Speaker 1: This is off track.
Alex. Hello everybody. Welcome to Off Track with Generosity.
Alex, tell me about your flight home from Iowa.
Like, I want you to know that I heard from our friend Bobby
that weather had been a little bit suspect
and that you had a bit of a wild ride home
and then text you like, Hey man,
I heard your ride was a bit wild.
And I want the details
because what you said
to me makes like I nearly threw up in my mouth.
Speaker 2: No, I'm good. Speaker 1: I know you're good.
Now, why don't you describe to me
how you were doing it eight o'clock on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Fine. I was having lasagna with my wife and son, Alex.
Speaker 1: Six o'clock on Sunday. Alex answered the damn question.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to, Speaker 1: It was fine.
Why didn't you hit some weather?
Speaker 2: We picked our way through some weather.
We didn't hit weather. We, we, there was actually,
believe it or not, a window over Terre Haute.
So we, we flew south
of our trajectory to split the gap
between some storms and we did that.
And then we came around the southwest side of Indianapolis
and landed VFR, um, at executive.
Um, didn't even need any control or help
or approach or anything, so.
Speaker 1: Oh, so it wasn't even as fun
as when we came back from Barber or wherever it was?
Speaker 2: Uh, no, I mean it was, I i it was, uh, I mean,
I don't know that fun is, is a term that I would use for,
uh, what Sunday was,
but um, it was
coming back from Barbara was certainly more fun. Yes.
Speaker 1: Okay. All right. I, Speaker 2: I hear you.
What I experienced on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Got it. Got it, got it, got it, got it, got it.
Um, cool. All right, well that's good.
Yeah, I'm glad that you're here. I,
Speaker 2: I was really, I was really not super impressed with some
of our pilot friends
and their decision making,
considering they were in a much smaller aircraft, none
of whom are instrument rated, taking off from noon Iowa
and flying to Indie exec, thankfully.
Speaker 1: But did they, they stopped
somewhere, right? They had a pit
Speaker 2: Stop.
Well, they weren't until they texted, they were flying solo
to stay, you know, clear of clouds that they were able
to text me and they were like, Hey, how was it?
And I was like, not awesome.
And they were like, cool, we're gonna land in Illinois.
Um, so like, I don't know, like
I guess that's good decision making in the moment,
but also probably just shouldn't have left.
Speaker 1: It's that whole Titanic theory
that we talked about so many times. I
Speaker 2: Love it.
Yeah. But like, but like we were, we,
our plane is much larger, much faster with onboard weather
and two instrument pilots versus a much smaller,
less powerful, even less powerful
and smaller plane with no weather and no instrument pilots.
So I don't know.
Anyways, I'm not saying that what we did,
I would do it again, but certainly
they shouldn't have done what they did.
So fair that that's the, uh, that's the travel story, uh,
part of this podcast.
Um, let's talk about Iowa and um, you know, the people,
Speaker 1: I have so much travel, we this
Speaker 2: Show.
Speaker 1: Oh, I have so much travel to talk about. We don't
Speaker 2: So much travel to cover.
We don't have much time. We don't have that much
Speaker 1: Time.
I know, but Okay. Alright,
fine. We'll do that when you leave.
Speaker 2: Okay. We don't have that much time. I gotta go.
I got things to do. Uh, you look
Speaker 1: At, you're going golfing. Are you going golfing?
Speaker 2: I'm not. I'm going to the dentist. Uh, unfortunately.
Hey, me too. Um, , I golf this morning, hence. Oh,
Speaker 1: That's why. Okay.
Speaker 2: That's why. Yeah.
Um, let's talk about Iowa
because we may, we probably have to go through a lap
by lap dissertation of both races, considering I don't know
that anyone that listens to this podcast saw it
based on the TV numbers. ,
Speaker 1: Sorry James, don't
Speaker 2: Comment.
James's fault. It's not James's fault. It's not Fox's fault.
How are, is anyone supposed to know that there's, how,
who is gonna be able
to watch the race when no one knows the race exists?
Like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's Speaker 2: Therein lies the problem
that we've talked about at length.
We don't need to go into it.
Um, really disappointing to see the TV numbers, um,
Speaker 1: And the attendance Speaker 2: Numbers.
Huge. Disappointing to see the lack of attendance as well.
Um, you know, I think that we, uh,
we may be, I don't know that we, meaning James and I,
but I think we as a series, uh, underestimated the power
of a-list musicians, um,
and the effect that they would have on getting people
to a racetrack.
And, and so when said a-list musicians went away, um,
so did everyone else, and that just, it sucks
because it ended up being two pretty
decent races, I thought,
Speaker 1: Unfortunately.
But that's, that's the thing though, right? Is how much
of it is that the big music acts were,
were promoted and people knew they were gonna be there.
And so people showed up.
Like no, I'm not saying
that we would draw an Ed Sheeran crowd, were not as popular
as Ed Sheeran, but like he talked to people in the area.
It sounded like there was very little promotion done locally
and that, I don't know how you're supposed to know
that there's a race happening if you don't tell anybody.
So I don't know, man. I I'm with you.
I don't, I really don't wanna get into it.
We've, we've beat this one. We all have voiced our opinions.
They haven't changed because the actions haven't changed
of certain people and groups.
Um, and we move on with
what we're two like unexpectedly good races, I thought.
Yeah. I mean, you've not watched them, but, uh,
Speaker 2: I mean, I, Speaker 3: I, no, I think they were Would
Speaker 2: You classify them as good
or would you classify them as acceptable
because they are not good compared to Iowa of old?
It was not good compared to Gateway.
It was not, it was good compared to the absolute
atrocity that was last year.
But I wouldn't say that they were good races.
Speaker 1: So I would say that they were great races compared
to the atrocity of last year.
Okay. They were acceptable compared to Iowa of
days gone by.
But I'd say they were good on, on par with some
of the good races we've had this year in IndyCar. Yes, I
Speaker 2: Do think it was better, but I don't know
that it was like sensationally better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, definitely not. Sensationally better.
Um, I said I think it, I think it puts it on par
with like a decent IndyCar race in 2025.
Um, you had, you know, last stint passed
for the lead in race one in race two, you had no idea
who was gonna win, you know, until the end
because of the way the yellows were falling
and pit strategies and whatever.
So I think, I think the, the lack
of knowing who's gonna win the race is a big element,
even if like,
you're not just being spoiled passes, but is there any,
Speaker 2: Is there any oval race where you know who's gonna win?
Like even last year you can't say you knew who's gonna win.
Speaker 1: I mean, last year you like once, yeah,
once everything settled in you kind of knew
'cause there was literally no passing, but like Right, but
Speaker 2: There's still, there's, there's the whole ye there's
always a risk of a yellow right at Oval.
I mean, man, you
Speaker 1: Can't say sorry. We'll, okay,
Speaker 2: Race two from dead last, last
Speaker 1: Year.
Let me, let me, let me re Yeah, exactly.
We didn't know he was gonna win, right? And that, but
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying. Like, but
Speaker 1: You said, oh, you said it wasn't a good race.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Okay.
So, but you know what I mean, there was,
there was a race at the end,
Speaker 2: I guess I don't because I participated in it.
Right. And while it was easier, no, seriously,
while it was easier to use Lane two, um, while
there was certainly more comers
and goers, um, end of stint versus beginning of stint
and all this sort of thing, you were still driving this race
to extend your stint as long
as possible in the hopes of catching a yellow.
So it was the majority unless you
Speaker 1: Were a Chevy.
Speaker 2: What do you mean? You were just,
'cause you couldn't go as long,
doesn't mean you weren't trying to do
Speaker 1: It.
Nope. Patto, Joseph Lucas, those guys didn't pit on fuel.
They pit tried to do an undercut
and it absolutely hosts them.
Well, let's, we'll get to race two
and how those guys literally went against conventional
wisdom on short tracks.
But yes, I see what you're trying to say.
Speaker 2: Right. But it didn't work.
What I'm saying is like the strategy was to go long. Yeah.
Was to try and catch a yellow.
You also were driving again to a
regulated right front tire
temperature, sidewalk temperature.
You were getting told from the timing stand, all right,
you gotta back down for the next six or seven laps
because your tire's about to explode.
If you don't back down, tire's gonna fail.
We had tire failures in both races.
My point is that while this could have been visually a bit
of a better race than it was in 2024,
it was still nowhere near
what it should be from a series of our standards.
It's nowhere near where it should be.
With the amount of effort that went into the testing
that was done last off season, the test
that was done three weeks ago leading into this race, all
of the conversations that were had,
I guess I'm just frustrated.
This has nothing to do with my results in the car.
It was still bull. It was not fun.
It was just like, it was not racing. Racing.
It wasn't, it wasn't good. Um, yeah.
So that's, that's where I'm saying like,
it wasn't really that much different.
Speaker 1: Okay. I think that's all totally valid and totally fair.
I think the, the difference is 99.9%
of people watching at home don't know any of that.
And visually just the product was such a big step forward
from last year that I think it
would, it kind of got everybody happy.
And also, like even just talking, you know,
coming into this race this weekend, last weekend,
we weren't super optimistic it was gonna be much better
after the test
and then the decisions that were made based on arrow
and engine and tire and whatever.
But the second lane came in more than we thought.
We saw some good side-by-side racing.
Did we see 275 laps worth? No, we didn't.
We had stretches that were kind of dull.
But that's, that's a lot of races, right?
So, um,
I didn't think it was like decidedly worse than a bunch
of the races that we've had this year, you know? Um,
Speaker 2: I mean, but maybe that's just that,
but that's the outside lies the problem there.
No, but therein lies the problem.
Like it is just been, this year's been tough. Like
Speaker 1: This year has been tough.
We have had some boring races,
but like if people cared about the drivers,
they would tune in either way.
So the quality of the racing is still not the problem.
We can all sit here and argue
that it could be better or it should be better.
But there are other racing series whose racing is far
inferior in terms of an entertainment standpoint.
And they do just fine
because people know who say Elliot is, people know
who Orlando Norris is and they care about those
Speaker 2: People.
Yeah. I mean, I mean that brings up an interesting point.
I, I was so disappointed
and maybe I'm just not in a good mood today,
but it is what it is.
Um, I was so disappointed to see the video from Yes.
In Ohio Yes. Of Kyle Kirkwood was Yes.
In Plains clothes and he was going around, um,
various campsites and, and kind of being undercover, right?
And being like, Hey, can you name
the three Andretti drivers?
And Kyle was the one asking this
and the majority of everyone was like, uh,
Colton Herda and then crickets. And it's like
Speaker 1: If they even got Colton, Speaker 2: If they even got Colton.
But my point is, we are at an Indy car race.
This was at the, this wasn't the city,
this was at the track.
This is your second most successful driver of the season
by a factor of three mm-hmm .
Right. Driving for one of the largest
and most predominant organizations in the championship.
Speaker 1: Arguably the most famous name in North American
racing. Yeah. In
Speaker 4: Front of your face.
And you don't know that it's him.
Speaker 1: Not only did you not know what he looks like, you didn't
Speaker 2: Know his name, you can't name Exactly.
Speaker 1: Yes. It was horrendous.
It's embarrassing that, that was funny.
Speaker 5: Insane. We don't know how many people they went
and talked to that did know it that they didn't show.
'cause that was kind of the joke
was that they didn't know who he was. Like
Speaker 1: If you, if you wanna dress him up in costume
and make him not look like him and do that, that's funny.
Newgarden did this at indie 10 years ago
and they put prosthetics on his face.
It was brilliant. It looks nothing.
I talked to him, I had no idea it was him.
It was unbelievable. It was really funny. They
Speaker 5: Did it with Scottie Mack and Joseph.
Not like dressed up at Nashville,
but it was out like on Broadway.
So I guess it wasn't at a track.
So I remember them doing this two years ago. Dude,
Speaker 2: This isn't James James's point is it has nothing to do
with recognizing Kyle or not.
It's, they can't name 380 drivers at the
Speaker 1: Racetrack.
Nobody cares about the drivers
because nobody knows who the drivers are.
Only the one got popular once all the drivers got really
well known because there was cameras in their houses
and going on vacation with them.
And there's a reason why companies spent
a lot of money marketing stuff.
It works. And our product is our drivers.
It's not our cars, it's not our races, it's our drivers.
And we're not doing that at all.
And it's really, it's really bad.
And like what the little bit
that has been done this year has been,
actually I'm gonna get myself in trouble
so I'm just gonna stop there.
Um, anyway, race one was,
uh, exactly what everybody thought it was gonna be.
The Joseph show from Pole, just doing Joseph things.
So he came into the weekend with six wins at this track.
I would like to draw attention to that race in 2022 that
Patto mentioned when we spoke to him on Tuesday
where Josie was leading and he crashed.
So probably should have been seven.
Uh, I wanna point to 2014 when he finished second
to Hunter Ray, you know, like a last lap kind of thing.
So like, yeah, fine, he lost, he didn't win that one
but like was right up there.
Um, and then I feel like, so yeah, seven fine.
And then this weekend should've won both should've won both
LED 200 and something lapse, lemme lemme rephrase that.
Could've won both, uh, LED 200
and something laps in race won.
And ultimately it was the green flag pit cycle
that, that got him there.
Pata just did an unbelievable job on the in lap.
He stayed out a lap longer, did the Overcut,
which is usually not more powerful in Iowa than the
undercut, but he just made it up on the apron.
Kudos to him. Uh, pit stops for within a 10th of a second.
So it wasn't on pit lane, it was really on the apron.
And then Pat's defense on the out lap was like just perfect.
So could have won that one.
That would've put 'em up to, it should have been eight.
And then you look at what happened to him on Sunday
and man, the amount of bad luck that
that organization in general is having right now is
really tough to understand.
Like it's, it's tough to comprehend
how much stuff is going wrong.
Obviously Saturday was great for them, 2, 3, 4.
And then Sunday McLaughlin gets taken out on lap one
will has a mechanical problem
and then Joseph gets caught in pit lane
when a yellow comes out.
We first time he drives his way back up to the front
bleeding again, happens again with like 20 laps to go.
Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
That said, why is Joseph so good there, Alex?
Because he is still, he didn't win either race,
but he could have won both easily.
What is it that is
so different even compared
to his teammates? I don't know that
Speaker 2: I have an answer for that James.
Um, I will say that this weekend
he seemed much more beatable than he has in years past.
Um, so I do think that with the repave
and the lack in comparison of Tire day
to years past, um, people have been able
to close the gap to him.
Um, because before it was a foregone conclusion and,
and all 25 drivers knew it going into it that like,
I'll give Joseph two wins.
Like it's just not, there's no,
there's no competing with him.
Um, and it was really his way of being able to still get
through traffic as tires kind
of begged and that sort of thing.
And, and his just confidence in his ability in the car and,
and lane usage and and that sort of thing.
Um, as that's kind of gotten easier for everyone,
like the Gap has certainly closed.
But yeah, I mean he's still, you can't argue
that he's not still the benchmark, um,
but it doesn't feel as dire as it has in the past.
Like before there was like no answers.
Like who, like you just, you
Speaker 1: The gap was so big Speaker 2: You feel inept.
Yeah. And now it's like you can look at things here
and there and be like, oh yeah, I can see, I can see how
that can, could be a difference maker.
But um, no, you, you can't take away what he really,
he can do on all ovals.
I mean he should have won Gateway this year. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He shoulda have won Gateway could have won like a hundred
laps into the race at Indy.
He had come from last to fifth, so like Right, right.
He was gonna be in the conversation at Indy. Of
Speaker 2: Course.
Um, and really, and we've talked about this
before, it, it was kind of a surprise that it took him
so long to figure Indy out with, with his kind
of dominance on all other ovals, whether
that be short or not.
Like he was, he was Lights outta Texas too. Mm-hmm .
Um, so, you know, it was only a matter of time
and obviously we saw with two back to back five hundreds.
He's, he's just, he is the guy on ovals.
Like it's not, it's not Iowa specific.
Um, it used to be Iowa by a mile,
but no, I mean we're gonna go to Milwaukee
and he's gonna be the guy, we're gonna go
to Nashville, he's gonna be the guy.
Um, and we all just gotta pull our heads out
and we're <inaudible> figure out
how to make him not the guy.
Um, because, because that's the reality of the situation. So
Speaker 1: Remind everybody we went in with lower power, um,
but a hundred, a hundred less horsepower.
Um, we went in with the downforce, you know,
downforce numbers maybe a bit higher,
but the, the big thing was
that they moved downforce off the floor
and onto the top side of the car.
So they took off things like barge boards
and strikes, which generates downforce from the floor
and just added good old fashioned rear wing,
move it to the top of the car.
Um, and then a little bit of a different right front tire
to address some of the concerns with that,
that comes from the higher down force and whatever.
Um, and I,
and I think overall drivers seemed a little bit more
comfortable running in dirty air,
a little bit more comfortable using the second lane.
How much of it do you think is the package versus the,
the track just sort of weathering for a year
and in the second lane being a bit better?
Speaker 2: I think it's, I think the, the big,
the big win was the lower boost.
Um, you know, having
the lower approach speeds to the corners, um, allows you
to have a bit more margin on balance.
Um, a slightly bigger window there where you're not
so on knife edge going, you know,
10 plus miles an hour quicker into the corner.
Um, and I think the weathering of the track,
you know, willpower brought that up.
I I hadn't put two and two together,
but I think that makes, that makes some sense
because certainly, you know, the discrepancy between
lane one and lane two was, was lower than it was last year.
Um, but ultimately the big thing
and my opinion of this ever since really the beginning of
this whole dilemma, um, with the repave was really,
it had nothing to do with,
because people talk about, oh, only lane one was rep pave.
That's actually not true. Lane one and two.
Yeah, it's is repaved.
Um, the difference is, you know, no one wanted
to use lane one in 2023 and earlier,
or sorry, no one wanted to run Lane two in 2023
and earlier Iowa either.
But as the tires fell off so much and you were going 2, 3, 4
and a half, four seconds elapsed slower,
lane two became an option
because you could still go quicker than a car
that was struggling even on the less preferred line. Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah. It was still less grip
up there, but it was just, yeah,
Speaker 2: Right.
But it was like if you were doing better than the car in
front of you, you could afford to go on the lesser grip
because you had more grip in your tires.
The problem with last year was there was no dig,
so Lane two is never an option
because it's more distance, the balance is worse
and no one is falling off.
You're doing 18 whatevers in perpetuity. Right?
So Lane two is never gonna come in obviously.
So 2025,
I don't really think anything changed other than the balance
window was a little bit bigger 'cause you were going slower.
And number two, there was a little bit more dig
because the cornering speeds and forces were higher
because we had more downforce
and we were going slower into the corner.
So you were asking more of the tire
and thus when you were doing 30 laps in a row in 18 five,
it was actually more taxing on the tires.
And so you would start to have to slow down a little bit,
which allowed cars that were either had saved in the
beginning of the stint or were set up a little bit better
to start going to that lane one and a half
and getting half a wing and clean air and,
and able to keep it clean and,
and start getting that kind of groove going.
And that's what you saw. You didn't see a full blown lane
two for 275 laps.
Right. You saw it as a, as an option when guys were,
you know, coming up on laps cars
or when they were just better than the car in
front or, or what have you.
Or there was, there was four cars in a line down on lane
one, if you were the fifth car in line, you could move up to
that lane one and a half and make it work.
So I, I think that's truly what you saw,
which was a result of, of a lot of factors.
Um, but again, like I still think, you know,
we had tire failures in the race.
We didn't solve that problem.
We were still driving to a temperature limit.
So we have not quite figured out the, uh,
the solution to the puzzle that again, is critical
as I am of the situation.
It was not brought on by IndyCar.
Like this wasn't this, and I've said this time
and time again, this wasn't anyone's fault.
Um, but we are nowhere near having a solution
for the problem that was presented to us, unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Well hopefully with two races worth of data
and feedback that as a, as a conglomerate,
everyone can get together and,
and make some calls that kind of help that problem out.
Um, I know a lot of people were asking, excuse me,
are asking about, you know, if I was
even gonna be back on the schedule.
The rumor going around is
that there is another year on the contract likely
to be just one race next year was the rumor.
I don't know if this was actually put out anywhere
or if this was just rumors.
I don't know. I I may be repeating something
that was put at a press release as speculation.
I have no idea. Um, and we don't fact check on the show.
So, and then, but though the one thing, so on the way home,
'cause my travel stories allowed me a lot
of extra time on the way home, uh,
I just put out a tweet saying, you know, Hey,
what everybody think of the races in Iowa.
The response was overwhelmingly positive.
Everybody thought they were two really good races.
That's awesome. Okay. The, the, the two things
that were in almost every response, like an overwhelming,
if there was a hundred responses, 90 of them said
rather it was one race and rather it was Saturday night
because everybody's like,
racists were great, nobody was there.
Like everybody, I didn't ask about attendance.
Everybody just decided to throw in the fact
that they noticed there was nobody watching in person.
And a number of those people mentioned, they're like, yeah,
it's the middle of July in the Midwest who wants to sit
outside for two and a half hours at noon?
And so the, the calls for the night race were plentiful.
Now I don't know if that puts us in a position
where next year it's like, if we wanna be on network,
we have to be during the day because nighttime primetime,
those are harder windows to get.
Obviously we got it for Gateway.
Um, I don't know, I don't know if that's the issue. Issue.
Speaker 2: Network window really helped us here, Val.
Speaker 1: Fair enough. And so do we take an FS one spot
but make sure we can put it at as a night race and
'cause I mean, do you, do you feel
that a night race would help all of these causes?
Just lower track temps means lower tire temps. Yeah. Maybe.
And helps the second lane. I
Speaker 2: I think, I think any, I don't know that anyone has ever
gone to or watched a night race on an oval in IndyCar
and been like, that sucked LA or I wish we didn't do.
I wish we did it at noon.
Speaker 1: That's the thing. Like I, I can't think
of any track we've been to.
Speaker 2: Everyone wants, everyone wants a short oval night race
or a big oval night race.
Like Texas at night was sick. Like everyone wants that.
Speaker 1: That was the point I made to somebody was I don't,
I can't think of any oval that we run at night
and in the day where I preferred the day race, dude,
even in it close, even Indy two years ago when we started
like five hours late, that
Speaker 2: Was better. Pretty missed the night. It
Speaker 1: Was almost the night race the closest we've had
to race. And it was great.
Speaker 2: Great. And honestly and honestly this year might
as well have been night with how cold it was and overcast.
Like it was 50 degrees and cloudy so it was pretty dark. Um,
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, all os are better at night without a doubt.
Speaker 1: So hopefully that's something that can be taken into
account moving forward.
Uh, alright. Toronto coming up, uh, we're in the middle
of this slog that is July back
to back to back to back to back.
How do we feel? Yeah, what do you think?
Speaker 2: I'm excited to get back to Toronto.
Um, I'm excited to get back
'cause I only did one practice session last year
and uh, I just want, I don't,
I that that's weird.
Like I've never missed a race in my career.
Um, I don't like that I did miss a race
and so as much as it was just a, a little broken thumb,
like I feel like I've got, uh,
unfinished business maybe is the right term there
because um, I just wanna go back and,
and do the whole weekend.
I don't know. So there's some excitement there.
Um, other than that, it's one of my
favorite cities, um, but least favorite tracks.
So we got that going for us. Um, so yeah, we'll see
Speaker 1: This is like, not like Portland, which is one
of your least favorite tracks and one
of your least favorite cities, so it could be worse.
Right, right. It be worse. Well
Speaker 2: At least we got that coming up.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Um, so based on Detroit
confidence level, like
where do you think, where are you gonna qualify? We
Speaker 2: Will, dude, here's what's so wild about this season
is like we are in this 11th
to 15th place Purgatory
hell, Speaker 1: .
Speaker 2: Um, and it's crazy.
Like even even Iowa, we had a super strong test.
We were, we had a really good practice one and we go out
and we qualify 12th and 15th
and I'm just like, how, how are we just stuck in this bubble
of mediocrity?
Um, little did I know what was
to come over the next two races and 12th
and 15th would've been pretty sick, but I digress .
Um, so I think, I think we will qualify,
uh, 11th to 16th.
Like that is, that just kind of seems to be our pace.
Um, which is, is not horrible.
Um, but you know, we, we, we still need to take a big step.
Um, I I think street courses are not our, our thing.
Um, but that being said,
our best results this year have come on street courses.
Um, so it may not feel that it's
that good while I'm out there,
but we're, we're getting, you know, top tens and,
and you know, knocking on the door,
our top fives on street courses.
So I guess that's something to look forward to.
Um, and hopefully that we can end this part of the season
in the same vein that we've been for the other three of 'em.
Speaker 1: So let's say, uh, top 10
and qualifying top five in the race's
Speaker 2: Goal.
That would be awesome. I would,
I would feel pretty, pretty pumped about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Pretty neat about that.
Did is, are Kelly and Ben coming?
Speaker 2: Kelly and Ben are coming. Um, Kelly. Nice.
So this will be, well he's not going to the race.
Neither is Kelly. But this will be the first,
uh, trip they've taken.
Um, or we all have taken
as a family, so that's pretty exciting.
She's obviously going because uh,
all her family is quite close to the city, so she's gonna
go introduce Ben to all of his cousins and aunts
and uncles and that sort of thing, which is pretty nice.
Speaker 1: Sounds fun. Okay, nice.
Um, Tim, what are you doing this weekend? Well,
Speaker 5: I was gonna go to, to Toronto,
but I broke my jaw, uh, somehow.
And so I'm gonna relax a little bit and let that heal
and catch you guys in Laguna Seca.
Speaker 1: Why don't you go ahead and explain to the crowd
how you broke your jaw.
Speaker 5: I dunno. Uh, I was flying out to go visit our,
our friend Marco last week.
And I had a pretty severe tooth pain while I was flying out
and couldn't find a dentist that could see me last week in,
uh, in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Not a bustling metropolis old Nazareth.
And got back home yesterday, had an appointment,
figured like worst case scenario I was gonna need
to get a root canal 'cause it felt like the nerve was dying,
got an x-ray and I have somehow broken the root of one
of my teeth and had a hairline fracture on my jaw.
Mm-hmm . They were like the, the dentist was like,
you fall, did you get in a fight?
I was like, no, , I don't have any bruising
that would indicate an impact.
'cause it's right over here. It's like a little
swollen. They, I have no idea.
Speaker 1: So the working theory fall that you grind your teeth
so aggressively at night that you broke your own jaw
and broke the nerve in a tooth.
Speaker 5: So that's, well, I broke the actual,
like the nerve is okay.
I broke the tooth, the,
Speaker 1: The root.
Sorry, you broke the tooth and the jaw still bad. Still bad.
Speaker 5: I, the other thing is, I had a dental procedure
with these guys like a month ago
and they had the thing that like props your mouth open.
So the only other theory I would have is
maybe they broke it.
Speaker 1: So two things on that.
Uh, uh,
does your lawyer work on retainer or percentage?
Percentage? And why are you going back to the same
Speaker 5: Dentist?
I'm gonna a different dentist.
Like I went to them
because I just figured it was a root
canal and they're like, it's broken.
And they're like, uh, sorry,
the only fix is the most expensive option.
So I was like, you know, I'm not sure it's their fault,
but it might be their fault.
So I'm going to a different dentist
today for a second opinion
Speaker 1: And then to a lawyer for, uh, some, some counsel
Speaker 2: On that Super uplifting note, guys, believe it
or not, um, you gotta go to the dentist to go
to the dentist, so,
Speaker 1: Well, I hope you have better luck than Tim.
Speaker 2: Well I can tell you my jaw isn't broken
and if it was, it wouldn't be for a lame reason.
Like sleeping might be
Speaker 5: I'll come up with something else. It might
Speaker 1: Be after this visit. You never know.
Speaker 5: I do love that. Like, my old joke has come true that most
of my injuries are re sleep related.
Speaker 2: Incredible. Speaker 5: I was flying out of Nazareth
or Allentown and I mm-hmm .
Was, uh, I had a pretty bad mood
because I was in pretty bad agony from my,
my tooth and everything.
And so I ordered some chicken tenders at the, uh,
at the Nazareth Air
or Allentown airport restaurant bar thing.
Okay. I got some chicken tenders, took a bite,
looked down completely uncooked chicken.
It had just been breaded
and like thrown in the boiler for a few seconds.
I was like, what? You know what? I finished this.
I ate a bite, you know, I don't, I'm going to get sick now.
And they're like, you'll be fine.
I was like, well I'm glad I have the medical opinion
of the person at the Allentown bar or slash restaurant,
but like, I, I don't,
I feel like there's a reason we don't eat raw chicken.
So I went and forced myself to throw up
and they were like, probably smart sir.
Like sir, I just want you to know
that like we check the temperature of the meat when we cook
with the meat thermometer, but it broke this morning.
I was like, see, just, you're just winging it.
You're just like, can
Speaker 1: Keep, he was like, yeah,
that feels like 1 65 had chip it.
Speaker 5: So that's the story of how I ate raw chicken.
Speaker 1: So did you get your meal for free?
Speaker 5: Uh, they comped it and then
they're like, do you want anything else?
It will be free. I was like, no. Like I don't I
Speaker 1: No longer, you've proven that your ability
to cook food adequately is quite poor or it's quite poor.
So, um, how was it the, we, like how,
how would you tell, what'd you do in Nazareth?
Did you just have a good weekend? It was
Speaker 5: Lowkey.
We played, this is gonna sound like I'm
lying, but this is actually true.
We played a lot of chess
and okay, I hung out with, uh, Marco's, Marco's baby
and Marissa was there with her baby and cool,
and Sage's wife brought over their baby.
So it was cool. It was a baby
and chess filled four days
and that was great. I had a great time with it.
Speaker 1: It's too many days for that list of activities. .
So I was flying out to Iowa
and I had, I had like tweeted
or Insta, I, I did, I tweeted it, um, some, some,
some delays that I had like
by travel, it wasn't that bad, right?
I had a connection somewhere Dallas.
And it was one of these things where like,
so like on the route to Dallas, we already got told
that our flight was delayed leaving Dallas to go to Iowa.
Fine. So you get there, burn some time in Dallas
and then we've gone through like the first two hours
of delay time to board.
So we board get on the plane, last person's on the plane,
they come on, they say, Hey,
turns out there's a maintenance issue with this plane
and it's gotta go into service.
So it's, it's, it's gonna go out of service
and into service maintenance, whatever.
We're like, cool. Awesome.
So we deplaned and during the deplaning process, I found out
that Brian heard I was on the flight.
And so Brian
and I were sitting there waiting for some updates.
So we're sitting in the gate and the guy comes over the
thing and goes, uh, okay, great news.
We have found a new plane. Uh, better news.
It's a bigger plane, so you guys are gonna have, you know,
more room and there's gonna be some free seats.
'cause there was a full flight. Now there's gonna be
some free seats in there.
Uh, so this is all great.
But, but eh, but
because it's a bigger plane,
we need an extra flight attendant.
So we found a plane,
but now we need to find one lone errand flight attendant.
Got it. No, I,
and then no further up, no follow further up on,
no further follow up on timing that it said,
we're gonna find one if you have any questions.
I'm going on break for 20 minutes, so don't ask.
And we're, I'm just like, why would he not just wait
until we knew all the information?
So anyway, so he says nothing, but then the app pings
and it tells us that we're now departing like
in another two hours.
Two hours. It's like, okay. So then Brian
and I go grab a bite tea, we come back,
we board the plane again, then the guy,
the last person's boarded captain comes on
and goes, uh, so guys, some not great news.
We have a light on in the cockpit.
And I was like, I looked at the guy,
I was like, he's he's messing with us.
That's this is this is that, that's funny.
That's, that's legit. Whatever.
And then he just keeps talking.
I was like, oh no, he is not, that's not a joke.
He's not, he's dead serious.
And he, so he is just like, yeah.
So we've got, um, we've got
maintenance coming out to take a look at it.
Hopefully we can just fix it here.
Hopefully, hopefully we can fix it.
Is words you always wanna hear when on a, yeah,
on an airplane thing to be muted.
So yeah, that's just always what you want
to hear, always what you wanna hear.
So we sit there for like another 30,
40 minutes, whatever it was.
He's like, okay, we got it sorted. So then we're like, fine.
So we closed the door, we start taxing
and we're taxing and we're taxing.
And then we taxied a bit more before we started taxing
and then subsequent taxing.
And then we pulled over and stopped.
And I was like, I've been here before too.
This is where they realized that they didn't fix the light
and we have to go back and probably depl again.
So we're sitting there and the guy
and then there's nothing, there's no
information, no updates.
We're just sitting there for like another half hour.
And then finally, whatever was the issue was resolved.
Maybe we were looking for a place in line.
'cause we were so late, I don't know.
But they didn't tell us anything.
So we eventually take off like seven hours late. Fine.
Here I was being like, you know,
I was complaining about my slight delay in
the grand scheme of life.
Not all that bad. While this was all happening,
we were getting regular updates from my friend
and colleague, Townsend Bell.
Townsend was also having some travel issues,
as a lot of people were this past week.
There was some crazy weather, whatever.
There was some weather, which we
didn't even even cover the tornado.
We didn't cover the tornado. It wasn't a real tornado.
I don't think it was over. It was exaggerated. It's fine.
Um, but a tornado did. Oh no it didn't.
I was, someone replied to like one of the tweets
of somebody posting a picture, like
that's actually just a something, something cloud.
And there was not actually a tornado looked,
Speaker 6: Uh, tornado to Speaker 1: Me.
It was definitely tornado adjacent.
So anyway, we proceed to get updates on Townsend's travel.
Those acute, uh, very aware listeners
and followers of Indy Carr watching Practice One would've
noted the absence of one Townsend ballot on the broadcast
when Townsend finally got to the track.
Um, I had him tell us the story.
I'm gonna play it for you now. I
Speaker 6: Left my house at 10:00 AM on Thursday. .
What time is it? What time is it? What time is it?
It's midday Saturday. It's noon on Saturday in Iowa. .
No way. Walk us through it. Wow. Uh, let's see.
Started out at LAX flight,
delayed weather in Denver was my connection.
Delays, delays, delays.
Finally boarded the plane, sat at the gate, closed the door,
opened the door, deplaned us, uh,
wouldn't make my connection.
So I was gonna spend the night at Denver Airport.
I said, okay, I'll just try to again tomorrow.
Went to Friday, went back
to the airports and went back home.
Had a great night. Went back to the airport.
Same thing happened. Boarded the plane.
Weather delays this time,
taxied all the way out to the runway.
Sat for two hours on the plane, came back
to the gate, deplaned us.
Now I'm getting a little worried about getting here.
So in a panic, I booked a ticket on Delta
that left in about 40 minutes on the opposite side of LAX,
which is about a mile and a half.
Started running to get that flight.
Got a text that the United flight was actually gonna leave
after all turned around, went back to the plane,
then they canceled that flight, .
So, so then I didn't have time
to get the delta that I bought.
So then I bought another Delta flight, red Eye to Detroit,
which was delayed.
Uh, got to Detroit, uh, had a three hour layover.
Then my flight to Des Moines was delayed as well
for mechanical loose wire.
So that took about an hour and a half to fix.
And finally I'm here. Yay.
Speaker 5: You got the whole gamut, man.
That's so my takeaway there is God didn't want
Townsend on the broadcast.
Speaker 1: Uh, , I think the takeaway there was
nobody wanted anybody to be in Iowa for that race.
Yeah.
Speaker 5: Um, Speaker 1: But yes, I,
Speaker 5: And it, and it seems that people took the message.
Speaker 1: A lot of people got the message .
Um, but you know, I think it was one of those like nice, uh,
moments of, uh,
bringing everything into perspective when I
was complaining about a slight delay.
I just got in late the same day.
Townsend took like, took four, eight hours to get
to Iowa from la.
So it was comically bad.
Speaker 5: Well, onto Toronto, your ancestral homeland,
Speaker 1: My all Speaker 5: From your backdrop
and lack of good gear that you were already there.
Speaker 1: Yes. I do apologize for forgetting my gear.
Uh, that was on me , but you know, we packed for Iowa
and then I flew straight to Toronto.
We do this weekend I fly from Toronto straight to Laguna.
So I was, I was packed for a while
and I just, it, I it's, I don't know.
It skipped it. Skipped my thing.
I might send Alex to the house to go pick it up actually,
so we can have it for next week.
Speaker 5: Oh, are you not? 'cause are you going straight from
Toronto to straight to
Speaker 1: Laguna?
I literally just said that. Yeah, I'm sorry.
So that's, that's on you if it's, I'm
Speaker 5: In a lot of pain. Speaker 1: .
Well, well, um, um,
is it really good if I have my equipment?
Yeah, that would be good. Okay. I'll ask him to go get it.
Uh, so yes, excited always to come back.
Um, you know, this was the race that made me fall in love
with the sport, made me fall in love with IndyCar.
And uh, it's always fun and exciting coming back.
So we're here now.
Becky and I, Becky drove, excuse me, on Sunday
and then I flew here, met her here
and had more delays coming back.
Actually I had like a four hour delay in Chicago
coming back from Iowa.
So I walked, um, I think I walked like over three miles
around O'Hare airport.
So here's the other part of my travel story.
This is kind of the fun part.
I haven't told anybody this yet.
So check in in Iowa, fly to Chicago. Four hour delay.
So I don't like just sitting,
like I didn't wanna just go to the lounge and whatever.
I don't wanna, so I had a quick bite to eat
and I just started walking and I walked in
and out of every terminal, I walked by every gate at O'Hare
and walked around for like three miles, got back to my gate,
sat down and then, uh, like, okay, it's time to board
now at this point it's like two 30
in the morning or something stupid.
No, no, it's one 30 in the morning.
And we've walked, I've walked literally in
and out of the entire airport stand up like,
all right everybody get your passports ready.
We're boarding the flight to Toronto.
Tim, I can't find my passport.
, my passport sits in the same pocket of my pan.
I used it to check in in Des Moines.
I put it in my pocket that I always put it in. So
Speaker 5: You had to retrace your steps,
Speaker 1: Tim, you couldn't even try.
I had 10 minutes to board and I had three miles to cover.
And so I was just like, oh my God. Oh my god. What?
So my options were don't get on the plane.
Retrace three miles of steps in the middle
of the night at O'Hare.
Probably would've gotten some looks from the security
and the staff that's like there getting the place ready
for tomorrow and not even know if I'm gonna find it
or get on the plane using my other passport.
'cause I have dual citizenship with the UK
and go get a new passport.
When I got to Canada, the irony was Monday morning I had an
appointment with the embassy
because I had to renew that passport.
It was almost expired. That's part
of the reason I came straight here,
was to get it done early.
Yeah. So now I'm not doing a passport renewal.
I've gotta do a whole new, because you've gotta
send in your old passport. Yeah,
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, Speaker 1: Yeah.
So now it's like a whole, and so I was just like,
oh my God, this is awful.
So I, I showed my other id, the guy let me on the plane.
I landed, I go to customs, you know,
I've got Nexus, but I skipped out.
I just go straight to the, to the thing to talk to a person.
I was like, hi. Pretty sure I lost
my passport and my connection.
And they're like, got it.
So whatever filled out whatever paperwork got me through.
And so now I've been going.
But, but to do a full passport,
full new passport. You know what you need
Speaker 5: Your birth certificate then? Birth
Speaker 1: Certificate.
Do you know what's not in Toronto with me?
And it's at my home in Indianapolis.
Speaker 5: Oh, fun. Speaker 1: So good friend Bobby Delve, swung by my house,
uh, yesterday morning and Monday morning.
Grabbed it, threw it in the mail.
It should be here as we're recording.
It should be here by now. It's not.
And, uh, I have to run to the embassy
and go get an emergency redone passport.
Speaker 5: Okay, well, uh, have fun with that. It's nice to see
Speaker 1: That. I won't, I promise you I won't.
Speaker 5: It's nice to see for once, uh, it benefited a Canadian
to be part of the
Commonwealth Speaker 1: .
I'm not gonna dignify that statement with a response. Yes.
All right. So wish me luck at the Passport office.
I'll wish you luck with whatever you've got going on.
And I hope the new dentist is better than the last one.
Speaker 7: This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi.
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