolutely crazed on there Yeah I mean they get Hobicidal So I don't Twitter I haven't got much to tweet about it now

You know, I went sat in the garden Okay Very interesting I'm sure people want to know that But so Yeah I quite enjoy reading them And of course it's a way To follow the races too now

And follow what's going on in the world But yeah I do it. I don't do Facebook. I should do Facebook. It's too complicated. I think Twitter's good enough. It's good enough, yeah.

Well, you know, we've got to ask him one more thing, though. What's that? Well, he happens to be in our favorite movie. Oh, Stoker Race. I mean, we can't have somebody in on Strucker Race and not have to talk about it. When I was telling people that when I tweeted that you were coming on here, that was in the timeline a lot. He was also in Stroker Race. Well, yeah, a movie started Stroker Race and caused.

too. That's right. Stroker race, I was in with Chris O'Connoracki, who was Ken's four-runer-reed. Ken and Chris were the two probably the doy ends of auto racing broadcasting in America. Both were great, and I worked with both. Anyway, Chris and I asked to go and do a bit on stroke race down at Charlotte. And so we flew down there. I'm really, I don't think we got much.

got a thousand bucks. Anyway, they said, come down to Charlotte and the director, of course, was the stuntman. Yeah, I'll need him. I'll need him. So we go out there. I'm thinking I'm going to see Donnie,

what's the name? Bert Reynolds, White Reynolds? Oh, Lonnie. Lonnie. Lonnie Anderson. Lonnie. That's the only reason I'm doing his film is to see Lonnie. There was nobody there. So we are calling the end of that ridiculous race where he's upside down.

Over the film? Yeah. Oh, we don't see any film. We don't see any. They take us up into the grandstand, or into the box. You know, so it's easy for us to make, what we're looking at the cars go by. They had a couple of step ladders with a plank on it, and this guy walks across the plank, and we watch it walk across the plank.

And that's... That was the car? That was y'all's head motion for talking... Yeah, that's how we watched the car. Oh, my God. We watched this guy across the plank like that. You were hoping for Lonnie Anderson. You got a guy walking across a plank.

I was hoping a plank. I got some guy and old scruffy jeans. We were over the wooden plank. So we were only there. I mean, we did it a couple of times. They said, well, that was pretty useless to you two. Obviously, they never done any broadcasting before. So why don't you F off back to wherever you came from?

And that was it. That's all I think that's all we did, isn't it? Dang. And it's such an embarrassing film to watch. I love it. I was watching it on a plane. Wayne was like put a hood of my head in case somebody's sitting next to be recognized. Oh, no, yeah.

Oh, man. I love it. I love everything about it. Cars 2 was the same. I went out there hoping I was going to see Michael Kane. I did see the Pixar Studios, which was pretty impressed. Oh, I bet. And that was quite.

But, I mean, I still get royalty checks for that. For Stroker race? Right, night note for Cars 2? Cars 2. I never was in the union for Stroker race. But I got to check you the other day for $97. $97. That's pretty good.

I mean, so we'd have a drink. Yeah, that was it, gone. Did you notice our Clyde Torkel's chicken bucket sign back there? Chicken pit special. I see it now. I'm telling you, we like our Stroker race movie fans. Oh, wow. Yeah.

See? Well, man, we're out of time. I just want to thank you for spending your morning with us and coming all this way. It was a real honor. like I've told you. I mean, I mean everything I said about how I feel about the 1979 Daytona 500, and the reason why I feel that way about it is because of you and Ken Squire and how y'all brought the action.

And when I decided to become a broadcaster, I hoped that I could do the same in the job that y'all did as far as making it entertaining and enjoyable to listen to. You guys set the standard. Nobody did it better. Nobody will ever do it as good again. And I'm honored to have you here across the table from me to be able to tell you that. Well, I was very, very kind of you.

Dale and I, coming from you, I really, really appreciate that. Thank you very much indeed. And thank you for asking me. Absolutely. No trouble at all. It's a great conversation, man, a lot of fun. Thank you. Thank you.

Yes, sir. For the last few weeks, we've been doing something really cool on the show, very special to me. Mountain Dew and I teamed up with Team Rubicon, and we've done. You're telling the story of this great effort. Last show, we spoke with a veteran volunteer, and this week I want to get Jake Wood back on the phone to go deeper into some of the stories, Team Rubicon. All right, let's get on the phone.

I'm going to go ahead and give him a ring. Hello? Hey, Jake, it's Dale Jr. Hey, Dale, how you doing? I'm doing great, man. Thanks for jumping back on the phone with us today. As you know, Mountain Dew is helping me do this series on Team Rubicon, and this is the final week.

Last time we spoke, we talked a lot about Team Rubicon. and some of the relief you guys are doing. I want to get a little more personal, I think, in this particular opportunity to talk to you, if that's all right. Before there was Jake Wood, the co-founder and CEO of Team Rubicon, there was Jake Wood, the college football player. How did you go from an offensive lineman for the University of Wisconsin to a sniper in the Marines and to a CEO of a humanitarian relief organization?

Man, that's quite a trip. Yeah, you know, it's actually really simple, really easy. it turns out that if you're a really bad college football player, you end up in the Marine Corps. You know, I say that only partly in jest. I, you know, I went to the University of Wisconsin hoping or expecting to have a great career and go to the NFL because that's what offensive linemen at Wisconsin do. But it just didn't turn out that way for me. And in 2005, when I was graduating, you know, I looked like you couldn't turn on the TV and not see, you know, young men and women, young, young, young, Americans overseas on the ground fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And so when I graduated shortly after I played my final game, you know, I just, I had this choice to make and I decided to enlist in the Marine Corps. And it was, you know, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Obviously, it was probably the most consequential decision I ever made. I was in the infantry. I deployed to Iraq. I deployed to Afghanistan as a sniper, you know, lost friends, saw really hard things to see and did really challenging missions.

But, you know, I was proud to serve my country. I was proud to be a Marine. And, you know, and ultimately, without any of that, I don't know that I ever would have started team. I know. I should even say, I guess. I know we wouldn't have started Team Rubicon. Well, through my experience with Team Rubicon,

obviously at first glance, you naturally assume the purpose is to help people affected by these disasters. but I saw something additional. And how much of your core purposes about the veterans themselves? Well, you know, it's interesting because, you know, the mission of this organization is to respond to disasters just to help people who, you know,

have suffered the worst day of their lives. And what was interesting was as we started building this, we did start to sense this, you know, we called it an unintended consequence. We had these military veterans who would speak to, the positive impact it was having in their own lives. You know, they would often, you know, talk about these three things.

They would talk about the sense of purpose it gave them. They would talk about the community that they gained from joining. And they talked about this sense of identity that they got back. You know, they, when you wear the uniform in the United States of America, and you serve overseas, you have this immense pride when you look in the mirror. And then you take that uniform off for the last time. And, you know, a lot of people just find it hard to look. at the person staring back at them in the mirror and be really proud of who they are.

Not everybody, but some. So we started to see that. I think the difference, though, is that so many organizations, they see veterans that they work with as kind of the object of their charity. Oh, we're here to help you, you poor thing, you poor veteran. And we take the opposite approach. We say, hey, you know, you still have something to give. You are a better and stronger person because of your service, because of your experience

overseas and you are actually going to be the agent of our mission. You're going to be the catalyst for the change that we're going to see. And I think that approach is unique and I think it's really healthy and helpful for the veterans who hear it. What makes the veterans most compassionate when it comes to volunteering for disaster relief? I think the veterans that serve with us, they just have service in their DNA. And I think there are some underlying things as well. I think many of them, they come back and they wish they could have seen more impacts from their service overseas. You know, progress was really hard to measure in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. And particularly now when we see, you know, those countries just, you know, literally devolving, disintegrating in front of us in the news.

I think people are looking for, you know, a way to just have impact that they can see, that they can feel, that they can measure, that they can be proud of and that they don't have to worry about. you know, turning on the news a decade from now and seeing it all perhaps just go to waste. I think that's a powerful opportunity that they're looking for. Speaking of powerful, can you share some powerful things that you've experienced or seen during your time with Team Rubicon? You know, I see, I've seen 100, you know, and without getting into specifics, I always kind of have people try to visualize this scene that I've seen play out a dozen times where you have a woman or a, you know, a survivor standing in front of her home that she's been in for 50 years, you know, she's been widowed for a decade and all of her life, all of her memories, all of her possessions are, you know, underneath this pile of rubble that is now

what used to be her home. And she's crying and she's scared and she doesn't know what's going to happen next. And you see this, this veteran walk up to her and, you know, he's got tattoos down to both of his wrists and a big bushy beard and, you know, this grizzled combat vet who, you know, maybe did or saw, you know, horrible things overseas in his wars and, you know, doesn't think that anybody could ever understand the tragedies that he's experienced, but he walks up to her and for the first time in his life realizes that, you know, that human suffering is, in some ways universal. And they embrace and they realize that, hey, we're going to get through this together. And, you know, I'm here to help you. And, and, and,

and, you know, everything's going to be okay. And I tell you, if I've seen that once, I've seen it a dozen times, play out in some fashion. And it's just this powerful, refreshing, and inspiring moment. Yeah, when I was in Florida with you guys being able to, we went to this neighborhood, and it was just destruction everywhere. And we were cleaning out this yard, this backyard of this elderly lady's home. and to be able to see the, I don't know, the relief and joy on her face that someone was there. Someone was there helping.

And there was no way that she was going to be able to accomplish the things that needed to be accomplished. And that was on a more smaller scale, I'm sure, some of the things that you guys encounter. But, man, it was such a great feeling to just be, to visually see that all come together and that interaction between her and everyone that was there. What is the message that you'd like our listeners to come away with regarding Team Rubicon? Wow. It's a big question. I think, you know, for all those listeners out there, I hope that they would, you know, be inspired to learn more. I think, you know, there's so much division in this country today. It's often hard to find ideas or themes that unify us and inspire us to remember, you know, or to think about the America. that we all want America to be. And, you know, listen, I'm biased.

But I think Team Rubicon represents the best of those American ideals. And, you know, all that division that we hear about, you know, on both sides of the aisle, you know, for us it doesn't matter. We have, you know, our fellow human beings, both here in the U.S., our fellow citizens, but our global citizens around the world. And when they need help, we're there to provide it for them, regardless of who they are or where they come from. And, you know, do that in that spirit of selfless. that, you know, this country was born of.

So I just encourage your listeners, you know, to go online, to learn more, to read some of these inspiring stories, watch some of the inspiring videos, see the photos of Dale out there hauling away, you know, torn up trees off that woman's lot, which we have evidence of, just being inspired. Yeah, I would encourage them as well. It certainly impacted my life and my... my view of what's going on out there and the amazing things that team Rubicon is doing. I am in your corner.

Jake, thanks for the conversations over the past weeks. I appreciate you joining us again today, giving us your time. Thanks to the 100,000 member volunteers of Team Rubicon, and we will do everything we can to spread that word and that message, buddy, and I hope to see you soon. We appreciate it, sir. Thank you very much. Yes, sir.

Talk to you later. Bye-bye. Mountain Dew is championing the power of doing. In this day and age, there's a lot of talk, but it's the doing that leaves a mark. Mountain Dew knows that no matter who you are, one person or a group of people. You can make an impact through your actions. That is why Mountain Dew and I teamed up with Team Rubicon to champion selfless men and women who truly embody what it means to do the do.

To learn more about Team Rubicon's work, go to Team Rubicon's work. We're going to pick on you for a minute. I know you're always looking on social media and keeping a pulse on what our fans like and don't like. I've noticed some people like our ad reads. Oh yeah. We put out on social media to have people tell us their favorite moments. And more often than not, we got some about ZipRecruiter or Zipercuter, which is funny.

Is it? What is it? Like the way I say ZipRecruiter. Or is it that they like the story of everyone's favorite coffee industry CEO? Cafe Altura's Dylan Miskowicz. What if I ever meet that guy? Oh, Dylan was having trouble finding his new director of coffee, finding qualified applicants is hard.

All right, and Dylan was struggling. So then he used ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter doesn't depend on candidates finding you. Yeah, you'd never find anybody to hire. You'd never find a good candidate. Why would you even go about it? that way. You wouldn't. No. So ZipRecruiter finds them for you. That's right. All right. You ever want somebody to do something for you? ZipRecruiter's going to do something for you. This technology

identifies people with the right experience. It invites them to apply to your job. So you get qualified candidates fast. This guy, Dylan, posted his job on ZipRecruiter. All right? That's why people love this ad. Dude, he was impressed at how quickly he had great candidates apply. He used ZipRecruiter's candidate rating feature to filter its applicants so he could focus on the most relevant ones. And folks,

that is how Dylan found his new director of coffee in just a few days. You thought I was going to say weeks. No, I thought it was days. With results like that, it's no wonder four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day.

You thought I was going to say weeks, didn't you? Again, you got me. See what? ZipRecruiter is effective for businesses of all sizes. Try ZipRecruiter for free at our web address. This sires. ZipRecruiter.com slash D-A-L-J-R. That's ZipRecruiter.com, D-A-L-E-J-R.

ZipRecruiter.com slash Dill Jr. Is the website. ZipRecruiter is also the smartest way to hire. Beautiful. Five stars. Isn't that great? We're doing some odd history, Mike. We're ready.

The year is 1951. Herb Thomas took the checker flag in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, driving a 1951 Hudson Hornet. For Thomas, it was a good day. He had the trophy and only had to tow back home across the state line to Olivia, North Carolina. What do you do with? The day and commute was a little different. for George Seeger.

Seeger drove his Tony Sampo owned. You guessed it. 1951, Studebaker, to a 20th place finish. After the race, the two had to drive home, from South Carolina all the way to Whittier, California. That's a hike. But it wasn't the 2,500-mile journey that would get the best of them. It was each other.

Oh, Siger and his car owner got into a major argument right around Phoenix. All so close. They stopped for gas while Siger was using the bathroom. Sampo drove off. Yeah, he left his driver at the gas station in Phoenix. He had to find his own way home. Odd History. He read Hot History.

He read Hot History. Is that what you wanted? I thought he said he wanted you. read on his. Yeah. Dill, yeah, quit TV now. You're just going to be like that guy that, on a day. That, well, listen, what made me want to read it that way was because the first line is

the year. The year. I can't read that any other way. Try, Mike. All right, Mike. White flag. The year is 2019. Keep coming, bud.

White flag right there, white flag. All right, guys. We're going to do some white flag. I want to start white flag with something that David Hobbs asked us to promote. And I'm reading Steve Matchett's tweet, A Night at the Races with Diffy, Hobbs, and Matchett. That's going to be on December 2nd. Come join the three of us on the evening of December 2nd in Charlotte, North Carolina. What is this, Matthew?

Can you tell? It's at the Bloomingthall Arts Center in Charlotte. Okay. If you know Matchett and Diffie and them, they're good storytellers when they're together. Great entertainment. That'd be awesome. I'm hot. I'm hot.

That's good. Mike's hot. You're not. Because you're hot. Ruled as that better. Is that better? Check, check, check, check, check. Yeah, there you go.

There you go. All right. So, anyways, in social media, but listen, I'm going to tell everybody, if you're listening to this show, we appreciate it. But if you're not following us on social media, then you're still doing it wrong. So follow us on social media. That is at Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, especially on YouTube. We do some real good stuff on YouTube.

Also, speaking to YouTube, the new Dale Jr. I can feature is on the motorsports on NBC's YouTube page. This week, go check out Dale Jr. and Steve LaTartre behind the scenes. Hey, time. The Texas race from the booth. Do you watch it? I watched it.

Didn't you know what I'm talking about. Oh. I didn't watch it. Oh, seven times. That's what you did on Spike Camp. You'll have to watch it to see. Well, I guess I will. All right.

God, you got all kinds of characters you're pulling out today here at the end of show. All right. I was doing the count. Yeah, from Sesame Street. No, no, we got it. You've done Durker, Durker, Durker, before and that, so this year's complete. Durka, Durka, Durka, Durka, Durka.

The Dutch, or what is he? Swedish chef. That's my favorite character on Sesame Street. Hey, we should do. Oh, he was a Muppet? Oh, Leslie? I've got a T-shirt with him on it, and it says, D'erferk.

My wife won't let me wear it. She was so mad when I thought of the show. She was so mad at me when I pulled it out of the package. Why was it that you wear? I don't get it. It's so stupid. I also bought a Fragler Rock t-shirt. I used to watch Fragler Rock.

I love Fragle Rock. She's like, why are you going to wear this? She's not impressed. Right, well. Dude, you wore for the documentary a t-shirt with a mustard and ketchup on. Right. She bought that for me. It's you. I'll tell you what.

DeFirk. Our TV show, the Dale Jeter download, airs on NBC Sports Network at 5 p.m. this Tuesday. Check that out there. Driven to give. Listen, I want to take a moment and just say, congratulations to you, Dale, and also the Dell Junior Foundation. Raised $390,000 in one night.

We also enjoyed performances from kids of our partner. I didn't say what it was, did I? Driven to Give. Did I say that? $390,000. at the driven to give event. We enjoy performances from kids of our partner charities. It's nationwide children's hospital, AMI Kids,

White Pines, Camp Luck, and Make a Wish the Money Raised serves those charities as well as other local and national charities as well. The philanthropy is not over. Dale Jr. will be heading to Ohio for a nationwide children's hospital fundraiser. Listen, if you want to be moved, go to nationwide children's.org and check that out. They do awesome things. Let me hit a few Apple ratings and reviews. S.H. Norris, I have thoroughly enjoyed the interviews with the greats like Harry Gant, Dale Jarrett, and the great personalities of that time.

But the Richard Petty interview takes the top prize. The glimpse into his 70 years and the sport was phenomenal. Packers Fansky said the guests have been really terrific. You need Ricky Rudd on. Wait, update. You need Ricky Rudd back again. So there you go. Thank you for correcting.

A. Z. Dr. Awesome. A. Z. Dr. Awesome. What? I've been listening for a long time, but your Ricky Rudd podcast set a new bar for me. He was my boyhood hero. I remember going to all our local tracks, Martinsville, Bristol, North Wilkesboro, and Richmond Fairgrounds at Cheramon. My wife made fun of me as I cried enjoying all those memories. AZ what?

What was it? A. Z. Dr. Awesome. Is it Seeger? Is he still in Arizona? Goodness gracious. I don't know. But I don't know this. His wife makes fun of him.

When he cries? When he cries. I would, too. Listen. I mean, his wife makes him. fun of him when he cries. Your wife makes fun of you for Fraglerock shirts. I can appreciate him having some emotions watching or listening to the podcast. Absolutely.

Yeah. But I would certainly make fun of someone. There you go. Good show today. I thought it's a great show, guys. Kick ass. What? Nothing. You're in there whispering. I know. We hear it. You can share it. You can share it with the group in my. You're whispering amongst friends. Oh, you want to talk about. The new thing on the table.

Let's wait. Yeah, we'll wait. Let's see if they can see. Can they spot them? the new thing on the table. There is something odd on this table that you may notice. So it's going to be hard for them to spot it when it's on the podcast. Well, it's being announced today. It's not like

the others. Oh, is it being announced? Well, you could cut this into a YouTube video. All right, let's do it. Fine, let's do it. Hey, Dale Jr., check this out. Look at this. I was looking at this earlier. You were? Yeah, Matthew, you won that bet. Look at that. The Dale Jr. download car, it's called a fantasy car. You know why? Because it's not really going to be raced, or is it?

without a number. But there you go. The Dale Jr. Fantasy car, it's going to be sold everywhere. I mean, everywhere. They said they're putting it everywhere. Everywhere. And I'm not like Walmart. Everything else.

Right. And to be sure. Now, we all had a hand in how this thing looks. For better or worse, like it or not. Everybody saw the emails and the pictures and everybody had a little opinion at least about what that car should look like. So I think that adds a little credibility to it. This isn't something drummed up by our marketing licensing team. Good point.

This was all shared amongst ourselves, and this is our baby. Well, if anybody knows you, you're not going to let cars go out and be sold with your name on it. You could have, you could have skipped me in the email chain and went on right to production. Yeah, that doesn't end well for people. But I got invited. I got invited in. People have done that don't work here anymore. I got invited in, and we all, eh, that's our little, that's our little piece of heading right there. We're proud of it. Good stuff.

I don't know what else to say about it. Close us out strong, Dale. Man, Mike, you said it. It's a great show. Hobbs is awesome. Great storyteller. Yeah, I hope I can learn something from this conversation to become a better broadcaster for sure. But like everybody else that we have, guest-wise, man, it's awesome to be able to learn about them, learn new things. We think, you know, you never know everything about a person. And he came in here with his ready to go. Yeah, he was awesome.

It was good stuff. Plus, I think the rest of the show was really good, too, guys. Yeah. I liked our open. I liked the way we ended. Hopefully everybody likes Odd History. That'll be a test. New poll.

That'll be a test for our movie voice. Our listeners. Our characters. Do you enjoy Odd History this week? All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks for tuning in. We've got a couple more shows, and we're going to wrap this season up.

Not sure how I feel about that. See you next week. This bit of Badassery was made by Dirtymore. Media. Dirty Moe.