The Dale Jr. Download - Bonus: New Podcast Joins Dirty Mo Media

Episode Date: June 10, 2022

Bonus content for fans of The Dale Jr. Download: Dirty Mo Media's newest podcast, Speed Street, is hosted by IndyCar driver Conor Daly and comedian and social media influencer Joey Mulinaro. Enjoy their most recent episode and then follow and subscribe to Speed Street on major podcasting platforms. Find it on Twitter and Instagram at @SpeedStreetPod. New episodes post weekly. 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.

Hey, Dale Jr. Download listeners, it's Mike Davis here, and we have a little treat for you today. So if you subscribe to this show, you might have heard us a couple weeks ago talk about a new show that we're bringing under the Dirty Mo Media platform. It's called Speed Street. And we had the host Speed Street podcast, Connor Daly, IndyCar Driver, and Joey Mullinero, who is a comedian and social media influencer and a number of things, just a funny guy all around. We had them on the Dell Jr. Download and introduced the show. to you and we're really excited about it. I have been wanting an IndyCar centric podcast on our platform for quite a while. And I've also wanted to have, you know, comedians on. And this sort of checks both those boxes. So here's what we're doing today. We're going to put this week's show, they just dropped the new one a few days ago. But we're going to put this on the Dale Jr. Download feed

because, you know, not everybody goes and seeks out these things. They just wait for it to be delivered to you. And I get that. But here is this week's episode of Speed Street. This is the newest podcast on Dirty Mo Media. If you like what you hear, then go follow them and subscribe to Speed Street. It's available on all major podcasting platforms. It's available on Dirtymohmedia.com. However, you get your podcast, Speed Street will be there. In fact, I saw that Speed Street was up in the top 25 on Apple Sports Podcast again this week. That's two weeks in a row. So they're off to a great start here on Dirty Mo Media. And they're just great guys.

Connor, aside from unpacking the previous race, he also gets into some big misunderstandings about the Indianapolis 500 purse. He's so candid. Really just kind of puts it all out there. So I could see where that might get him in trouble from time to time. But for Dirty Mo Media listeners and myself, this is the stuff we crave. So enjoy this bonus episode of Speed Street here on the download feed. If you like what you hear, go follow them and subscribe to their podcast. Also, if you're on social media, they're on Twitter and Instagram.

You can find them at Speed Street Pod. That's at Speed Street Pod. This is a production of... Dirty Mode Media. Back again on Speed Street. Another edition of Speed Street, episode 31 that we've done together. Thanks for being with us. Big show today.

We got a full recap of Detroit, the last race at Bell Isle for a while, for who knows when. We're moving to downtown Detroit starting next year. Look ahead to Road America. Any cars in full swing now. We're not on vacation just because of 80500 is over like we talked about last week. Detroit, Road America. here we go, Joey Molanaro, alongside driver of the number 20 bit an hour ride in the IndyCar series. Connor Daly, how we doing, CD?

Good, man. It's just nice to be home for, nice to be home for two days, and then right back on the road to the simulator and then up to Road America for our next event. So we're going on like six weeks in a row or something like that right now or five weeks in a row at the racetrack. So I certainly can't complain. but yeah, I think I did the math. I'm like, because I'm obviously commentating on the SRX races that are coming up as well. So I think I'm gone for the next, like until August, essentially on every single weekend. So it'll be, it'll be fun.

It'll be a fun ride. Are you nervous about being on the big old TV talking SRX? I don't think so. No, I'm just ready to check it out and get to work. I think I love the SRX series. I think it's a lot of fun. and we've got we've got some you know cool racing to talk about so and Alan bestwick is a good friend of mine and he'll be leading the charge and they've got quite a good

team of folks there so that'll be exciting so if you're you know we'll have another episode before before I get into the old commentary booth but stay tuned for all the old the first two SRX races because I'll be up in the booth yeah it's starting Saturday June 18th then goes one more before Connor has duties in Mid-Ohio. So taking those two weeks there. I love SRX too, man. It's really it is. It's everything it's supposed to be. It's a lot of fun. It's entertaining as hell. And it's all you can ask for. And then throwing you up there. I mean, that makes it even better. Is there a dress code that they have for you? Do you have to have shirt and tie? They let you be lenient there? You know what? That's actually a great question. I'm going to have to figure that out.

I only own really one suit. So I, if I'm the guy that shows up every race broadcast with one, the same suit. I just, you can't do it. So I'm going to have to contact some people and see what we can do. I'm sure they won't let me go up there in a T-shirt and jorts and a backwards hat. But, you know, maybe it is, maybe it's time the first time CBS primetime Saturday night broadcast on a T-shirt and jorts. Who knows? It'd be only fitting that it'd be you, brother. But yeah, maybe a little little men's warehouse, a little express sponsor or something, get going here so you can help Connor out. I'm the same though.

I only have one, maybe two suits. And my parents and my wife get on me all the time talking about how I'm a grown man with only one suit. I'm like, I wear, I mean, how often do we do it? We don't work in jobs where we need to do that. It's true, man. I mean, you might go to one wedding a year where you busted out. You might go, you know, like we have the Indy 500 banquet, the awards banquet. That's all we, you know, we dress up for that.

And, you know, that's pretty much it. So I don't have a massive selection, but I don't know what I'm going to do. So we'll see. I've got to contact some people, maybe, you know, get like a different colored shirt to wear under the jacket or something like that. And maybe camouflage the suit that I've got. Who knows? Yeah, if you use a different tie and a different shirt, you can get away with the same suit for literally the entire year. So probably the more efficient, more affordable way.

All right. So we did have Detroit this last week. Again, like I said, we'll get into Road America. That's coming up. A lot of people love that track. That course is a fun weekend every year. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Speed Street Pond. Do that.

That continues to grow, continue to add people to the street, to the neighborhood. And be sure to subscribe, leave us a rating, review. We got a handful, a good amount of ratings and reviews over our first week at Dirty Mo. So I really appreciate those. But keep those going so we can keep this thing growing here. Before we get to Detroit, Connor, though, we were talking off the recording before we got it going. You said that you learned some kind of funny, maybe somewhat unfortunate news about the Indy 500 payout system over the weekend. It's not necessarily unfortunate, but it is quite funny.

Everyone, you know, we saw that there was an updated purse, right? We had, oh, we were like, oh, hey, thank you, Roger. We appreciate that. And it was, you know, I made a joke about it in my speech about how Alex Rossi bought tacos from Taco Bell because, you know, we all just had a little bit of an extra boost in prize money. And normally the way it works, like to give people a background, like in the era that I've been in IndyCar, you know, if you finish in the top 22 in points at the end of the year. So that car, whatever car finishes in the top 22, the team gets an, gets a million dollars. So that's a lot of money. right? And that's kind of that the payments of that are spread out like through the year. And so a lot of the times like ever since I've been in the Indy 500, if you're a full-time entrant, uh, the prize money is like at least $300,000 and then whatever else to acquire is also added on there. But that 300k was the leader circle money. It's called leader circle.

So we kind of always knew that like, oh, wow, like we got this 300 like people, like, oh, wow, you made so much money. It's like, well, no, that goes directly to the team. And, like, we've kind of all been used to that. And so, you know, this year, obviously the, the winner got like $3.1 million. It was wild. And like, you know, I looked at my prize money and said, oh, wow, like $527,000 or whatever. I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, in historic past, that would have meant that, okay, 300 of that goes to my team, understandable. And then, the rest of it, which is obviously still a large amount, like in my contract is split in half. And so then, you know, even still half of 215K or whatever is like wonderful.

I was like, oh, that's great. The first thing that happened when I got to the track in Detroit and I respect my boss, Ed Carpenter for doing this, he's like, hey, man, so I know we looked at that prize money and I told you like we thought it was like 300 was leader circle. Yes. So that was wrong. and I just wanted to make sure you didn't like buy anything yet because it's actually 460,000 that goes to the team instead of 300.

And I was like, what? So instead of the $527,000 or whatever, a massive amount of that went, you know, to the team as part of this leader circle thing because obviously we're in the top 22 in points. Like that's great. We were last year. And the team, you know, deserves that money. That's what happens. just basically, it's just such a shame that they announced that purse because it's so inaccurate

for the drivers. Like, I wish they would just not announce the purse because, like, I even had people messaging me on Instagram. I'm like, oh, can't wait for you to tip really well now. And I was like, what are you talking about? Like, I like, you guys know my finances. Like, first of all, I'm a big tip guy. I love tipping people. I respect the people that are out here working, giving us, you know, giving us great services, right? But I was like, that, what ends? up like there's a lot of money that goes away like now look did I still make money yeah absolutely but it it was like essentially what I had in my head it was like cut into a quarter of what I thought it was so it very interesting and it's it's sad that we have to announce the purse like that

because especially like it gets us drivers like excited about like hey we put in a lot of work like that was my best finish at the 500 I was like hey maybe we get a little bonus here maybe I can you know, buy another suit for my commentating. I don't know. But it was, I just want to let people know that don't claim to know others' finances without actually knowing because I found out, and it was quite sad. And, you know, it is what it is. So it turns out do we got a little smoking mirrors there at the banquet, but at least now we know. And you know what? It's the leader circle is a great thing to help the teams. And I respect that. I just wish it, you know, I wish we would have been told that going into the evening.

Man, times just keep getting gas prices going through the roof. Purses getting cut in half. I mean, geez, dude, it just keeps on piling on for you, man. Now, can you negotiate with Ed to maybe, hey, that's, I understand what you've got to do here, but could the corporate card come through for a suit or something here, Uncle Ed? You know what, no, I'm all good. I'm happy as can be. It's not necessarily a complaint.

I'm obviously very happy with what we got going on. But when you think you're going to make six figures and then you don't, that's kind of upsetting. You know what I mean? It's like I feel like I just want to let the people know, hey, if you're expecting me to go and like buy a boat, I am not. Yeah. It's definitely not. I will not be your boat guy for the summer because I'm just trying to get a suit now. So to the folks at the Oakmont, our friends at the Oakmont, various places around Mass Ave and downtown Indy, no, don't come ravaging for Connor because of the purse that you saw on Twitter.

You got the story. You know the situation now. Be kind because he's going to be kind to you. But I apologize, man. I mean, I'm glad that you're still okay with it. But, yeah, I mean, when you think you're getting a bottle of, you know, Don Perri-on. to get Kamchaka, you know, that's always a little bit of a problem there. Those are even the same things, but you get what I'm going with. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's, I just want to make sure that

this podcast is about honesty. And we're about, we're trying to bring people into the racing game. This is like, this is the stuff that we're dealing with on a day to day basis. And look, no one should ever be complaining about making money because that's what we're doing, but it is quite funny. And And I thought the people would enjoy that because for many, many years, the drivers started getting up there and they're like handing us fake checks. I even have a couple of them behind me. And I think in my, I've done nine Indy 500s and I think I've only ever made money doing three of them.

So it's kind of funny to look back on that. It's a tough business model there, man. But it's all right. Yeah. All right. Let's get into Detroit here, dude. You qualified 13th, barely, barely. I mean, just by the hair of all hairs, missed the top six and group one qualifying there.

Thought you had it. But yeah, you qualify 13th. You go plus one for the day, finish P12. You're still P12 in the standings. Your last go-round at Bell Isle for a while here. What were your thoughts? What went wrong for the 20 car? Well, honestly, like, it was a very interesting weekend because the first two,

practice sessions. There were a lot of accidents, a lot of red flags, people were wadding cars up and just and stuff was happening. So really, you know, we, we were really struggling to get just a lap in in practice. And, you know, Renus was looking good and he was looking fast and I think we definitely had some speed in the car, but I never really got deep enough into a run to get that ultimate lap time. So there was actually, we were buttoned heads for sure. after the second practice session. And I knew that our car was not, you know, it did, it was not as bad as we looked on the, on the, you know, on the time sheet.

So I was quite confident in what we had. But it, it was definitely a battle. When we get into qualifying and, you know, my previous best time, like in the, in the practice session that morning was like a 119. And then my best lap in that qualifying session was a 1-16-0. You know, that's three seconds that we found in essentially four, laps. And I was shaking after that qualifying lap. Like sometimes you put in a lap where you're just like, I'm throwing everything on to the, like sometimes you just got to put everything on the line.

And I mean, we do that obviously all the time, but there are some tracks where you feel slightly more in control. And there are some tracks where you're either going to produce a lap or you're going to be in the wall. And that was kind of what, you know, what was going on there. And so it was a shame to miss out on the fast 12. Obviously, you know, 8,000. of a second is crazy. But when you're battling guys like, you know, Roman Grosjean and, you know, willpower and guys like that and qualifying, you know, it's still a, it's a tough deal. So, you know, we just missed it, but, you know, we had, we were on the same row as our teammate. And I was 13th, Reynos was 14th. And, you know, you had guys behind us like Alex Palo, Willpower, really,

really fast guys. So it was quite an interesting mix up on the field. You had Takumasato on the front row. You had David Maluccas thrown in big laps. I mean, he was flying. The coin cars were really, really fast and qualifying. And, and yeah, but it's, it sets up for a decent race because Detroit is a really interesting lap count. Like, it's, it's enough to where we, we saw in the previous year, Renus, you know, Renus Pit lap two and finished on the podium. And it's kind of like, it's, it's a traditional two-stop race. But if there's yellows and you make the three-stop work, it's really, really good. So a lot of people started on the red tire, right? Because the red tire doesn't last as long. And it's, you know, great for qualifying. But we know that it wears out really fast. So,

you know, the minority of the field was on the on the black tire and the rest of us were on the reds to try to get rid of it. And it's just funny how it played out. You know, in a pre-race strategy meeting, our guys said, in no historical, in no recorded history, can I find a race at Detroit with no yellow flags. And sure enough, that race on Sunday, there were no yellow flags. So it was a very interesting, you know, we had to take the gamble because starting, you know, 13th mid-pack-ish, a little bit further forward than that, you kind of have to, you know, make a strategy happen.

And realistically, all the guys who started on the primary tire, on the black tire, you know, made it work and made it work well. the guys that tried to go long on the red tire on the first stint got absolutely demolished. It was a really tough, you know, tough deal. So there was so many things that played out that during that race as well, I had no idea where I was. I had no idea. I thought we were making progress. Like we had a good start, got around some people.

I could tell Willpower was really fast early on on the primary tire as well because he was quick right out the gate. But realistically, when we were. pit. I was like, all right, we got some good laps here. Me and Rinas, we're kind of making progress. And like at the end of the race, I expected my strategist because at the whole last stint as well, like, I'm trying to do qualifying laps the whole time, like just pushing harder than ever trying to, you know, make up time. And when he said I finished 12th, I was like, well, that's weird. Where were the other people? I never saw, I never saw anywhere. Like,

I didn't see that many cars in front of me at any point. But that's kind of how those strategies these play out. Like if you pit, you know, one whole extra time compared to anyone else, you know, that's, that's a 30 seconds, 30 seconds that you're missing in the race. So it just, just kind of didn't play out for us. I think, I think it's, you know, if there was a yellow really at any point, I think it does play out for us quite well. But, you know, to be as quick as we were, I think to be in striking distance of, you know, another top 10 is strong. You know, it's a good point today for us as well. But, yeah, really, interesting to see how these races, you know, you commit to a strategy and you got to do it.

And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. And, you know, we saw if the race had one more lap, Alex Rossi wins that race, you know what I mean? And he pitted what, lap three? Yeah, Alex Rossi. Yeah, exactly. Pits super early. And he made it work. He had a great start, pitted early and got the clear track that he needed, got around the cars he needed. I think we pit maybe one or two laps later than him and it was just maybe not the exact right way. And I didn't have the best outlap so you lose like two or three seconds and that completely changes your whole race. So that's kind of an interesting way to look at it. But Alex, Alex drove a great way. I thought he drove one of the best races of his season so

far. And I mean, that's the classic Alex Rossi that we know, you know what I mean, relentless and pretty aggressive. And, you know, I think he really, I mean, I was happy to see Willpower win. Obviously, happy to see Willpower, especially after last year, the debacle that happened to him. But I think Alex Rossi really had that race, you know, in the bag. Yeah, man, he was, I mean, I had to listen to the last 20 laps on the radio. And, man, every single, I mean, he was gaining every single time. You get down to those last eight laps, he was chopping off, you know, half a second, a second. I mean, it was like, it was just this race against time that even Mark James and Davey Hamlet were like, you know, it's going to be super,

close. Does he have it? On one lap it looks like he does have it. On another lap, it's like, ah, he shed too much there. Like, it was, it was very exciting to listen to. I think it was another very exciting finish. I don't know how Willpower held on because he was on Reds at the end, wasn't he? Yeah. So that, that's the interesting part about that strategy. If you start out on blacks, you have to eliminate the red stint somewhere, whether it's in the middle of the race or the end of the race. And I think the, I haven't fully, fully gone through the whole race yet, but like willpower saving the reds for the end meant that he was trying to go super long on the on the blacks both stints. And I remember coming out of the pits right in front of him.

And they said he was the leader. And I could tell, you know, I was on cold tires. So he just got around me. But then I was immediately quicker than him the next like three laps. But they told me he was obviously in a pit. And I can tell he had really pushed those black tires like a really long stint. So they were trying to basically go as long as possible on the first two stints. and make that red stint as short as possible.

And honestly, they called it perfectly because he made him last as long as he needed to. Willpower, obviously a smart guy, you know, champion, multi-race winner, legendary guy. So that's what happens in those scenarios. If you have to make them last a certain amount of laps, you want to make them last that many laps and no many laps more because you don't need to.

He made it to the check and fly. Yep. Yeah. No, I mean, that was the whole talk. That was 71, 72 laps. Rossi is sitting atop the highest podium, and Willpower is probably just up there because of how those tires were just wearing out and how it was going to play out. But it wasn't.

It was 70 laps. It was the last time at Bell Isle for the foreseeable future. And are you going to miss Bell Isle? Are you excited about Detroit, downtown Detroit? You know what's interesting? I think Bell Isle is such a, you know, it was my first IndyCar podium. my first IndyCar A second IndyCar street race

But I I have a lot of memories of Detroit It's the first IndyCar race that I led First IndyCar race in the rain In 2015 I was driving Hinch's car when he got injured And so I've got a lot of really good memories And a lot of almost wins at Detroit

Which never count But you know I've had a lot of great times there So I can't necessarily say it's one of my favorite tracks, but for some reason, I tend to go well there. So, you know, it's an era that's now gone. It's a very, very bumpy track that's very, very tough on the cars. You know, we saw again, even during the race, like I know there were no yellows, but as I saw after, there were several guys getting into the wall.

And, I mean, it just goes to show you, even on the last lap, my teammate, Rinas, you know, ending up in the tire barrier. I mean, we are pushing so hard on this track. and it's so difficult to stay in, you know, on the limit that that's what we see, you know, guys like Graham Ray Hall, Kyle Kirkwood, Renus, my teammate, like guys that are just, you know, very, very talented people. But sometimes, you know, the wall will catch you out and the track will catch you out. So definitely felt bad for Renus there.

But, you know, I'm very, very surprised that there were no yellows. But I think I'm also excited for the future at in Detroit. because obviously a big Chevrolet track, right? Like we're a Chevy team. Chevrolet loves and supports IndyCar. And honestly, like, we haven't had a new track since Nashville, right? Nashville is a new track, and I think that was really, really interesting. Detroit, not going to be a new area, but it is a new track for us.

So curious to see what they come up with. I hope they really do a great job with it. And I hope it's just slightly smoother. That would be quite nice. Right, no, for sure. Do you think, I mean, you look at Rossi, you were talking about him. Seems like this is, you know, the classic Rossi that we're used to. P5 all the way up from 20th at the ND500, starts 11th here.

P2, it gets a podium. Like we said, one more lap and he probably wins that race. Do we feel like this is a turning point for Rossi? Is he going to finally get past this cartoon anvil that Marshall Pruitt has coined for him? Are we coming full circle here on Road America, his last win? I know I'm throwing a lot at you here, but then also, I mean, now that the McPherson, McLaren announcement is done and the Andretti announcement is done and we know the future. You think that's really boldened out well for AR 27 to just say, you know what, I'm just going

to go drive and do what I do and, you know, be the driver that I am. Yeah, I mean, it seems to be playing out for him quite well. I mean, he's been very, very good in the last few races. Certainly, certainly the best, you know, the best Andretti finisher in the last couple races. and he's very good at Road America. So I see him having a great weekend at Road America. I mean, this could be the Alexander Rossi win that he's been looking for in this era of the aeros screen. But also, we know that the Gannasi cars are going to be fast there.

We know that, you know, it's going to be very, very close, very, very competitive. You know, Road America, big track for power. So does Honda or Chevy have the have the juice, long straits, who's going to trim out the most in the race? And I think either way, Alex is going to be a contender. So it's a very, very curious weekend, I think, overall because Rhode America provides, I think, some great racing for us. But it also provides, you know, an opportunity for a lot of mistakes, too. I mean, it's a track that's so fast. It's a track that is, you know, the pavement is very old.

So it's a bit of a slippery surface. and but it's also a track that, you know, rewards balls. So you better be, you know, you better be ready to use them, turn one, turn three, the carousel, the kink, you know, heavy break zone. So there's a lot of really, really, you know, great corners there. And I'm excited to see it. I'm excited to see what happens, honestly, this weekend. Yeah, Rhode America.

It's one that I've yet to be going to. It's definitely on the list. I mean, everybody that I talk to, the IndyCar community, you know, Mid-Ohio, Rhode America, these, you know, Middle America camping sites, you know, where people go for the weekend and bring their campers and have a lot of fun. Before we get to the Road America preview, look ahead, do you got to talk about the TV ratings that came out just before we hopped on here to record. Not a good weekend for the TV ratings, a 0.23, I believe, 364,000 viewers.

I mean, we all knew it. We all knew it. It's not hard to predict. Like we know our sport. We know we know we're going head to head against NASCAR, which is potentially the worst thing ever to do. But sometimes that's how it works out. I mean, you can't always get the perfect time window. You can't always get, you know, where you want to be.

And, you know, I got a lot of tweets. about people who many tweets that said, well, I watched NASCAR live, but record IndyCar. And I was like, well, why?

Because NASCAR race lasted four and a half hours. Our race was at 445 minutes, maybe, you know what I mean? And so, and to be honest, like,

I love, I love watching NASCAR, but realistically, unless you want to see whatever accidents or whatever happens, you know, the last hundred laps of the NASCAR race for me.

That's what I got. that's what I need. I want to watch the start in the last 100 laps because I can see what happened earlier on the highlights, whatever it is. But again, this is what, you know, this is, this is this is how people view things, right? And I, you know, if there is a NASCAR race on and I'm not doing IndyCar racing, I'm probably going to watch the whole thing. You know what I mean? But I, you know, I find it interesting just how people view that. And you know what, to each their own, right? Like if you, if you love NASCAR, that's awesome. If you want to watch that over IndyCar and record it. Well, we still appreciate it.

that because if you record it, well, then you're still watching it. And that means, you know, that means something to us. But, but it's definitely hard to see. I mean, a lot of us, I mean, every day I tried to get out to people. I said, please watch the race on USA. Like, and I was going to say, I felt like there was more of a concerted effort than I've seen in a long time throughout the field. You got guys like Colton Herda, who aren't as active on social media. There's a few guys like that that I noticed that was like really pushing. this. Is there kind of a memo around just the drivers? Is there kind of a message for you guys all to say, hey, let's all get behind this and really push here because we need it? I mean, I think we all just know. I mean, we've had, you know, great ratings this year, obviously with NBC. We're network NBC and it's been great. But it is tough that right after the Indy 500, which was a great race, a great finish, you go straight to USA Network, which has never had an IndyCar race on it, right? So that, is tough. That that that's something that for me is a bit of a miss. But again, I don't run this department. So I don't know. But, you know, we have so many races on network NBC this year,

which is awesome. Huge for our sport. So far this year, obviously, we've seen it. I mean, you know, millions of people watch it, which is awesome. But, you know, it kind of reminded us that unless you really know that there's an IndyCar race going on, people aren't going to watch it. Like it's just, and if it's, if it's hard to find at all, people aren't going to watch it. And that, and it's a shame because I don't know why that's going to happen, why that happens, because obviously NASCAR does well on FS1, that NASCAR does well on, you know, Fox Network, but people know that there's NASCAR race is happening. And I think for us, unless, unless it's literally blasted into your face and you see it,

you're like, oh, I like this sport that I've been following for nine races on NBC or six races, seven races on NBC. Where am I going to find it next? You know, I just, I just think we're still, you know, we're still a little bit down in that area. And I only say it because I love this sport and I wish that, you know, every weekend we had 10 million people watching, right? But it's going to take a bit to get there. And it just goes to show you as well, I don't think the, I don't think us as drivers, we don't have enough power. because again, we clearly still had Jimmy Johnson racing with us. We clearly still had Roman

Grojan, the guys are the most social media followers on any platform and they're putting it out there. So it's not about us putting the message out there. The people that follow us are already going to watch the race, right? It's how do you get the people that don't know that there's an Indy car race going on, right? Like, how do you get the people that don't know that there's more than the Indy 500 to watch the next race? You know, I had to, you know, I had to, many people asked like, well, so do you go on vacation after the $8,500? I was like, no, we're racing the next week, the next two weekends. And it's, there's still a just a big gap on, on a lack of awareness.

And again, I would, I thought for sure that a lot of the drivers, like I try to tweet it three days in a row. We're on USA. We're on USA. But I, I mean, I'm not going to, I'm not going to move the needle. I got, I got 80,000 followers. You know, we got, we, we need, you need, like, you need that message to get to 20 million people, right? And then you hope that 1% of the 20 million, you know, like watch the race. So it's hard to do. I don't have the answer for it. I thought that all the drivers did a great job, putting out, like, that it was on USA.

Honestly, I was talking to some of the other guys this morning. And I said, I actually am proud of the community, like the IndyCar community about really getting the USA network message out. there, but clearly it's a tough battle going head to head against NASCAR. I think that's really, you know, awareness is a whole other issue, but going head to head against NASCAR is a challenge, for sure. Yeah, no, it definitely is. And, you know, we got a, we got a review over the weekend. And I appreciate everybody who leaves a review. Please do review us, leave a rating because we want feedback, we want to grow. But one of the things that someone said was, you know, something to work on for this show is Joey's like lack of hardcore knowledge with racing, you know, and it doesn't

allow Connor to get in depth with explaining things. And I'm like, okay, that's fair. But I've always been up front about that. And we've always been up front about that. Oh, yeah. And you don't, you don't grow the sport. You don't grow anything with the diehards who are already going to be there. The NFL is the NFL, not because of the 25 to 35 year old men who are going to be watching Red Zone doing fantasy football every week. The NFL is the NFL because moms and girlfriends by Jersey and a kid wants to get in on fantasy football and they want to have it on because JJ Watt is super cute. You know, the F1 is not F1 right now because of the hardcore motorhead gearhead people who

love racing. That's not the point. This is not the point. This is not one of the main points of this show. One of the main points of this show and what we're trying to do and what's important for IndyCar, I think, is not the diehards. It's the casuals. That's what separates the big time, big time sports and series and entertainment at all from being super popular on Netflix F1 to, you know, trying to get the awareness out there. Yeah.

And you bring up an interesting point. F1 didn't gain a million hardcore race fans. They gained a bunch of people that watched Netflix. Like there's no other way around it. Like that's, it's purely why there are a ton more people now watching F1 in America. It is not because they read engineering books and they have loved racing all their lives. You know what I mean?

These are people who literally just discovered it. And so a lot of, you know, a lot of our thing for IndyCar is how do we get to that discovery level, right? How do we get like, wow, you know, we discovered F1, but this Indycar stuff is really cool too. And like, they got a lot of really, like wildly diverse drivers from different areas of the planet. So I think again, I hope we get there. I think we are going to get there obviously or else I wouldn't be, you know, so passionate about this. But you, but you, I mean, that's an incredible point. Like it's, it's something that we need to get to, but I do believe that, you know, hopefully in the long run in the next five years,

let's say, you know, we, we, we are able to capture some of that. hey, we don't know much about racing, but it seems cool. And like, again, a ton of people that were at the Indy 500, right? It was their first Indy 500. And they're like, that was so cool. A friend of mine who was there with me for the race weekend, she said, going back to LA now, people watch all of her social media stuff. They're like, wow, we all really want to go to an Indy car race now.

It's like, well, guess what? You can watch it on USA Network this weekend. But like, again, it's not at that level yet. but I think people's minds are almost there. They're like, oh, that looks cool. We see a lot of people went there. It's the largest attended sporting event in the entire world. There are no other planets that have bigger races or events.

Not even this planet. It's the biggest. And again, I don't know what happens on other planets. I haven't been there yet. But as up now, as up right now, I know that we have the planet with all the people and we're having the biggest event. So I think we're getting there. But, you know, it's just going to be interesting to see what steps do we take over the next couple of years to make sure that every race, no matter if it's on USA, no matter if it's on peacock, no matter if it's on, I don't know, I don't remember when the races were on versus back in the day.

You know what I mean? Every race to have a million viewers minimum, right? Like, we got to have a million people every weekend wanting to be tuned in to one of the greatest shows on wheels, I think. Yeah, no, I'm with it, man. And we've talked about this a lot since we've started this show together. It's been a very common topic, and I think it's necessary, and I enjoy whenever we talk about it. But again, going back to the knowledge of stuff, it's like, okay, so that's like telling the 50 million people who watch, that's like, yeah, telling the 50 million people who watch the Super Bowl, hey, 48 million of you, you can't really be a part of this because you don't understand a cover three defense. It's just like, that's ridiculous.

That doesn't do anything. That's absolutely dumb. So that's a point on that. And again, the rate. Does every NFL game have 48 million viewers? Like, or however many viewers they get? No. But there's a lot of millions spread out all across the year.

Like many, many, many millions. You have many different games to watch in your area. But for that one game, everyone is coming together. It's like the Indy 500 for us, right? Like that's our biggest rating. That's when everyone comes together to watch it. But we got to get those, you know, those away games, the other games to be just know that they're happening. Yeah, no, for sure.

Absolutely. And that's why I've compared it to the NFL like that in a variety of ways, but one being, hey, they play 17 regular season games, 18 now, I guess. The IndyCar race is 17, 17 races. That's all you've got to commit to. 17 races for a whole year. And it happens once a week, every other week. You know, we got to do a little bit better job on that. But a lot of comparisons there.

So let's move on from that. Let's look ahead to Rhode America here real quick. We were talking about it earlier. What's this track like for you? What's Rhode America like for you? How are we feeling going into the weekend? Well, we'll keep it somewhat quick because I definitely want to dive into the NASCAR race as well over the weekend. There was a lot of really cool stuff to talk about there.

But we'll get into that after Rhode America. America. Road America is a great track. I also have a new teammate this weekend, Simone Di Silvestro. Her and the Coretta Auto Sport team are going to be with us as like an extension, a third car per se. And that's going to be awesome. I like Simone a lot. She's a very talented driver. I think it's going to be a battle for her because it's going to be her first, I think, road course race in an Indy car since like 2015 or something crazy. Someone told me that. But she knows her way around a race car. I mean, she, she gets it. So really cool to have, you know, all those, all those ladies are part of the team. There's a great, great female push there for everyone to be

involved. And, and it'll be good. So this weekend, you know, I expect Alex Rossi to be fast. I expect Alex Pillow to be fast. I expect Scott Dixon to be fast. I would like to be fast myself. But we know that we know that it's going to be a great weekend. There's always such a great turnout of people at Rhode America. And that's really the most exciting part is I think seeing the crowd there, all the road to India, I think will be back in action as well there. So all the lower series also. And yeah, I mean, I can't wait. I think it's, I don't even know, I don't even look at what TV network we're on this weekend. I hope it's NBC. I have no idea. Well, while you're doing that. Someone figure it out and find out what network we're on this

weekend. Well, while you're doing that, I will say that Marshall Pruitt just released a report two minutes ago that Road America is set for a repave in late 2022. So it looks like this is going to be your last time around as it currently lies. Perfect. Perfect. They're going to complete upgrade to the Johnsonville Bridge between turns 8 and 9, safety enhancement to turns 9 and 11,

encompassing over 2,000 square feet of poured concrete, terrorist viewing area for golf carts atop turn 13, and improved drainage areas in the paving of pit lane. And that's according to the, let's see here. That's great because honestly, a lot of that pavement might be older than me. I think Joseph Newgarden and I battled across the finish line and Skip Barber when we were in 2008 for a win there

and it was the same pavement. Well, yeah, 14 years later there, bro, and you're good to go. So they're going to be doing it at the end. That's on NBC. Thanks to producer Ben Walton there. pulled up on the Oh, it is NBC. Beautiful.

NBC, the big bird. The big bird. The big bird is going to be cocking on Sunday, 1230. So a high noon, 1230 start. Get your barbecue. Get your lunches. Do all that. And let's get it fired up up there,

Road America. Yeah, I really am jealous. I got to go to Belmont Stakes this weekend in New York to watch some ponies. But next year, I have to make it to Road America. Have to. I've heard nothing but fantastic things. We get you're a big horse racing guy, but someday you got to make it to Rhode America. Joey, for those new listeners, Joey is a horse owner.

He's a big horse racing guy. We love all types of motorsport, including sports of horse racing. Equestrian, that's right. Yeah, we're a big equestrians. Getting a nod from Ben, so that's good. I'll take it. All right, Rhode America coming up, 1230 Sunday, NBC, Big Bird, be there. Real quick on the NASCAR Gateway, our boy, Chase Brist.

go led to Green for the first time in his Cup series career. That was fantastic to see. Didn't work out for him later how we would have hoped. But, you know, a nice accomplishment for a 1-4 there. Yeah, I mean, great to see for sure. And I think there was a lot. There was actually a lot of NASCAR action this weekend. That was wild.

We had the truck race. That was, you know, very, very interesting. Hated to see Carson Hosevar in the accident that he was in. Carson was obviously my teammate, when I did my, my truck race, my last truck race in Vegas. And I think he is one of the brightest young stars in the NASCAR world right now. I think he is super talented. And it was, you know, the internet never, never misses anything.

And there was a wild video of like that I saw when after he got hit and there was like a, like the poor guy sounded in like a wild amount of pain. And he's clearly, you know, hurt. And like the safety team, I was like, can we please get to this guy? can we please get to this guy? Like, I mean, we're used to the IndyCar safety team getting there right away, no matter who, how many cars are in it. Obviously, in NASCAR, there's usually, there can be a lot of cars in wrecks, and I get that.

But, but yeah, hated to see, you know, a friend like, and it sound like he's in a lot of pain, but hopefully he's all right. And then the NASCAR, I mean, NASCAR Xfinity at Portland was as a wild scene. I don't know if you had a chance to watch that, Joey. But it was in the rain. We had AJ Almondinger out there who crashed before the start of the race. He crashed in the middle of the race. He was off the track and still won the race.

I text AJ after the race and I said, there's another one for the old buddy there. And he was, I mean, his interviews afterwards are so funny and so honest because he'll be complete. He's like, oh, yeah, I was terrible. And I was like, that's a racing driver. That's a true racing driver right there. But a great race, honestly. I thought, you know, to see the racing that did go on, apart from everyone hitting each other in turn one was great.

I would like to see less 30 car accidents in turn one at Portland. I think there were a little bit. Obviously, it was wet and there were mixed conditions. But every time I watched the restart, it felt like 30 people were crashing. So I wish they could have, you know, maybe clean that up a little bit. But it was a couple of great battles for AJ. a lot of guys basically got to the end of that race with no pieces left on their race cars, which is, you know, that's a very NASCAR and very NASCAR road race.

We saw a couple big birds, right? Was that Almond Day? Who was that? Oh, no. That was Sheldon Creed, I believe. He was flipping some birds. Nice. You know what?

I respect that. If you got to throw out the birds, you know what? Just make sure it's worth it. You got to, yeah. I mean, he was like, it looked like he was risking a lot to be out there flipping the double birds. So good on you, man. I mean, hey, that's what makes. It's what makes NASCAR so great.

Like, that's the emotion we want to see. If someone got wrecked in IndyCar over the weekend, I would want to see them jumping out and throwing fists or throwing stuff, throwing birds. Like, that's emotion. That's, we love what we do. We want to win the race. And if someone wrecks you, they should hear about it. Hey, indie cars on the big. bird. We talked about it this weekend again. Let's see, let's see some birds, huh? A couple birds.

We obviously respect, you know, respect the crowd and everything like that, but you know what? If you're mad, sometimes you've got to let the people know. All right, anything else from Gateway. I was watching IndyCar and I had family in town, so I was not on the screen for a lot of the NASCAR. Well, there's a lot. And obviously, I was participating in our own motor race, so I did not I did not get to see most of it, but I watched a lot of it. And what I find interesting about the Cup series at Gateway is, you know, having race there myself and having not actually seen Cup Cars race there, I was very curious to see how they would race. And honestly, I think they race really well. I enjoyed the last stint watching Kyle Busch run like one lane higher than Joey Lagano.

And he was on the edge and Joey was trying to find clean air. and that track really, it's not that wide for us. In IndyCar, we're kind of locked down to the bottom. And, you know, we're also full throttle through three and four and qualifying. And like, you know, those guys are lifting, downshifting a lot. But, you know, we're breaking for term one. But we're not necessarily doing a ton of, you know, two and three wide racing. So it looks like the track actually suited them really well.

And it's by far one of my favorite oval tracks. but the whole Denny Hamlin thing and Ross Chastain, I mean, there was a lot to go on there, Joey, and I don't know if you saw the whole thing, but it's one thing that I can promise you would never happen in an IndyCar race because, first of all, our races aren't four hours, and also it just wouldn't ever happen that way.

But I mean, Ross Chastain is obviously very talented, and I think I was going to get into this for, for one reason because I think a guy like that, because he has now won races and because he is a competitor every weekend, he can almost get away with that a little bit better because I think people respect drivers who have won. Obviously, if you're going out there and just, credibility, yeah. Exactly. If you're going out there and just wrecking people, but you're not a winner, well, then you're just a loser. Then that's just like, all right, why are you even like, what's going on here. Because like I always feel like if I in my scenario in IndyCar, right,

if someone if someone forces me off the track or if someone, you know, wrecks me and like you would never get out of the car and and say, oh, well, Scott Dixon's an idiot because first of all, he's not going to wreck you. And second of all, he's not an idiot because he's got six championships. Right. So like, and I have no race wins in IndyCar yet. Right. So like I always find myself, I would never ever want to say anything about anyone who I might have tangled with that, like, that is already a proven success story. And like, I haven't won a race yet. You know what I mean? Like, I've been on podium. We've done all that stuff. But like, I kind of know where I should and shouldn't say anything. And, you know, what's interesting in NASCAR is I think that

Ross can, and I love the, I do think Ross at times goes over the, you know, top. I do. And I like Ross a lot. And I like Justin. How so? Well, because I think, I mean, he's winning races. So again, it's very hard for me to say that because like I like Ross. Ross, I talked to Ross before he got, you know, all the big chances that he got and he deserved to get those chances. Chip Ganesi saw the success in him. The guys winning everything in trucks, you know, Xfinity Cup. But like, there's just an interesting time where I think he, I think it's just a different era of driver. He's going to be that guy that you know is either going to win or he's going to,

the car is going to end up on fire flipping upside down across the finish line. And I think the fans like that, I think that's very cool. But to drive against that, like, that's tough because you know that like, look, there are people that are going to race you fair. I think there are people in IndyCar that you know that around. But there are also guys that in NASCAR, I'm sure, know, hey, look, this guy's going race me fair. This guy's not going to race me fair. Like we obviously know that Joey Lugano, not afraid to punt people out of the way, right?

Like, we saw that at several places, Darlington specifically. And it's obviously way more common in NASCAR to use a little bit of the bumper, totally understandable. But what Denny did and like what Chase Elliott did, like just basically trying to bother Ross the rest of the race, I like it. I mean, it's like I would do, I feel like I would do the same thing. I would because what was interesting about Denny, what Denny said as well is he never hit Ross, right? Just really just was out there to annoy it.

And like, honest, yeah, exactly. And I kind of respect that. He didn't go out there and he didn't drive the guy into the fence. You know, Ross still had a chance at the end. He had, I mean, he finished strong. But it was, it was very interesting to see. And again, it creates a story. There's emotion.

there's nothing after our IndyCar race that said, oh, well, who's going to fight who? Because no one, no one hit each other. It was a good race. He had great racing. But with that NASCAR race, there was such a huge story and so much great Twitter interaction like Justin Marks and Denny Hamlin's Twitter interaction. Like, I really enjoy that. I'm like, boom, here we go. Emotion, emotion, emotion.

And I just think NASCAR succeeds so well in that department. And do you want to see people reckon people intentionally? Absolutely not. I don't like that in any sport, like any form of motorsport, but obviously it's more prevalent in NASCAR. I just, and maybe that's always the way it's going to be. I don't know. But I like seeing that type of story. I like that people are out there, you know, driving hard. Maybe maybe maybe a little bit less driving into each other. But that's, again, it's such a great, like strong point that NASCAR has, honestly. Yeah, a lot of flavor, a lot of personality. A lot of flavor. Yeah, for sure.

And it was on full-fledged this week. I feel like Denny's always kind of in the mix. Oh, yeah. Denny's always involved in some stuff. Well, and Denny's always going to probably be at the front, too. You know what I mean? Denny is like one of the most talented guys, I think, in NASCAR. And, you know, Ross is definitely a rising star of NASCAR.

And I think, you know, he's going to have many more wins in front of him, as is Denny. Right. So those guys, if we see a Ross versus Denny battle at the end of the year at the championship, guess who's going to be tuned in? Me, I can't wait to see it. You know what I mean? So it's a great, it's a great rivalry sport, something that I wish we had more of an IndyCar, but definitely an interesting, just an interesting race there.

And it may be, can't wait to get back to Gateway. That track does a great job selling tickets. They do an incredible job promoting. and many, many racetracks, I think, could learn from Gateway, well, whatever it is called. I don't even, I don't think it was called Gateway anymore. It's called Worldwide Technology Raceway Center or whatever. But it's, they could learn from them because they do such a great job. You guys will be there when?

Are you going? Yeah, somewhere in July. I don't know. No, I don't, I don't even know. It's somewhere on our schedule. So hopefully we'll see everyone. Yeah. Late July, August, the flames will be going up.

It'd be a great time. All right. Let's get into some listener. questions here from Aaron George. How did the start of the race not get called off? 12th back single file up there at Bell Isle. That is a great question and I believe that it will come up at our driver's meeting for sure. You know, we were not starting that far back. And I was, I looked at the onboard video yesterday. I was full throttle, full attack from turn eight all the way around to the green flat and like was not lifting like trying to

catch the pack. So it's on the drivers. Like it's up like I think I saw even Colton had a big gap to the guys in front of them. I don't know who else had a big gap, but we can't just let that happen. It just, it looks awful on us. And it, well, it also goes to show that we only do that to try to get heat in the tires, really. That's, that's the thing that happens. We're trying to warm the tires as much as possible. Every driver wants to go through a corner a little bit quicker to make sure we get a little bit of extra grip in the tires. But I was really disappointed in that start because I was full throttle and it takes away an opportunity in term one. Obviously, we catch the field immediately, both Rehnis and I am one and two. And I pass like three cars on the outside

into turn three. So it all worked out fine. But yeah, definitely something that I think we will be brought up in the driver's meeting. And I mean, I didn't catch the field. And I started 13th. There's 26 cars in the field. So I have no idea where 26. was, but I promise you they were nowhere near where they could have been for that race. So it's, you know, it was a shame to see that. We saw it barber. Yeah, they called it, made you go back around and bunch up and start again. You know, I thought it was interesting too.

Yeah. I think you watched the broadcast and there's actually a guy exit of turn two that still has the yellow flag out. So I watched the broadcast and I was like, oh my gosh, this guy is holding up the yellow flag, but we're all racing. And it was like a pretty like blatant yellow flag. I didn't see it in the car, obviously, because there's a bunch of dirt and crap flying everywhere.

But yeah, there was still a guy holding the yellow flag out exiting too. Interesting. Yeah, we love to see if that, you know, if we make up for that at Road America this weekend. From hounds and horsepower. Thoughts on standing starts first, rolling starts. I mean, coming off that. Yeah, I love standing starts back in the day. It was something I worked on so much when I was racing.

in Europe in GB3 and GP2. It was something that I was bad at. And my first year in GP3, I was awful at the standing starts. And then in 2012 and 2013, that was my best part of the race. I would make up a lot of positions on the start, just use the clutch and use the throttle, use the brake, like a launch pad. And I love it. I wish IndyCar did them.

Obviously, when we did, we had a bit of a chaotic mess. And I think in racing in America, everyone kind of knows that America is rolling starts two by two and obviously the ND500 three by three but I still would prefer us to have standing starts but again that'll never happen unless I don't know the moon turns pink I didn't does something yeah that's all right all right from crazy chuck 06 CDs radio comms whose voices are they and do you like more or less info he says a spotter cracks him up. I mean, so I guess like I posted a video on Instagram about the last, the last restart of the Indy 500, and you can hear my spotter comms on there, which I think is

really cool. And I, and one of my favorite parts of the NASCAR races when I watch is the segment where they just go basically on board with a bunch of guys and you hear the spotter communications, especially at tracks like Daytona, Talladega. I think the NASCAR spotters are just so talented. And a lot of those guys help us out for the Indy 500 as well. Um, And for us, honestly, the spotter is super important. Like, we only, we only can see so much in our mirrors. And I always, I always tell my spotters, the more communication, the better. I actually like a lot of, a lot of information, you know, anything that they can see that I can't see helps me.

And my spotter, you know, my main spotter is Packy, Packy Wheeler. He also basically sets up all the, all the Bell helmets. He works with Bell Helmets. And so he does a great job. He's been spotting for a long. time. And yeah, we had a great two spotters at the Indianapolis 500 this year. And I love working with those guys and I hope to have them back again next year. This is from Nathan. Dot Dustman. He just asks cheese curds. So that's all around Rhode America, Joe. So

when you go to Rhode America, you got to get feet. Oh, yeah, Wisconsin. Yeah, cheese. I get it. Look, I love cheese curds. Yeah. They're delicious. Tried cheese. Yeah. Who doesn't like fried cheese? I don't get it. Pretty simple. It's sad. Get some southwest chipolet sauce or some ranch in there. I mean, you're good. Man. How does that go for diabetes? Is that okay? You know, it's probably not encouraged for the diabetic community, but, you know, to each their own. For someone who's as in shape as you are, then cheese curds are, you know, fine.

Let's just say this. After the Detroit race, it was full green the whole way. So it was a battering on the body. I was driving home immediately and I stopped at a pilot truck stop. And not only did I get a foot long subway sandwich, but I also got a piece of pizza. So I was starving after that race. And I would have eaten anything in sight. And did I go with basically two meals? Yes, absolutely.

Wow, you did a subway from a gas station. That's how hungry you are. That's all you have to say. Subway from a gas station. I love, I mean, I love Subway. I love Subway. I'm not going to lie. I'm a big sandwich guy. I love subway too, but you have the gas station in there.

You know, it kind of muddles it up a little bit. All right, man. Truck stops are pretty elite these days. Let's be honest. Like, if you stop at a pilot, you can get anything you want in there. I've even bought Pokemon cards in one of those places one time. So, like, there's a wild amount of things that can come, dreams that come true at pilot gas stations and loves and whatever those places are.

Aces, yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right, man. You want to get into Ricky Truit? before I wrap up here. I know you said one o'clock you were out. Yeah, well, I mean, I got plenty of time, but yeah, I will be going to see a chiropractor later today because I, my neck after the Indy GP, I hit a curb and the curb strike went directly through my, well, my, my, my anus bone,

and through my spine, and I don't know what it has popped in my neck, but it has been wildly painful. So I'm going to go fix my broken neck today. That's important. Yeah, it's pretty important. And I don't know if we got to any of these Twitter. There was a couple Twitter questions as well that I thought I saw that I wanted to get in. Now it's kind of gone. Are you sure I can pull it back up here, bro?

No, no, no, no. So here, I got one right here. This is from Ryan Reynolds. Not the Ryan Reynolds. That's not the Ryan Reynolds. Yeah. He said with the way the championship. points are so stacked up. How many drivers do you think I have a legitimate shot at the championship

and who are your dark horse contenders? Joey, do you have any dark horses right now? Do you think are coming in hot and late in the championship? Well, let me pull up the updated standings here. I mean, you go. I'll go first with it if you want. Yeah, you go tougher. What's really interesting is that I've, I'm 100 points out of the lead and I'm 12. You know what I mean? And that's a pretty tight gap. If you look at how much race wins are worth, you have two, you know, you have two wins or you have, you know, a win in a top three, you have like two top fives. You close that gap pretty strongly. And I think right now, I'd be very curious to see who makes a late run. Like, does Graham Rahal make a late run? Graham Ray Hall is a guy who literally always finishes in the top five, but they've had a tough run.

So do they start hitting their stride? Does Graham Rayhall? start of resurgence. But right now, you know, Scott McLaughlin. Scott McLaughlin is, I think, a guy who will, again, start hitting his stride and perform really well. I was going to say, I mean, yeah. Yeah. He had obviously super, super strong start to the year.

But, I mean, you got Colton sitting there at 11th with the way that his Indy 500 just went to shit, you know, with, what was it, Long Beach, where he, you know, had a really good opportunity there. and send it to the wall. So I feel like he just hasn't had really that good. I mean, he won the GP, obviously, in Indy. So he's got that win under him. But we're just sitting there at 11th,

especially the way that he finished last year with the courses that are coming up and the tracks that are coming up for him. I mean, I feel like he put down on Colton Herder right there. That's kind of a no-brainer. It's true. I mean, Colton Herda, a guy that should have won Long Beach, a guy that probably should have had a great run in Indy.

I mean, when you have a tough day at Indie, that kills your championship real quickly. So Colton's definitely going to be a guy to keep an eye out on. And I think it's going to be very interesting to see how the rest of the championship plays out. You know, Road America is a great track to, you know, basic road course, but, you know, it's going to be very, very competitive. But then we, you know, then we have a couple weeks off. And, you know, then we go to mid-Ohio.

We go to, you know, we get back to oval racing. Once we get back to oval racing, the double-header at Iowa, two races at Iowa could massively swing the championship. So there will be a really interesting stuff to keep up with. I mean, Alex, we talked about him a lot this episode because of his podium finished over the weekend. He's seventh right now. We talked about come full circle, maybe he wrote America his last win in 2019.

And then he goes to mid-Ohio. I think he had a top five finish there last year. This guy sitting at seventh there. Got feel pretty good about that too. Yeah, there's a lot going on. Two and dreddy cards. So, yeah, for sure. I was good all I have.

I just know there were people and that was about it. So we can get straight into the old random Indy 500, the Ricky Treadway random Indy 500 driver of the week. Which, Connor, I did realize because old Billy Mac from Big Check race fans, he had me up over the weekend. He's like, do you have all the names for the Ricky Treadway random M500 driver of the week? I was like, I mean, not the top of my head, but we just go back and listen to the, what I'm saying,

Well, I'm saying this is because, I mean, this is episode 31. So we're coming up on a full ND 500 field of these drivers. So if there's anybody out there, maybe I'll do it in my free time, but you want to go through the list of everybody that we've done so we can compile a graphic, maybe a T-shirt. I don't know. It would be a sick T-shirt of the first ever inaugural Ricky Treadway, random E-500 driver field.

That would be sick. I do like that idea. I do like it a lot. So we went back several years to 1953. I looked this up. And one of our favorite drivers, I started in 1949 and went to 1950. And I kind of was just,

I was just looking around because our guy, Spider Webb was in all these races. And I was like, Spider Webb, I'm going to try to get it, you know, find another guy, but it's hard to miss his name.

But there's a name that I didn't really recognize, but he's, He finished fourth in 1953. And the interesting thing about 1953, only eight cars finished that race. It looks like only eight cars, at least eight cars were on the lead lap. And there were several other cars, but many, many crashes, many oil leaks, all kinds of things. And it just goes to show you how wild it was back then compared to how it is now. And our guy this weekend is Freddie Agabashian.

Freddie Agabashian sounds like he's not American, but he is. And his real name is Levan, apparently. Levon Fred Agabashian. And I don't know if I'm even saying that right. But, you know, that's a really interesting. Usually I feel like it goes the other way. You know, the nickname is something a little bit more flashy. But this guy, he got a little bit more of a flashier first name and then just went with Fred.

Exactly. Of old Freddie Agabashian. and yeah, I mean, he's a big midget racer. Obviously, everyone who was racing back then, though, they all race midgets. Like, everyone was a dirt racer, really good drivers. And qualified for his first Indy 500 in 1947. And he finished ninth in his first any. So this guy, he had a good couple runs.

He made the next 11 Indy 500. So many, many Indy 500s. And I've not heard of this. I've not heard this name before. So 50s Indy5. 100 history is apparently not my, not my, not your forte. It's all right. Yes.

It's not my forte. I think there's probably about four people on the planet that's their forte. So that's okay. You know what's funny is with his, his best finish in the Indy 500 was fourth. So he's got me covered, 1953. This is obviously the year. The extremely hot race day where he was relieved by Paul Russo. So he finished fourth.

But didn't do the whole race? I don't know. Very interesting. It doesn't count. Yeah. I'm not sure. So Paul Russo was actually a guy that I was, I was looking at as the, as the, as the, random Md500 driver of the week because he sounds like a gangster.

Paul Russo kind of. Hey, Paulie Russo. Oh, wait, no. You know what's funny is I see Paul Russo was in the same race. But Paul Russo finished 25th and was out of the race at lap 89. So maybe he, Freddie. old Freddy's still credited with the fourth place finish, even though Paul Russo might have finished the race.

That's wild. Dang. Can you imagine? Times are different back then. You hop out. Rainis was already out this year. Then Rainis finishes, you know, you're dehydrated or something. He just hops in, pit stop, grabs a helmet and goes.

Yeah, he finished six the next year. So he's right there with you in 1954. But I did see that he was a broadcast. And after his retirement, he did color commentary for the IMS radio network from 1959 to 1965 and then again from 1973 to 1977. Someone's going to tweet at me and say, how do you not know who Freddie Agabash? I get people. Someone's going to say that. And I, and again, this is for everyone, but it's also for me. I'm trying to learn myself. If I should know him, then you know what? I do now.

Yeah. And then come next April and May, everybody who lives, listen to the show is going to just be able to have super great small talk stories to be able to bring up about 1950s 8500 drivers around the track and everybody's going to be like wow this person really is cool they really know their stuff and it's going to be because of this show so it's a learning lesson for everybody right exactly good deal all right um connor will you go get your neck right bro because we need you to be good to go for road america this weekend and beyond um This has been Speed Street. Again, be sure to follow us on social media, Twitter, Instagram, at Speed Street Pod.

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