Speaker 1: This is, is off track.
Hello and welcome to another episode
of Off Track with Hinch and Rossi.
Hi guys. It's like, it's over.
Speaker 2: Thank God, Detroit. Speaker 1: It's finally over. No way.
But yes, Detroit always, but I was just referring to May.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Speaker 1: May. Mm-hmm.
I know it's officially June, but like,
because we just have races.
Do you remember when we used to like go
to Road America next week or Texas or something
and like there wasn't even a break one year after Detroit,
Speaker 2: Wasn't it Indy?
No, it was no.
'cause Texas, they always, they always wanted to noval
before indie in the good old days. No, no,
Speaker 1: No.
But no. But yeah, old days, yes.
But then I, I wanna say we used,
'cause it used to be in June, I feel like we used
to go Detroit to Texas.
Speaker 2: No. Too hot. Maybe COVID days.
Speaker 1: Dude. Do you remember 21 when we got the week
off after Indy?
It was the greatest thing ever. I think it was 21.
Speaker 2: It was 20. 'cause we did it in August.
Speaker 1: No, no. 'cause 'cause it wasn't the same.
It was, I I feel like it was 21. Mm whatever.
We did it once and it was glorious
and I was like, oh, this is
clearly gonna be the new norm. This,
Speaker 2: It's all stupid.
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. Still Speaker 3: Feeling sick, Alex. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I'm not great. Speaker 1: Did you fly your airplane to Detroit?
Speaker 2: I did. It's, it is weird.
You don't recover from sickness when you don't really
sleep or have any
Speaker 1: Time.
Why is she sleeping, pal recover.
Speaker 2: Oh, just, you know, just partying a
lot, lot of time at Envy, .
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the full phase of,
of just constantly having somebody in the house being sick.
It, it does go away eventually in parenting.
I've been told it has not yet.
For me there's just like, it's a rolling basis of I'm sick
or Hazel sick or her mom is sick
and we just, it just feels like it's continually passed
amongst our two places. Yeah.
Speaker 2: No, it's fun Speaker 1: And yeah, you're,
you're well over a decade into that process, so
that's fun for everybody involved.
Um, I guess, I guess we should talk about Detroit,
unless there's anything not Detroit related.
Do you want to cover first?
Speaker 2: I don't think there was anything of interest
going into the weekend, right?
Speaker 1: Not that we didn't cover. I don't know. Did we cover,
Speaker 2: We did that stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought so. Speaker 2: So I mean, I guess the,
the one announcement going into the weekend was,
uh, Dale Coin racing.
Dale Coin hired a bunch of people,
Michael Cannon returns and someone else.
Speaker 1: Mike Culver, who's another experienced guy.
I've, I've worked with Mike before.
He's, he's done, I mean he's
worked a bunch of mini car teams.
I worked with him on Month of May programs when, uh,
he would come run like the third car at
Schmidt back in the day or whatever.
Um, but no, he was, he's great man. Super nice guy.
And, uh, very experienced engineer.
So yeah, they, the, the question that we were kind
of talking about over the weekend on it, I,
on the broadcast at least,
'cause I never got the chance to get down to,
to Dale's place to ask was like, was this kind
of always the plan?
Because obviously we know that Mike Cannon had signed
for Prema and then if it was December or January
or something, it was announced that he was leaving for
what I like to say artistic differences.
Um, that's
Speaker 2: A good way of putting it.
Speaker 1: So like if, let's say if it was December,
like six month gardening leave
kind of puts you to the end of May.
So maybe that was always sort of on the cards.
Uh, and then Colver had a month
of May program he was running.
I think he ran Jack in, uh, in Indie at Dryer.
So he would've been committed through May.
So maybe the plan with the two guys they had was always
going to be swap it out.
Um, 'cause you'd hard, it'd be hard
to argue it based on performance when, like Rena said,
two top tens coming into the 500
and was, he was like 10th in points.
So I don't think it was performance related necessarily.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna just assume
that's why I have no official, uh, reasoning to say that.
So please don't take that as gospel.
Anybody in the paddock
that would no different. Please don't yell at me.
Speaker 2: That's, no, that's, that's good assumptions.
We do a lot of that on this podcast.
We try and make our best educated guests
Speaker 1: On.
Yeah. But then I chunk things,
but I, I'm occasionally reminded
how many people in the paddock listen to the podcast
and much as we shake be like,
these guys are <inaudible> morons.
Like, how do they not know what's happening?
And they're like, it's one thing,
like we can sound smart enough to people
that aren't in IndyCar,
but a lot of people in IndyCar listen to this
and it's like, oh, you
Speaker 2: Guys.
But I think, I think, I think everyone knows, uh,
almost eight years on that we are <inaudible> morons. True.
Speaker 1: Yeah. True. Speaker 3: We have not done anything
to hide that. Right.
Speaker 1: No, I, I think more than anything they just accept
that it's looks like a gross lack of effort
or preparation going into these shows.
Like we could easily figure some of these things out,
but we make most of this stuff up on the fly and
Speaker 2: Have no interest in really getting
the real information either.
Speaker 3: No, no, no. I don't wanna deal work.
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. Speaker 2: Could you imagine actually being like a
journalist and like having to actually no.
Speaker 3: Sounds exhausting,
Speaker 2: Corroborate stories and such. No, thank
Speaker 1: You.
You need at least three sources. No. Mm, no.
Or like having a plan, like a run of show
Speaker 2: My head Speaker 1: , right?
Speaker 3: Yeah. Speaker 1: Pretty good. It's pretty, it's better than WikiEd
Speaker 2: Your work the opposite of what James is
thinking. Speaker 3: ,
I didn't know that I had this opinion
until James had a different opinion and now
Speaker 1: Until we established what James' opinion was,
now I know exactly what
Speaker 2: I think. No, I'm not talented.
Relapse. Speaker 1: .
Um, so that was yeah, kind
of the defacto news I think going into the weekend.
Um, I heard this rumor that
we might be going back to Bell Isle. No,
Speaker 2: It's a, it's a dumb, it's no, no. So, okay. There
Speaker 1: Is, Speaker 3: So is it Yes.
Speaker 1: No, I'm gonna take the opposite stance here.
I think we're going back to Bell Isles.
Speaker 2: We are not, uh, so last year, um, okay,
so the Ren center, the, the GM building,
Speaker 1: The Renaissance san
Speaker 2: Uh, the, the race goes around as kind of a,
a flagship skyline affecting building of Detroit,
uh, was built back in the seventies.
Um, and Ford actually built it.
I found this out this weekend,
which I thought was very interesting
and GM actually bought it during the recession from Ford
as like a kind of a, you we have more money
so we can buy your building anyways.
Um, which is what a what a power move.
Um, but it was built in the seventies, uh,
obviously not LEED certified.
Um, incredibly inefficient building from a and
Speaker 1: Whoever designed it was clearly on drugs.
It is so difficult to navigate that thing.
It looks like it oh, for is made for Dr. Seuss's brain.
Like none of the floors get, go to it, wind up.
It makes no sense. It's the dumbest building I've
Speaker 2: Ever been.
That's not what I, I wasn't talking about efficiency in
terms of getting somewhere. I was talking about efficiency
Speaker 1: I'm saying as Speaker 2: Well. Right,
Speaker 1: Right. Um,
Speaker 2: It's falling apart.
I got the whole inside scoop falling apart.
Um, no one really wants to work on it.
The cost, the, the amount it would cost to bring it like up
to today's standards is like triple what it would cost
to just tear it down and start over. Um,
Speaker 1: Now who's laughing?
Ford first? GM ,
Speaker 2: Right?
So, uh, there was, there was a lot of rumors in last year,
um, in 24 that the reen was gonna close.
Um, and that demolition was essentially gonna start
and thus you couldn't have a racetrack
around a demolition site, construction reasons.
Right. And all of that was on, was kind
of on a, on a trajectory.
Um, but like a lot of these things, it's not just one person
that is making these decisions
and it's actually, it's a, it's a vote
and the city's involved and council's involved
and it's not just, there's
a lot of different things going on.
So it seems that the conclusion that has been come
that has, we have gotten to between GM and the city and
and all involved is waiting until the end of 2027
to tear it down because there is a college basketball,
I believe tournament coming into town or football.
One of them, a college sports tournament is coming into town
and they don't wanna like evaporate the skyline.
Um, so after that it would be torn down,
which is why I believe we just signed a three year extension
to continue going back there.
Speaker 1: So we will be going back to Lyle just not next
Speaker 2: Year.
Well, not until 27 at the earliest, potentially 28. Right.
Speaker 1: You made it sound like that was a really dumb thing
to say, but I feel like, sorry,
Speaker 2: That because there Speaker 1: Was a year ago it was
Speaker 2: No, no, because there was a period of time
where like this was the end.
Like this year was the end because it was coming down, so.
Speaker 1: Got it, got it.
Speaker 2: We're not going back to Baille next
year. Next year unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Right. But there might be a chance we're going
back at some point knowing
Speaker 2: How we do things though, as a series,
we just won't race to Detroit.
I mean, what if you had that weekend after the 500 off or
Speaker 1: National? Oh, Tim, you
Speaker 2: Shut your mouth national speed away.
Speaker 1: Don't you dare. Don't you dare me.
Speaker 2: That'd be pretty tease med. Am I as action? Yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I wonder if we could do it.
Like, I know there's all these reasons why we haven't in the
past and I get them all and I agree with them all,
but like, I wonder if like, we could figure that out.
Speaker 2: Probably not. Anyways. Um,
Speaker 1: Good, good chat.
So we're backed in the streets.
We're back on our nine corner, 1.65 mile street circuit,
which on paper looks like the most
boring racetrack on Earth.
But the guys
after year one seemed to think
that it was, that it raced Okay.
And it was mildly entertaining to drive.
Is that how you felt going into this weekend?
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. No, I think it, it, it,
the novelty of it has worn off a little bit.
And I don't know if,
and I, I don't want to be these, this podcast
or these people that continually bring this up,
but like, I don't know if the hybrid just made it
just extra <inaudible>.
Right. Um, because there were, I don't mind bumps.
It was like the first year was, was way too bumpy.
Like it was just ridiculous. Right? Yeah.
Like it was actually like causing you headaches
and like back problems.
2024 was a pretty big step forward, like on the,
on the main street down to turn three
and it became kind of a passing opportunity even though
there was lots of shunts and it was like, it, they, they,
they fixed a lot of the really problematic areas.
Um, and then they actually took another step
and improved more problematic areas in 2025
with repaving a section
and continually to work on with the city and,
and trying to make it smoother, um,
to as much as they could.
And it just was a, it was just, I don't, I didn't talk
to one driver bar minus Kyle
or Colton who was like enjoying driving laps around there.
Like, it was just, it was just not, not fun.
Speaker 1: Like you could, you could feel a noticeable difference.
I mean, again, I it's hard for you.
I'm trying to, I'm trying to isolate
your situation specifically.
'cause you've switched teams and you had, I'm not,
not a great weekend, but like,
Speaker 2: Not, I'm not, I'm not really just referencing me,
like everyone I talk to is like,
I <inaudible> hate this place. Right.
Speaker 1: Even guys that Speaker 2: Enjoy it
Speaker 1: Before, it seems like it's been a noticeable
drop in correct.
Enjoyability, if that's a
Speaker 2: Word.
Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Um, Speaker 2: And so, uh, I,
I don't really know that there's a solution to it.
Like it's been brought up several times.
Um, if there's an option to extend it, um, there is not,
I mean like look at what,
what goes on in practice one, right?
Like, as much as that was great for the internet
and that was great comedy for tv,
we're talking about willpower getting,
we're talking about about Will just driving Kyle
through a corner and in front of a corner.
Like that is a product of this racetrack
and it being so entirely too small that it's just like,
it's just, it's, it's kind of a joke
and I don't, I don't know how else to say that,
but I think that was highlighted
in practice one by like Yeah.
What occurred. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: It's, it's funny that you've got like a,
you've got a track that is
so 1.65 miles, right?
By far the shortest road
and street course maybe that's ever been on the
IndyCar calendar, right? So like, I think for
Speaker 2: Reference, I think do this in the world
Speaker 1: Maybe, um, I wanna say, I wanna say Toronto's like 1.9,
like it's just under two.
So like a, a pretty sizable chunks,
like shorter than Toronto.
Um, but it's the same lap time basically as Toronto
because actually it's actually a little bit slower lap time
because the, the average corner speed is like
54 miles an hour. Surprised
Speaker 2: High. Honestly,
Speaker 1: There are nine corners.
One's in the thirties, which is turn three
one's in the sixties, which is turn two.
Every other corner is in the 51 to 58 mile an hour range.
Mm. Which is like, that's just very, it's,
it's a slow, it's a slow track. It's a slow track.
Speaker 2: I mean your first gear in every single corner bar one.
Speaker 1: And it looks like there are so many good like clips
of drivers trying
to get off corners just accelerating outta corners.
And the cars look like they've got a thousand horsepower
because everyone's just like for the
Speaker 2: Thing. Can't
Speaker 1: The thing watch on YouTube. I'm
Speaker 2: The thing that's, um, that, that's frustrating
and I think why it's maybe not enjoyable.
You, you pretty much summed it up, right?
You know, street courses are often about, you know,
a level of bravery and commitment.
Commitment, right. Um, that exists and,
and how much track you're willing to use
and how close you're willing to get to the walls
and, and all that sort of thing.
And while that certainly exists in like turn six, seven
with the chicane, like how much, like there's a lot of time
to be gained by getting very close to the apex walls,
which are not symmetrical and, and all this sort of thing.
The rest of the track is, is kind of just like, it's almost,
it's almost akin to driving in the wet
where you're just like trying
to make every straight as long as possible.
You Right. You're just trying to spend
as little time in the corner as you can
and break as late as you can
and be as straight on the exit as you can
because you're so, you're
so limited on longitudinal grip.
Right. And so the cornering phases are not actually
enjoyable 'cause you're not really, like,
you're not challenging the car mm-hmm .
In a lot of ways. Like all
of your challenges come from like just trying
to get the power down and then trying to stop.
So it's kind of like, it doesn't really reward a lot
of commitment.
I mean there is, there's certainly some,
especially qualifying of course, like to, to be fast,
you've gotta be committed.
But it's not in the same way that you're committed at a St.
Pete or a Long Beach or Toronto.
Um, or certainly at Bell Isle.
So I think that's probably why people feel that way. That's
Speaker 1: A good point.
That's a good point. You're right.
'cause yeah, you at 50 miles an hour you can kind
of just drive out to the exit.
Like you're not really
Speaker 2: Like Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's not about cars flowing more speed.
'cause it's like you just kind of,
Speaker 2: And these aren't like small cars, right?
Right. And there's some corners where like the, the width
of the car is about the width of the track.
Like turn one is like,
there's not really many options to be creative there.
Speaker 1: That was, that was one of the things
that was worried me going into the race is they switched the
restart zone to turn one
Speaker 2: Went surprisingly well. I thought it,
Speaker 1: It went surprisingly well.
Yeah, we did. We had the one issue with Polo
and Lucas. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 2: But like that, that can shoot,
Speaker 1: But that could have happened Speaker 2: Anywhere.
That could happen in St. Pete. Like that's not, and
Speaker 1: And, and the, the, the thing
that made it like really good is he ended up in, in like,
in my opinion, the worst position Polo did cake up against
the wall on a restart and the track
no one drove in the back of him.
Mm-hmm . Which is kind of the big concern in that you'd lead
to a track blockage pretty easily.
Speaker 2: And I think Speaker 1: Included that
Speaker 2: The reason for it, like on paper
when you think about it, right?
You're like, oh, why are we moving the restart zone
to an area that's even narrower, slower, tighter
and harder to pass cold, cold tires, right?
Yeah. Um, and it's, it's kind of the, the cause
and effect is, well, everyone's terrified
so no one's gonna make a lunge.
Whereas when you have turn three
and you've got an entire straight
to talk yourself into doing something and it's wide
and it's inviting and it's a big breaking zone
where you feel like you can get your s on the
table sort of thing.
And that's kind of the, the carnage
that we saw over two years.
So while it wasn't necessarily something
that you would think, oh, that makes perfect sense.
I think it ended up working out to be a really good change
for the race because I, I feel like the race,
like yeah, there was yellows.
Yeah, there was a red flag, but not
because of like stupid like wall had
to be repaired. Um, dude
Speaker 1: Race, it was the best race we've had
outside of Indy. Like
Speaker 2: Well, but also I think the best race at Detroit at that,
at that particular track. Yes.
Speaker 1: Yes, for sure. Um, okay, let's cover off your race
specifically and then we'll get into the broader,
Speaker 2: Don't much to say it, it was, it was horse .
Um, we sucked. Um, I, um, I mean we were just lost
for an entire three days, which is quite a weird feeling.
Um, Christian was doing a really good job.
I'm uh, he kicked my ass this weekend.
Like there's no, there's no, uh, other way to put it.
Um, and really sad for him that he didn't get a result, um,
Speaker 1: From it.
Yeah. What, what it was electrical issues took him out.
Speaker 2: No, it was a engine failure. Oh, got it.
TBD on, on the cause.
Um, but yeah, I mean that's a tough, it's a tough two weeks
for the team 'cause like the best car at Indy
and the best car at Detroit both had mechanicals.
Um, right. So that's, that's not fun.
Um, but that's motor sports, I don't think,
I mean there was no human error involved in either of those.
It's just component failures. Um, so yeah.
Uh, a big shame for him.
'cause I think he was gonna have a, a very solid,
there's someone running
by my house in a <inaudible> Java house 20 jersey.
That's wild .
Speaker 1: God, I hope they don't know that you live there.
And that's just what they, I can't tell you what's funny. If
Speaker 2: I, I would like that way more
Speaker 1: If they know, they're just like,
I'm gonna hope he is looking out the window
and he knows that I'm a fan or no,
Speaker 2: I hope, I hope he doesn't know I live here anyways.
Um, so I feel terrible for Christian.
'cause like he was on for a yeah, another sixth, seventh,
eighth place result, which would've been his two best, uh,
career results back to back.
Um, but yeah, uh, on on our side, we, we were just trying
to survive and we did.
And um, the team did a good job in pit lane
and we maximized our strategy as best we could.
We came away with 10th and it was one of those ones
where it's like, thank God you got something out of it. So
Speaker 1: Yeah.
You're like kind of can't believe you finished 10th.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we Speaker 3: Had
Speaker 2: Honestly no Right.
Inserted Speaker 3: . You've been in the top 10 now at every race
for this track, right? Well
Speaker 2: I was top five before this weekend for all
Speaker 3: Of them.
I was trying to be a, you
know, glass half, well because it was
Speaker 1: Kind of guy about, it was Dixon
had finished top five in both.
And I feel like Dixon also was,
Speaker 2: Was in top five.
Well, hey, he was 11th.
I passed him with two laps ago. So boom.
Speaker 1: So you're the only guy that's been, uh, yes,
Speaker 2: Correct.
Speaker 1: Oh no, that's not true. I guess others could have
been also top 10.
Doesn't matter. Doesn't
Speaker 2: Matter.
What's your point, Tim? That was it.
Speaker 3: I was just saying you've you've been top 10 all three
Speaker 1: Times just saying how much you like this place.
Speaker 2: No, I don't. It's just like, I just feel like I'm
the least stupid and I just don't
Speaker 1: Don't just don't hit stuff.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Fair.
Uh, okay, so race itself, um, it was,
it was an andretti weekend.
It was an andretti race to lose mm-hmm .
Uh, and they did not, um, Colton got pole.
Kyle should have got pole correct.
I think that's pretty safe to say. Yeah.
Um, it's, it's so tough, man. Do
Speaker 2: You know, do you know he was on, he was on for a 59 8.
Speaker 1: Was he really? Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's what, four tenths quicker? Six Six tenths quicker?
Yeah. Oh yeah. Four tenths quicker than the record,
but six tenths quicker than one.
It actually was, yeah, he was on it.
It was, look, there was no doubt about it.
I mean he and and Colton were kind of the, the class
of the field all weekend every session pretty much.
Um, but you gotta get it done.
Speaker 3: So this was another weekend of having the new tire rules.
Right. So this, how did you guys think
that affected qualifying? Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean the, the the, the new allocation.
So again, it seems like we're new rules every Yes.
Uh, NDGP was its own thing.
This was back to how it was in St. Pete and Long Beach.
So I don't think it affected qualifying at all.
Like all it does is allow guys to go green, green early.
Um, and if they make it to the fast
six, they don't have new.
And if you take the traditional route,
you have new and fast six.
So three of the cars in the fast six had new
and they were 1, 2, 3,
and the other three in the fast six had
used and they were 4, 5, 6. So, and
Speaker 1: Look, it's, it was a bit of a risk to try to get
through Q1 on, uh, on one set.
Speaker 2: Huge pace differential.
Speaker 1: 'cause there's a huge pace differential.
And also like, all you need is a poorly timed red, you know,
on when you're out on your soft tire run,
if you're doing the hards and the softs
and it can, it can totally bone you
because tires were taking a second to comp to temperatures.
So it wasn't necessarily just one and done God,
Speaker 2: Like most people.
How cold was it? It was
weird this entire weekend. It was weird.
Speaker 1: It was freezing. Yeah.
One of the practice sessions must have been
like FP two or something.
It was like 52 degrees and track temp of like 63.
Mm-hmm . So we were only 10 degrees over the bare minimum
that Firestone requires for cars to be on track.
It's like, man, what is happening? It's June mm-hmm .
What's going on? It's very strange.
Um, so anyway, it was a huge risk,
but those guys all got away with it
and yeah, they finished 1, 2, 3 in the, in Q3
because they had that extra set.
So kudos to them. Cool. And got it done.
Uh, Kyle tapped the wall, ended up P three, uh,
still ended up P three.
Incredible. And then, yeah,
on the race start itself
Speaker 2: Very clean.
Speaker 1: It was clean, it was, there was some good racing, right?
There was some guys getting their elbows out
and trying to make moves happen.
And um, Colin kind of got shuffled back a little bit.
Kyle sort of took the lead, which really set the tone.
Um, but yeah, I thought it was, yeah, it was good clean,
nice, nice start and kind of went off from there. I
Speaker 2: Was, I was, I was blown away with,
so obviously we know the street course tire, um,
the alternate is pretty weak.
Um, doesn't do a whole stint.
Um, and you know, it's a prime race.
Like that was pretty much like everyone knew that.
Um, and I was blown away.
So the top nine cars start on alternates
as you would expect, and then the majority of the field bar,
like three or four cars started on the prime.
And I'm, I'm very curious if everyone,
'cause this was me, right?
I started on the Prime was like, oh, I just want
to be the first car on the primes
because everyone's gonna be on alternates.
Right? And let's hope something works
because there's no way that starting on primes is the
correct decision yet the majority of the field did.
Speaker 1: Is that because they all had the same thought you did?
Speaker 2: No, that's what I'm saying. I think everyone was like, oh,
I'm gonna be the only guy doing this,
so I'm obviously gonna get a good result.
And then like 15 cars did it and you're like, the,
Speaker 1: The, the allocation came out
and you text the group, you're like, huh, that's not
what I thought was gonna happen.
And I Hmm. Don't love that. Yeah. .
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Very weird.
Like, so I guarantee, so, um,
Felix did the old mystery box, right?
Which have
Speaker 1: Oh, did you Speaker 2: Really?
You have 30 minutes after the end of a session,
um, to declare
Speaker 1: Of warmup. Of
Speaker 2: Of warmup.
Sorry to declare.
Oh, let's talk about things you have to do
after the end of a session. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm getting there late for your weigh in. What the
Speaker 2: Hell?
Oh, not late. I never went. So
Speaker 1: It still hasn't gone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so anyways, you have 30 minutes
after warmup to submit your tire declaration,
which is the tires that you choose to start the race on.
Um, it doesn't have to be used
or new, it just has to be primer alternate.
And if you don't submit, if basically it defaults
to the, um, less favored, less favorable tire choice.
So I guarantee Felix mystery boxed
thinking he was gonna get primed and he got alternates
and would've been so confused
because like he was, he started 15th, no, 14th,
right in front of me and like 10 cards
around him were all on primes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah. Anyways, thought that was
funny. Speaker 1: .
That's funny. What? Yeah, you, you,
'cause sometimes teams will do that, right?
They'll do it. You you call it mystery boss
'cause it's, you intentionally don't submit
'cause you want to just do the opposite
of the majority to try to do something different.
But yeah, when you kind of then get the, the curve ball
that it was definitely not the
choice he thought it was gonna be.
Um, so IndyCar announced
they will be implementing a new system
for tech and race control moving forward.
So they are, they are investigating a, uh,
independent third party to have
control over technical inspection, race officiating, all
that stuff as early as 2026, which I think
Alex, you'll, you can tell me.
But I think it's an incredibly positive move
and it's essentially what people have been
concerned about. And so
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
It's, I think once this proposed thing comes into effect,
a lot of, listen, there always be, will be issues.
I mean, formula One has an independent governing body called
the FIA and there's plenty of things that have gone on
where you think the FIA for sure as well for sure.
But this is, this is the step that needs to be taken
to make this a real race championship.
Like that's just reality of it.
So, um, I think it's very good news. I think it's exciting.
I think Doug is very serious about it happening, which means
Roger is very serious about it happening.
So it's all, it's all positive things going forward.
Let's get back to Scott and Nolan
because it's funny not what happened to Nolan.
Um, no.
Speaker 1: All the internet Speaker 2: Stuff after all the internet stuff.
Hilarious. So I saw it as Scott had a big run on him
and Nolan broke very early
and he, it's still Scott's fault in entirety
because when you go, we've talked about this,
you get hit from the back insurance insurance adjuster,
it doesn't matter what you do, right?
If you have the car that's driving
and hits the car in front of you, it's your fault.
Right? So Scott's fault a hundred percent,
but like I could see why he hit him,
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Like it Speaker 1: Wasn't some egregious, like miscalculation two
Speaker 2: On Scott's was deep early, so, right.
Yeah.
Speaker 1: Um, and yeah, that, that bled over into some, uh,
some internet fighting.
Speaker 2: So was it all, was it all, did Scott get chirpy back at TK
because of tk reposted it with just o okay then,
or was there something else?
I assumed because that, that didn't seem like enough
to really rile anyone up,
but it is Sure. Riled a lot of people
Speaker 1: Up.
Well, I think it riled Scott up and then Scott dove in
and then TK doubled down.
Mm. And
Speaker 3: So where do you guys, Speaker 1: I think it's
just escalated. Where
Speaker 3: Do you guys sit on that?
Because a lot of people seem to think that this is
not a great move for TK to do this,
but as the driver, is there some part of you that's like,
yeah, I want my team principal to go to bat for me?
Or is this just like a weird
Speaker 1: Distraction being published?
Nobody was, nobody was blame. Nobody was
blaming Nolan for anything.
Okay. Right. So like, yes, TPS should absolutely go to bat
for their drivers even when they're wrong.
Right. Nobody was talking about what, no one,
nobody was saying Nolan did anything wrong.
So it seemed like a weird
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thinkk started it with like a Oh,
you'd misjudged last week and or
Speaker 1: You No, I think it went on to that.
Okay. I think he just started with, oh, okay.
And then Scott said something, I forget
and then they started, yeah, they started talking about like
team manager, like, you know, Scott said,
you've got my number and Tony said something like, oh,
I was trying to find your team manager.
Oh wait, which like, yeah,
Speaker 3: That seemed, that seemed like a kind
of thing with the Yeah.
With those people losing their jobs
Speaker 1: Were referring.
Exactly. Um,
but like the bigger thing for me, man, like I get
that he's a, he's, I mean look, TK ISS a racer, right?
And you never lose that.
It doesn't matter how far outta the car you are.
And let's be honest, he was in the car in in May
driving Larson's car.
But I just, I am floored that he had the time
during the race from the pit stand to quote tweet
and shirt McLaughlin.
I'm like, I'm pretty sure that came out
during the race still.
Speaker 3: Well if he's on Nolan's stand, he had time, right?
Speaker 1: Yeah. I feel like you should have
been moved over to another stand. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Listen, I I think it, uh, Tony,
Tony is not the traditional team principal guy.
Like we've talked about his rise to this position.
Um, and he's not, I don't even,
and this is no disrespect to Tony whatsoever.
No, I don't even know that
that like other team principles in the paddock view him
as their peer as much as he's the,
he's the boss, but he's also the, the spokesperson
of the, the real boss.
And Tony will tell you that like he, he does what Zach says,
like he has an opinion and he can,
he can help influence Zach,
but Zach is making these decisions ultimately.
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whereas Chip is
not answering to anyone.
Ed is not answering to anyone.
Like, so anyways, uh, so that being said, Tony is,
Tony is who he is.
And so the tweet didn't bother me, um, at all
because like, I, it's not,
it wasn't disrespectful like this, the follow up one was,
and I'm sure he probably regrets that,
but like, it wasn't, it wasn't bad.
It was like, man, my guy just got dumped.
He was having a really good race
and it was through no fault of his own really.
And so you just put Oh, okay.
On a video that Fox, Twitter, IndyCar,
Fox IndyCar Twitter posted.
So it's like I don't have a problem with that. Um,
Speaker 1: I, yeah, it was the timing. I was more confused
about Speaker 2: .
I mean,
Speaker 1: Maybe not, I dunno what,
what I go on Twitter commercial breaks. So
Speaker 2: What is, what is any team principal
doing on a timing stand?
Not influencing the race?
Speaker 1: No, I guess not. I guess
Speaker 2: Not.
I mean, they're not, come on.
Speaker 1: No, no, I know. I I I'm not disagreeing.
Yeah. I guess if there Dale a caution
Speaker 2: Dale.
Dale is because Dale is actually calling a race,
but like Bobby ra hall ain't calling a race I feel like
Speaker 1: Aside from I feel like Chip.
Yeah, chip. Nope. Chimes in. I'm, Mike does Ed chimes in
Speaker 2: Ed, ed ed chimes in with opinions,
but he's not making defacto decisions.
Speaker 1: No, no, no. Yeah, yeah. But like you're part of the, it
Speaker 2: Doesn't matter.
I'm sorry. You can't, you can't have your
phone on you while you're doing that.
No like, it's not that hard to refresh Twitter. Dude.
, if I could do it in the car, I would. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Fair. Yeah. Didn't
Speaker 2: Santino get in trouble for that?
Yeah, well make it two things
he's gotten in trouble for anyways.
Um, so the other incident to happen was,
uh, definitely no fault of anyone's
and very thankful that everyone was good,
but having a IndyCar suspension failure, trust
Speaker 1: Me when you consider Right.
Speaker 2: Didn't think about that, but like when you consider,
when you consider how much we hit the walls
and bang off each other
and sort of thing, it's very surprising that like,
just under breaking it snapped
Speaker 1: And like, I still, I still don't know
exactly which part snapped.
I I'm sure it's been
said, I just haven't looked into it yet.
But like it was so bizarre.
Foster just hits the brakes at the end
of the back straight into three, right front collapses
spears into the wall, collects uh,
fro in a big hit man.
Like when you watch fros onboard, you know,
he's slowing down to said 30 miles an hour
that the apex speed is and turn three.
And then the guy just is accel like the feeling from
inside the car of being on the brakes turning in
and then all of a sudden accelerate to what must have been,
he must have been doing 60 miles
an hour when he hit the wall.
Like that must be the weirdest.
And he said, he's like, I didn't see it coming.
Like sometimes you like glance in your mirror
and you see a guy coming outta control, you're like,
ah, this is gonna suck.
He wasn't even, didn't see it.
He came from the other side of the car,
so didn't see him coming.
Just accelerates, smashes the wall sideways.
Worst way to hit it. And then from foster standpoint,
he hits the wall, has now no control of the car whatsoever
and is just staring at the gearbox of another car.
Like that's a terrifying feeling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean it's uh, how does
that happen, I guess is the question?
Like, is it
Speaker 1: Like, oh, do we think this could be a, a factor of
how bumpy the track is?
Speaker 2: I don't think you can rule that out. I would
Speaker 3: Prefer if we find a way to blame it on the hybrid.
I feel like we blame the hybrid for everything else.
Speaker 2: So I mean, extra weight is more s
stress on these components, dude. It's,
Speaker 1: It's just a mass equation.
It's inertia. Um, luckily everybody was okay.
Speaker 3: He's okay. Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah. Both guys were okay.
A little shook up, understandably, but then it's weird man.
'cause I mean obviously unrelated, but then both the 15
and the 30 had like wheel nut issues
of some kind. Dev lost a tire
Speaker 2: In the 90, Speaker 1: Maybe twice the 90 had a tire come off,
which was very strange.
Uh, he had the, the 15 couldn't get it
off or on or something.
They were hammering at wheel nuts.
So like again, is this, that one's weird
'cause there's like two teams had the same thing,
but then iot had the same thing, like you said.
So is this, is this something to do with the track
and the bumps and the whatever, like
that seems like a weird one but
Speaker 2: I feel like the promo one was just a new team situation.
Like they've been struggling with pit stops.
They were probably rushing 'cause he was, you know, in
for a good result, that sort of thing.
And just didn't get the wheel nut on.
Like that happened to me at McLaren last year at Bar. Right?
Like that happens. Yeah. Um, hilarious. Not hilarious.
It kind of hilarious that he hit the wall
and then apparently caught the wheel nut.
Like the wheel nut came into the cockpit.
Speaker 1: No. Speaker 2: Yeah. Which is .
He would've been like, oh, I know what happened.
Which would've been like such a sigh of relief
because like in that moment you're like, oh,
did I just on a cold tire stove this thing into the wall?
Right? And then when you realize the wheel nuts in your lap
and the tire's on the car, you're like, ha wasn't me.
I'm good. You guys are
assholes. Speaker 1: .
I'm a little more, I'm a little relieved.
I'm definitely more angry than I was.
Yeah, for sure. But I'm a little more relieved,
Speaker 2: Way less embarrassed. Speaker 1: .
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um,
Speaker 3: How, how fast does that come into your guys' minds when
you're, when that happens immediately?
Speaker 2: Oh, you immediately Speaker 1: Before, even
before you even hit the wall, like
as you're going towards the wall, you're like,
I cannot believe I balled this up.
This is insane. And then you hit it, you're like,
you have one job as a driver, it's to not hit stuff.
Okay. I guess you have more than that, but
Speaker 3: You're supposed to win and Speaker 1: It's the first thing to do.
You can't win if need sponsors. Right.
So like number one, once you're in the car,
'cause you have sponsors and then you get in the car, right?
It's a, it is a cycle here Tim. Um, so yeah.
Very bad day for RLL, which is unfortunate for them.
Speaker 2: It's great qualifying, I mean Graham huge. Yeah.
Returning to the fast six on not in DGP, uh, huge dude
Speaker 1: On a street circuit.
Like they've been pretty bad at street circuits.
So like it was, and then he had the engine penalty,
so I felt bad for him already
because yeah, he had to cop the penalty
and didn't get a start in the top six mm.
Um, that penalty promoted Palo up to fifth mm.
Soot had his first day not finishing first
or second in an IndyCar race through no fault of his own
Speaker 2: First day since 2022 Road America that he's DNF
Speaker 1: 2022, no, 2022, no Iowa.
He crashed in Iowa last year.
Maybe he, maybe they took it to the pits
and got back out lapsed down or something.
And so it wasn't qualified as a DNF, but I'm
Speaker 2: Like, well Nathan Brown, Nathan Brown, our guy.
I hope it was Nathan Brown.
Anyways, someone on the interwebs uh, said ties back
to our earlier conversation of not wanting
to do it. Yeah. Um, I think
Speaker 1: It's a box score thing.
Um, but yes, again, no fault zone.
Lucas just got into him kind of the same way.
I mean different but same as like Scott got into Nolan,
he ends up with the wall, still has a very healthy, healthy,
healthy, healthy, healthy lead.
I guess the bad thing for Palo is that the only other guy
that's won a race this year also won this race.
So, you know, points wise, had Kyle not been DQ in Indie,
he'd be, you know, like seconding the
championship and, and even closer.
Um, so there's that. What else happened? I don't know.
Speaker 2: Indy car memes is back in car.
Uh, Dave, David, David had a good weekend that
that got away from him.
Yeah. Um, great Qualifying
Speaker 1: A lot of room, Speaker 2: A lot of rumors swirling
around about old, old Dave Lucas
and uh, Willie P this weekend.
Who knows what's true. Obviously there's been a rumor now
for at least a year linking David to the 12 car
and a lot of people assumed that was a foregone conclusion
when he signed with Fot instead of MSR,
which is the Penske kind of satellite operation.
Um, but then Will is still doing really good things.
So I think that there was like,
oh well why would they replace him if Will is still
challenging for championships and wins every weekend.
Um, so yeah, that's kind of a another silly season thing
that's gonna come down our way.
'cause it's really, I mean Will is really the only free
agent this year of any sort
of notoriety.
I mean I feel like you've got your Connors
and your dev single guys, Louis Foster.
Right. But like Will is the one of the main guys
that is in a contract here.
Speaker 1: Is Ericsson in a contract
Speaker 2: Here?
No. Okay. That doesn't mean anything though. .
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, we do know that. We've
Speaker 2: Seen.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Um, so speaking of, of Willie p you know, going back
to practice and just unnecessarily inappropriately driving
into another car, did you watch the F1
race? Uh, or did hear about
Speaker 2: I know who you're talking about.
Yeah. Old Max, man,
Speaker 1: Tough luck bud.
You know, we've, we've talked up Max on this show a lot.
Love the guy. Rightfully so.
'cause I mean, I, I don't know,
I still think the most talented racing
driver on earth right now.
Oh, for sure. Um, I, I like him as a dude.
I think he's a good dude. But
that was not a good look getting told to
seat a position to George Russell late in the race.
And as he let George Russell
by just like rolled off the brakes
and intentionally crashed into him.
Now they both continued. It was two laps to go.
George got the place back
and fine Max deservedly so got a penalty.
But man, like that's, you just can't,
you just can't do that stuff man. And
Speaker 3: Now he's only one point away from
having a race band. Right.
Speaker 1: That's the other thing. I don't know when the first points
come off his license, but he's literally one point.
Could you imagine if the reigning world champion?
Speaker 2: Well here's the thing. Speaker 1: Misses a race
Speaker 2: Now.
Who the fuck are they putting
in? Speaker 1: . .
That is such a good point, man. Of all of it.
The most, the craziest thing about it is
they're literally out of drivers.
And I don't, I don't even know where you'd start. Yeah.
Hey, hey Dan. Be one more, one more. Yeah. . Sorry pal.
We need one more outta you. The beard. That's a great point.
I don't even know who's reserved for them anymore.
'cause they just keep pushing guys into race seats. So,
Speaker 2: Or death Speaker 1: Or, yeah.
Or, or, and their careers. Um, yeah, that's a great point.
So, or is Max at the point where he is like,
I don't think we're gonna win this championship.
I got a new kid at home. I'll just, I'm just gonna go like,
cut the track at Montreal, get a five second penalty
and one penalty point, and then take the next Dick Austria
off and just hang out with the wife
and kid for a weekend play
Speaker 2: More.
I racing. He is that level of, of uh, not giving a fuck.
Um, you bring up a, I don't know that you were trying
to make this connection, Tim, but you bring up a good point.
I do wonder how much of that was subconscious,
something he does in I racing
and it just, it just leaked out into real life
because we know how much time he spends on the sim
and how he lives on the sim.
I could very easily see like,
you get penalties in iRacing too.
I could very easily see him doing that as his like,
oh, I gave the place back.
So the, the AI computer shows that the car was in front you.
I just wonder if it was like a snap in his head.
Speaker 1: It's more like, yeah, just like the, it's just,
it's it's reps, right?
Like it's muscle memory.
Like in I racing people do like that all the time. Mm-hmm .
And I mean, they shouldn't do it there either,
but much, much, much lower, uh, video cost.
Video. Yeah, exactly. Much lower penalty.
But, uh, yeah, I mean, he came out apologized
for it. It's still, I mean,
Speaker 2: The next day.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And like, even, even the Apology wasn't the best,
but, um, yeah, I don't know man.
That's a, that's a tough one. And the fact again,
the fact that he's one point away
Speaker 2: Still love him, it's fine.
Uh, he's, there's no way he's gonna,
he he's gonna be walking on eggshells now. Uh, no.
Speaker 1: God no. Speaker 2: I want to, I mean, I didn't watch the race,
but I mean, holy shit, Oscar man,
he's it.
He's, he's the guy And that is, that is mind boggling
to say, um, just because of a, how good Lando is and b
because it's his third year.
Yeah. That's, and all of the questions
that were surrounding him, rightfully so.
Not because any fault of his own.
Like it's a lot to learn and that's a lot to take in, right.
Especially when you're at the pointy end
and you're being analyzed on every single decision you make.
And every single phase of the weekend is being critiqued.
Like he has risen to the occasion and above on all of them.
Like all it was all going into this year.
Like, so in 2024 it was like, alright, you gotta figure out
how to match Lando in race pace.
You kind of sorted that out.
But it was like pretty weak and qualified, not weak,
but Lando had his number on qualifying going in 2025.
You gotta, you gotta be in front of Lando
to be on the preferred strategy now
that you got the race pace figured out.
'cause you're not just gonna drive around him.
Tick that box. It's incredible. Is rated of development.
Speaker 1: And what I wanna like draw attention back to is,
'cause like he, you know, he's won five races now this year.
I, I don't remember if he's won them all from Pole,
but he's pretty much has won them all for Pole, right?
Like you drive away, you're in the, you're in a good car,
you have pole, you drive away and it's fine.
But there's been a lot of drivers that have been in
that position that once they're back in the <inaudible>
and they've gotta scrap it out.
They don't have the racecraft the same way.
But because he wasn't just up there like the last two years,
he's proven his racecraft is incredible
and his, his passing, his ability to overtake when he needs
to is I would say on par with the best out there.
You know, better than Lando on par
with Max on par with Alonzo.
'cause he's pulled off some pretty stout moves
and um, if he ever has to mix it up,
we know he is perfectly capable.
He hasn't really had to do it.
He just lives, he doesn't,
he has no peaks and valleys right?
That guy's, that guy's natural mentality is so even keeled
that he doesn't go up and down.
It's just he lives at this level
and what he's done is he's just raised that level so high
that it's now at a point where you can qualify and poll
and win Formula One races.
So it's really, really impressive to watch.
It's gotta be kind of frustrating and,
and getting to the point where it's frustrating
for Lando it's, it's five wins to two.
Still a lot of racing to go, no doubt.
But, um, yeah man, it's, it's gonna be interesting to see
how these two kind of fight it
out over the rest of the year.
Um, and what, you know, does that change Lando
for the better or for the worse?
Right? Does that make him find another gear and step it up
or does that start just eating away at 'em
and actually forcing 'em into more mistakes?
You know, it's, uh, it's gonna
be interesting to see how that plays out.
That all said, everybody's got a week off.
F one's not racing next week.
Any car's not racing next week?
How are you spending your time
Speaker 2: Off with my kid? It's weird to say.
Speaker 1: It's weird to say 'cause like, especially on here,
we've only been talking about it for like a couple weeks.
Speaker 2: Hmm. Speaker 1: Even though we knew it was coming for a while.
Um, so you're just hanging out at home and
Speaker 2: Changing Speaker 1: Diapers and Yeah, we're not, yeah,
Speaker 2: We're gonna hang at home, man.
Like this is, uh, June is a,
a fairly easy month, um, relative to July and August.
You know, it's, we have the first one off,
then two in a row, then weekend off,
and then, you know, hell's Fury comes upon us. ,
Speaker 1: Um, also known as July,
Speaker 2: Right?
So we are, yeah, we're just gonna chill at home this weekend
and recoup and get into a rhythm.
Um, and then Gateway, uh, we'll talk about it next week,
but super pumped about that night race.
Prime time Sunday night tv. Yeah. It's gonna be badass.
So, uh, yeah, lots to look forward to.
Speaker 1: Very exciting. I, um, decided to not take the weekend off.
Uh, I'm heading out to Western Canada to, uh,
Jacques Vov track out there for, uh, appreciation Day
for all the members out there at Area 27 went last
year was good fun.
Becky was supposed to come this year.
Becky went ahead and got a job.
So Becky's up in Toronto area working. Yeah. Yeah.
So again, she again
Speaker 2: Had to bail again.
I don't, I I don't know why you live it.
Speaker 1: M gonna have what? I bleep that out. .
Speaker 2: See? Yeah, see.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I know.
It's, uh, it's weird having, it's weird having a house.
It's just like a big hotel room at this point.
Um, and a laundry stop. But it's funny.
So Becky's working and she took Lucy, her little dog
with her, but I've got Sully the big guy.
And so the boys are just kind of hanging out this week,
having fun, going on walks.
We're gonna go swimming tomorrow.
We're gonna get in the pool. In the pool. So yeah.
So I'll be out there, uh, driving cars and,
and chatting people and,
and hanging with, with jv, which is actually cool.
He was like one of my childhood heroes growing up.
And it's fun to like get to bull about the good old days.
I love talking to old racing drivers
because like, I realize I am one now,
but older ones than me.
'cause they've got cool stories. Uh,
not like Hunter Ray old, that's just like, no,
you got nothing in common with him.
Mm-hmm . Like, it's weird, um, trying to talk to him.
But, uh, yeah man, that's, that's the weekend.
So excited to go out there. Gonna miss Becky.
Uh, wish she was coming, but she's working hard.
Speaker 2: Miss Becky, I think we'll all miss, miss Becky. Don't
Speaker 1: Worry.
She'll be back soon and then we'll all hang out.
We'll come visit little, little Benji.
Speaker 2: Hmm. Speaker 1: Little, uh, little, little benjay.
Speaker 2: Tim won't be there, right? No.
Speaker 1: Oh, Speaker 2: I'm coming. God, no. I've love babies. It
Speaker 1: Was nice getting to Tim's mom's place and stepdad's place
and seeing them and playing some
bocce the other day. That was fun.
Speaker 2: All right, well see you guys next week. God
Speaker 1: Willing, this has been off track with Hinch
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