Speaker 1: This is, is off track.
Hello everybody. Welcome to Off Track with Hinch
or Rossi on today's Tuesday episode.
We amazingly have a guest who was, um,
I imagine tricked into being here and,
and agreeing to be on the show,
but we are endlessly appreciative for that.
Uh, our guest today is Mr. Barry Wanzer, who
among many other things you guys might know, uh,
his beautiful voice from radio messages to
and from Alex Palolo as he's the strategist on the 10 Stand
for your Reigning Champion
and Championship leader. Barry, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: Thanks, guys. Nice. Uh,
it's fun being here. Looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we, we were just chatting,
this is maybe your second podcast you've ever been a guest
on, uh, beat, beat to the Punch by Dinner with Racers
as is pretty standard.
They do a really good job
and have been doing it for a while.
But, um, you're, you're starting
to get into listening to podcasts as well. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
I listened to a few of the episodes that you guys have done.
The, uh, certainly don't want after to say Pete and Thermal
and The Seabring.
'cause you know, obviously we're very much
SA fans at Ganley Racing.
You know, we just don't have a program this year.
But it's, it's fun to watch and, and,
and keep up to date on
everything that everyone's talking about.
So, but, uh, yeah, let's, like I told, like I told dinner
with racers, you guys must be running out people to talk to.
If you're, if you're asking me,
Speaker 1: You're, you'd be shocked
and amazed how,
how few people we've actually had on the show.
So no, you're right near the top.
But I mean, I gotta be, I gotta
be honest, I gotta ask this question.
Are you starting to listen to podcasts
because there's like an active driver on it
and maybe he'll slip up some insider info from the team
or from Chevy or something?
Or is this just general racing curiosity
Speaker 2: Really, you know, general racing curiosity
and I, you know, it's what, uh, it's what we do is,
what I love is racing and, uh, especially IndyCar racing.
And, you know, I've been with, uh, chip for 28 years
and it's, it's IndyCar.
So hearing somebody talk about it, um, talk about it, um,
with the personal experience
and understanding like you guys have
with the actual driving the current car.
That's, you know, I think that's, uh, it's, uh,
very insightful and it's fun to listen to.
Speaker 1: That's kind of you to lie.
I mean, say, um, let's, uh, you talk about your,
your long tenure with Chip Asse racing.
Let's go back and give people a bit of an insight into kind
of where you came from and
how you got started in the sport in general. Uh,
Speaker 2: Without going all the way back,
but, uh, I, I, I came, uh, I came here to Indy, um, to work
for Chip Canac racing in 1997.
Um, I started as, as an Artie's gearbox guy
and won, we won the championship obviously in 97, 98.
Then I removed onto the chassis rear end of the chassis
for Montoya in 99. Um,
Speaker 1: That also went pretty well. It
Speaker 2: Did, started doing pit stops in 99, the, the Jack Vent
and, you know, when it was in the center of the car.
Um, and then was fortunate enough
to win my first Indy 500, won in 2000.
That was, that was pretty amazing.
Um, and then for 2001, um,
did some crew chiefing just at Indy.
And then 2002, I was Jeff Ward's crew chief when we, uh,
were learning the tracks in the Indie
Racing League at that time.
Um, you know, we were fortunate enough
to get a big win over Little Al in Texas that year.
I beat him at the line. Um,
and then 2003, I started, uh, the year
as Scott Dixon's crew chief
and our long longtime team manager,
Simon Hodgson hurt himself on his motorcycle.
And, um, Mike, uh, hall asked me to step in for the rest
of the year temporarily.
So it was just before Indy.
I took over the team manager role on Indy car side.
Um, but I still got to do pit stops on Dixon's car.
Ricky Davis was shop based
and he came back on the road to be his crew chief,
and I still gotta do pit stops.
So it was fun to win the championship in 2003 with Scott.
Um, but then in 2004 I was on the 10 car stand
and I've been there since 2004
and for 15 years I did, um, you know,
the strategist kinda shared the duties with, with Chip
and, uh, he, he taught me, you know, taught me how
to manage the process and, you know, it's, uh, it's,
it's one of the best things ever happened to me.
Speaker 1: So, I mean, how'd you get your start in racing your,
was your first job in racing at Chip Cani?
Or like, what were you doing before 97?
Speaker 2: So, uh, when I was in high, I was in first grade, just
for reference, just to,
Speaker 1: That's just a jerk thing to say. Well,
Speaker 2: Well, there, there's one thing worse than that.
The, um, the one, there's not a lot that's made me feel old,
but, uh, when Alex came on, when Paolo came on, uh,
on board, he was born the year I started with the team, so
I always know how old he is. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Yeah. .
Speaker 2: But, uh, yeah, in high school, um, just, uh, leading up to
before my, you know, freshman year when I was, you know,
a kid played year round sports
and at that time it's, you know, football, basketball,
baseball, and then when you get to high school,
you gotta make the team and, you know, like, uh,
I didn't think I ate enough over the summer
to make the football team, that's for sure.
Um, didn't make the basketball baseball team
and, um, some guys that were about, uh,
10 years older than me, you know,
two doors down from my parents' house,
were building a northeast dirt modified, um, to race in, uh,
in New York and where I'm from.
So our, my home track is Orange County Fair Speedway,
five eight mile dirt track in, in New York.
And did that for quite a few years.
And then, uh, got into, I, I went to work
for a guy full-time in, in dirt track racing
for a couple years, and that kind of opened up the doors
for me to go into drag racing.
So I, my first drag racing job was with the, uh, top Fuel,
uh, funny car, um, the Boston Strangler Top, top,
really sorry, top alcohol, funny car.
Um, worked there for about a year.
They lost their sponsor, you know,
classic racing stuff, so mm-hmm .
Um, then went, went with a small team in South Jersey,
and then from there I went to, uh, work for, uh, Joe Amato
and, uh, won my first professional championship in 1991,
top Fuel Championship.
So that was pretty awesome.
But, you know, I always thought growing up doing dirt track
racing, I'd end up in nascar,
but, um, that really never materialized drag racing did.
But then, you know,
drag racing is the ultimate mechanic sport.
Like I learned so much about working on cars Yeah.
You know, beyond what I already knew.
Um, and then, um,
but it, it's an incredible sport,
but to me there was so much effort
to watch the car run sub five seconds.
Right. And then you go work on it some more.
So I really was looking to just
Speaker 1: 45 minutes of disassembling, reassembling the engine
between runs for five seconds of Yeah.
Sub five seconds of entertainment.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, um, you know, took a few years off from racing
and then, uh, then was able to, uh, get back
and, uh, then, um, got an interview with, uh, Mike Hall
and Tom Anderson at the time, and, uh, and Nazareth
and, uh, came to work for them two weeks later.
So, uh, the rest is history as, as they say,
but, uh, it's been an incredible career, so, so far,
Speaker 1: Yeah.
So far and, and not finished, you still, uh,
still out there competing at the very highest level.
So let me ask you this then.
Coming from that coming of Dirt Track, you know, dirt,
short track, introduction to Motorsports, you went the,
the NHRA route you got in with the IndyCar team,
but Chip at some point did have, uh, a, a NASCAR team.
Was that ever an interest, you know, of, of yours to kind
of bug the boss and say like, Hey,
if there's an opening over there, I'd love
to give it a try? Yeah, so,
Speaker 2: Um, Andy Graves came,
that's when Andy Graves came on board to run the NASCAR team
after Chip, um, uh, purchased it.
And, um, we,
and Andy was involved with the Andy 500 program with Juan
that, you know, we had obviously a very
successful month to win the race.
Um, and then went to nascar.
And at that point we were, Andy was kind of recruiting me
to go down there and it's, it's something my wife
and I, you know, like for me it was like, man, this is,
this is what I dreamed about
when I was a kid, you know what I mean?
Like, to work in nascar.
So, um, it was a great opportunity, but,
and my, you know, Lori and I went down and looked around
and stuff, and it just felt like, you know, I've got
so many good things going on with IndyCar
and I love IndyCar racing.
Um, I'm just gonna, you know, I, I appreciated the offer,
but I'm gonna stay where I am.
And you know, I'm glad I did. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I, yeah, I would say it's worked out pretty well.
I mean, I'm just, I'm just in my head kind of going through
some of the names that you've got to work with
directly on their car over the years.
Let's not talk about even Chip Nessi racing
as an organization.
Mm-hmm . Just you on the, you say you came in with Zanardi,
you worked on Montoya, you worked on Dixon,
went over to the 10 cars.
So that would've been guys like Dario, Frank Keating,
you've, maybe you've heard of him, Dan, Dan Weldon.
Yep. You've got this young kid now called Alex Pallo.
Tony Canan, yeah.
Speaker 2: I, with Tony. Speaker 1: I gotta,
I don't know if I had even put together, Barry, how many
Hall of fame absolute legends of this sport
that you've worked with and continue to work with.
I mean, what's it like being able to look back on a,
on a nearly 30 year career with this team
and just look at the who's who of, of the legends
of this sport that you've got to directly work
Speaker 2: With?
You know, it's, um, you know, it's, to me, it's a privilege
and honor really to work at Chip gne, GSI racing with all
of the great people we get to work with.
I mean, you know, there's, there's a lot of credit given
to some, you know, individuals that, uh, you know,
and I like, I like to spread out the credit and, and,
but to work with, with the, the drivers that I've been able
to, for sure, like, you can't, you can't win with unless
and win consistently unless the drivers are,
are fully capable of getting it done.
I mean, ultimately that's, uh, that's
where we've been fortunate, you know, at Chipi Racing,
you know, chip and Mike being able to get talented drivers
and, you know, sometimes they're, it's, they're,
they're new in their career and sometimes it's later in
their career, but, um, you know, the goal is
to get the driver we want, you know,
all the cars to run up front.
Um, but like reflecting back, I, I only do
that when I get asked about it.
You know, I look, you know, I, I we, we kind of tend
to focus forward at, uh, you know, I always looked at it
that, you know, even with success,
previous success does not guarantee future success.
So you gotta keep working hard.
Everyone's gotta work hard, and you gotta be,
gotta be ready to adapt and change. Do you
Speaker 3: Have any dirt on any of them? ?
Do you know anything, any good stories about tk?
Speaker 2: No, no. We, I got great stories about tk,
but you know, we're, we're friends.
We keep 'em amongst ourselves. .
Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 2: All right. I mean, pinch knows,
he spent a lot of time around tk.
TK is just a lot of, a lot of fun. Cut constantly.
I, I heard some legends constantly, uh, in involved with,
uh, with, with messing with everybody.
And, um, but, uh, yeah, it's, um, I think the, I the one,
I guess one thing that sticks out that, um,
like Tony will still be mad at me today about is, you know,
he's, he's, he's, he's really a very intense guy.
And, and, you know, um, the spotters at, at the Indy 500,
even, you know, just even in practice
and stuff, they're, they, they play a,
a pretty crucial role in making sure you're, you're able
to avoid things and, um, understand what's going on
around you and, you know,
hopefully prevent you from crashing.
And we had, we had a couple close calls one day,
and Tony kinda lost it on the radio, as you can imagine.
Um, but, but the next day I kind of set him up
and I had the two spotters in the truck,
and I was like, Hey, A TKC, come on.
You know, I said, we're looking for a better day too.
Come here, come here. And we walked around the truck
and two spotters in there, and I said, Hey, Tony wants
to apologize for yesterday.
And like Tony put him on the spot, he apologized, and he,
and like he will, like, so he'll bring it up.
Like, we'll be walking just down the paddock
and be like, you remember when you made me apologize
and I wasn't expecting it ?
I was like, yeah, because you wouldn't have done it.
Speaker 1: You know what, I, I got a $20 bet.
I'll, I I'll bet you $20, Barry, that
before the end of his tenure as the team manager now
of an IndyCar team, Uhhuh, he pulls
that same trick on somebody else.
I bet he turns that around and uses it on somebody else.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely.
, you know, and, uh,
but, uh, like, I think one of the, uh, one
of the interesting things too is, you know, Dario was
with us for quite a few years,
and we certainly had a lot of success there.
Um, but it wasn't until he retired
and he came back, um,
to the first race since recovering from his injuries
and stuff, and was on the 10 car, um, Intercom
and for the race with TK out in Phoenix.
And he was like, and after the race, he, he just said,
you know, I just wanna apologize if
anything I said on the radio or doubted
or argued you with you and you know what I mean?
Like, it was pretty funny. Like yeah, you just didn't know.
Like, you know, we just, we, we keep it calm on the radio
and you guys can, uh, go crazy, but
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's, it is,
it's always funny when a driver gets the opportunity
to be out of a race and see it from the pit stand.
I remember when I got hurt in 15, the first race I came back
to, stood on the stand for the first time ever
and was blown away at, at how,
what the dynamic is like there versus what you know
of what's happening in the car.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And then, you know, it's like, it,
it takes the entire timing stand to do the strategy.
You know, it's like, you know, chip taught me
for those 15 years, we're together.
Like you're managing the process, right?
Ultimately, you have the final say of what you're doing,
but you're constantly talking about the, the strategy.
Um, you know, what would you do if yellow came out?
Now, you know, you're, you're you, you know, one guy can't,
can't look at all the data, can't look at the, the,
you know, what the car is doing.
You know, can't do the fuel you
need, you know, a group of people.
And they all were fortunate on the Tenco stand.
You know, Julian Robertson is a great race engineer.
He's been with the team for 31 years.
He was the race engineer for Jimmy Vassar's, you know,
the very first championship in 96.
Um, he was, uh, Dixon's, um, engineer for hi,
his first championship in 2003,
and then he kind of was engineering manager for many years,
wasn't doing race engineering.
Um, so it's been fun to have an,
having him back when Alex came on board
and, um, just picked up where he left off.
And, you know,
we have a great performance engineer, Brian Welling.
I mean, again, it's, you know,
this experience in our relationship on the stand, you know,
we're constantly talking about it.
And really, Alex right now, he's given us all the options.
You know, we, if we need, we need fuel saving, we need
to take care of the tires, we need, you know, he's, he's,
he is very smart and, uh, you know, some
of the best drivers don't use all of their brainpower
to drive the car.
They have a lot reserved to be able to understand the,
you know, the racing and what's going on around 'em
with only given him a bits
of information about what's happening,
early pitters, stuff like that.
And, um, he's got a great idea of what's going on there
Speaker 3: With three races in your average finish this year is 1.25,
your worst finish is second place.
You've won three of the last four championships, right?
Like, uh, along
with like you said about Alex giving you the options
and being, you know, it all there
and being able to figure things out.
And the team that you mentioned, the people that you have,
like, is there, is there a single factor that you can point
to as like the biggest reason
for your guys' continued success?
Or is it just that collection of everything? I
Speaker 2: Gotta say it's a collection of everything,
but Alex brings, um, a lot of talent
to the table, you know, um, you know, when I compare to
what we've had in the past for championships,
certainly on a 10 car, um, very much like Dario, you know,
very smart, very a big part of the strategy
before you even, you know, before you even start the race.
Like, you know, there's a, there's sometimes just a,
it's a 50 50 shot whether you get the starting tires, right?
Right. Serious,
like right when you, when you go back to St.
Pete, we were, you know, we were on the,
on the correct tires, um, starting on the alternates.
We had the early yellow gave us an opportunity to come in
and get off 'em, and that was the strategy to won the race.
But when we came off the track,
we were fifth in our strategy.
Um, you know, I think the 28 car had a slow pit stop,
so we came out fourth.
Um, so at that point, you know, I think we, we started 14th,
but we're fourth in our strategy.
Um, you know, you have Colton, Newgarden Dixon, then us.
And really when you look at how it played out, col, Colton,
they had a slow stop.
Um, Newgarden pitted a few laps
before us, so we overcut him.
And really at the end, we came in the left,
we came in on the last stop, um, behind Dixon,
we were just covering ourselves.
So new guard wouldn't jump us, right?
I mean, that's what you're trying to do.
You're either trying to do an overcut, overcut
or undercut depending on who you're trying
to pass or stay ahead of.
And we came in and Dixon caught traffic
and you know, we didn't know at the time he had a radio
issue at that time, um, and that that enabled us to get him.
But really, you know, we just try not
to, you know, screw it up.
Like, don't we talk about it all the time in a race meeting,
don't beat yourself, um,
you know, do the obvious things, right?
We stayed outta trouble. We had great performance on track,
great performance in the pits,
and, you know, came out with the win, um, thermal,
we ended up on the right tires, you know,
at the end as well, right?
We saved the, the sticker reds
to the end, and that was a huge advantage.
Speaker 1: But again, that was a decision, right? Yeah.
So it's, it's, I mean, what I think for me, you know, we,
we talk so much about the strategy, you know, on,
on the broadcast, right?
We're trying to explain to people, Townson,
and I try to pretend like we know what's happening even
remotely and sound kind of remotely intelligent.
Again, it doesn't, doesn't work that often,
but, you know, I've talked to, so that's,
Speaker 3: You guys are trying Speaker 1: Yeah.
Weirdly, if you can believe it, , um, that's our,
that's our 10 10th best effort on that one.
Wow, okay. But you know, I've heard,
I've heard like Tim Cindrich say in the past, who, again,
another very accomplished strategist in IndyCar that it,
it's pointless to try to figure out what's gonna happen.
He goes, we on the stand don't even know
what's gonna happen most of the time.
Correct. So obviously a lot of what you guys are doing is
reacting to situations and to react to a given scenario,
you've had to have thought out
and planned ahead for almost any possible, you know,
situation that could arise and then know
what your decision was in that moment.
So I guess the question is like, kinda run me
through the process of the buildup to a race
and how you guys sort of decide your strategy
and how much planning do you do versus reacting?
Speaker 2: You know, if you just look at Long Beach, um, you know,
they added five laps to the five laps at a race.
It was still going to be, um, a two stop race with,
you know, one lap windows, one
and a half lap windows, so one lap windows.
Right. Um, but,
and I think you needed, like, you know, it's so secret.
The, the fuel mileage is the fuel
mileage you need for the distance, right?
It's based on the amount, the 18
and a half gallons of the car and the distance.
So you needed 3.3 average fuel, fuel mileage
to to, to get that done.
But we all knew going in the, the alternates were not going
to do a full stint, right?
So 90 lap race, you gotta do 30 laps
on each set of tires, right?
On three sets of tires.
Well, that, that was like you, you,
like, no one anticipated.
You, you would even, I don't think the entire, I think,
I think you saw, saw by the, um, the starting lineup
with all the cars that started on the alternates,
that everyone knew
that you weren't gonna go a full distance on
the, on the alternate tire.
So everyone was planning on getting off of them early.
I think it was a, that was more of a reaction to, uh,
to what happened at St.
Pete's. Um,
but you know, we're talking about that, you know, we,
we really don't even know we're, we're about the tires until
after the warmup when we have to make that decision.
And, you know, the, the only time we get to do any
lengthy runs on the alternates is the warmup.
So we, we, you know, we get that set that we run for just in
that 10, a 10 minute session on Friday.
It's pretty much just a quick qualifying sim,
and then those are stamped,
and then we can't run them again until warmup.
So we run them as long as we can in the warmup.
Um, and I dunno if you notice the warmups are
five minutes shorter this year.
Yeah, so by the, they're 25 minutes.
So by the time you do like a practice start, Alex likes
to do a practice start, um, and then we do two pit stops
and to warm up the, the crew,
and then usually that's about 17 minutes remaining , um,
of, of practice.
So, and you know, sometimes you might wanna get a change in
there, but so literally based on that and,
and Alex's feel on, on the tires, we decide then
what we think we wanna start on.
Um, and then we're already talking about, you know,
the strategy of when we would stop, how soon we would stop.
Um, you know, there's options. Obviously everyone came in.
I think everyone was kind of, uh, lured in once, uh,
Newgarden was the, one of the first cars to go from the
alternates to the, to the primaries.
And then we saw his first lap time was already faster than
what we were on up front, but we weren't, you know, we were
behind, um,
after the, uh, the start there, we were in, in fifth.
So we, we were, you know,
we were just kind of stuck in line.
No one's really trying to check out at that point,
which we were kind of surprised.
So we're kind of stuck there.
Um, we knew we had some good performance in the car, um,
and then cars came in front of and came in the pits
and we stayed out and did one blistering lap.
You know, nothing better than being on good tires
and telling your driver, Hey, you know, you know, as fast
as you can go, yeah.
You know, ma maximum overtake and then come in.
And that allowed us to jump back up the second.
But, you know, you, you, you, like you said, you're kind
of reacting because could we have gone another lap
and then, you know, fast and then be able to come in
and jump, um, you know, Kirkwood and possibly,
but you, you know, you also don't want to be overexposed and
Speaker 1: To yell out, Speaker 2: You know, especially early on in,
at Long Beach, everyone's getting real racy, you know, it's,
um, you know, there's, there's always
that's one of your highest chances there.
So, but, you know, we're always,
always talking about the strategy and like you said earlier,
you, you, there's, there's no there, there's no like magic,
you know, eight ball to tell you what's gonna happen, right?
You just, you're, you're, you, you know
how many laps you gotta go when you pit then you know
what fuel you need for,
you know, to get to the end of the race.
Um, you know, and if you burn more than that,
you gotta make it up somewhere else.
Um, you know, during, for that race,
when you looked at the alternate strategy
was actually playing out, right?
The cars that started on the primaries
and were going long, um, that was starting to play out
because Lund guard was got within 34
seconds to, to us, right?
Or should I say we were 34 seconds
behind him when he was leading, you know,
and what, you know, what, at that, to, to us,
we weren't going fast enough,
but we couldn't get around Kirkwood
and he wasn't going fast enough.
Eventually they figured it out and needed to go faster
because it was 38 seconds time lost in and outta the pit.
So if Right, if we had, if we had gone four second
Speaker 1: Difference there, Speaker 2: Some, some more laps slower,
and next thing you know, he's coming out battling
with us when he comes outta the pitch, right?
So, um, but it, it, it worked out
and he obviously ran a good, good race
to get up to third, right?
So, yeah. Um, where
that same strategy didn't work out at St.
Pete, even with McLaughlin going like,
I'd say even more flat out, out front, um, for sure.
Just, just, it just didn't work.
Speaker 1: And that's what's, that's what's fun about it, is it's,
it's different track to track.
You know, we still show up with the same
tires that we had in St.
Pete, but it wasn't the exact same result.
Trend did the same way.
But you guys have to be able to adapt
and, and think on your feet.
Now, when we were in thermal, I guess, um,
during the warmup show, we had Chip come out and,
and talk to us on the show,
and we were talking a lot about Polo,
and he made the comment, he goes, look, as good
as this guy is, we're still just
scratching the surface with him.
He keeps getting better and better.
And as you know, the guy that's in his ear
that probably has more communication
with him on the team than anybody.
I'd love to know your take on where Alex Polo is
as a driver today,
and whether you agree with the sentiment
that he's still improving
and he's just gonna keep getting better and better.
Speaker 2: Oh, I firmly believe that.
I mean, he is definitely, um,
getting better after every race.
I mean, this is, um, this, this is something that, um,
we talk about even internally.
Like it's, that that's what makes it even more fun.
Um, going to the racetrack, you know, being able to work,
you know, with, with a guy like Alex is just, he,
again, he gives you all the options.
You know, you've, you, you've,
you ev every driver's been in a situation sometimes
where the tires have gone off so they can't do
what the time the Tommy stands asked 'em to do,
or, you know, and they have to change the,
or adjust the strategy for that.
I mean, Alex is good at everything
and understanding the races, um,
there's not too many obvious things I have to tell him.
Right. Um, you know, sometimes I just have
to say it's obvious like, you know, hey,
I know this is obvious, but, uh, we're not going fast enough
with Lund guard on the alternate strategy, you know?
Um, but I know he just can't obviously just go, okay,
I'll just turn it up and pass cut the car in front of me.
Right? Yeah. Um, it's not that easy.
But, um, Alex understanding the car
and his, his relationship with Julian
and the entire engineering staff is definitely, uh,
definitely paying off.
And, um, again,
I think the sky's the limit on what he is capable of.
Speaker 1: One of the things that's always blown me away about him
is, you know, we, we tune into his car radio from time
to time and the guy just never seems down.
He never seems angry, he never seems emotional
unless it's after a checkered flag.
And he is congratulating the boys on a great win.
Um, you know, we, we've known Scott Dixon's nickname
to be the Ice Man forever.
'cause he couldn't, couldn't crack him under pressure.
He was always a cool customer,
but even Scott could get animated on the radio when the
right person pissed him off.
Alex doesn't seem to do that ever.
I, I remember for me, the moment I realized
how dangerous this guy was, behind the wheel
of a race car was in 21, you're in the thick
of a championship battle.
We're coming down to the last third of the season.
We're at the, the harvest
maybe the last quarter of the season.
We're at the, the second indie road course race.
You guys have an engine failure while
leading the championship.
And he got on the radio
and could not have been cooler, calmer, more in control,
and just saying, yeah, no worries.
Everything's good. And in that moment I'm like, oh,
you can't flap this guy.
So have, have you. I mean, can you give us some insight?
Has, has he ever gotten really angry on the radio?
Have, have we just missed it,
but it's, he's possible. It's possible.
Speaker 2: Nope. He's never gotten angry on the radio.
Speaker 1: No, never does it. Yeah, I figured that was it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, you, you can imagine the frustration we
experienced, uh, last year at Milwaukee
with, uh, Milwaukee for sure.
Battery failure, you know, and,
and a lot of people thought we had hybrid failure,
but you know, we've, we've told as many people
as we can, that was a battery failure.
It went back to the manufacturer.
There was a, there was a capacity on the circuit board.
The battery could have the, the, it was a rare failure.
It could have happened regardless of whether, you know,
it's the original battery of the car kind of thing.
Right. It's not, it could have happened
with prior to the hybrid.
And the hybrid had no effect on causing the failure.
So, um, you know, imagine, you know,
you roll off from the grid
and it's, the car stops to pit out.
I can't even talk to him on the radio. Right.
Like there's no power to the car.
Speaker 1: So maybe he was mad there, you just couldn't hear it,
Speaker 2: I'm sure, right? ,
he may, he he must, he must do a good job of hiding it.
Right? Uh, you know, we, you know,
and you know, when we got him back to the pits,
we fortune, it was the pit outs.
We got him back to the pits.
We were able to reenergize the system
and then, you know, had enough energy to go around
and stop on the back stretch at that point, you know,
they gotta get the driver out of the car
to be able to lift the car.
Right. They brought it back, he came back to, you know,
got him, we got him back, made sure he came back
to the stand and you know, it's like, you know,
he is like, what are we doing?
And it's like, well, we're hoping we're gonna analyze it.
We think it's the battery e everything we see now,
we're gonna change the battery, get it running.
We need to get you back in the car
and wherever we are, we're just gonna try to get
as many points as we can today.
We're gonna run laps. We'll have you pit
and not interfere with pit stops and anything else.
You know what, I enemy we're just gonna avoid everybody.
We'll avoid everybody on track.
You may have to let some cars go,
but we're just gonna kind of stay outta trouble.
And you know, we went from 27th and 19th, right?
So that, that, that took a lot
of pressure off us going into the national.
Yeah. You know, and that you can imagine that was like,
for all of us, it's like, man, you know,
we've got a good lead here
and now we've just, we've lost it all.
You know, and then to start it, start of the race,
I think when they were at the point they're tracking the
points, like we were kind of tied with power and stuff,
and then, you know, he had a problem unexpectedly
and that, that kind of gave us a little more breathing room.
But, um, yeah, he just, yeah, he was just calm, like again,
and that was like the worst case scenario you can have.
Right. Um, like I said, Milwaukee and he got back in the car
and just was happy with like, hey, you know, there was some,
there was some more yellows, there was some cars have
dropped out, you know, so every time we gained
a position it's like, yep.
Another point, you know, that's Yep. And he focused on that.
It's all worth it, you know? Um, yeah.
He, he never, that's what makes champions. Yeah. Absolutely.
Never lost a school. And I, yeah.
You know, for all of us, we wanted to Right.
You you wanna jump up and down and slam things. Yeah.
And, you know, and scream,
but, uh, everyone did a great job there,
but, uh, yeah, Alex is, he is calm and he is unflappable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. It's, it's fun to watch, honestly.
It's, uh, it's cool
to see someone in their absolute prime dominating the way
that we've seen out of Drio,
the way we've seen outta Dickson,
the way we've seen outta power
throughout their different periods.
And so I just wanna, I wanna just kinda
leave you with this final question.
You know, right off the top, we talked about this list
of legends that you've worked with one-on-one.
A lot of different personalities in there from your ardi
to your polos that you've experienced.
I mean, those are two , nice, polar op,
Montoya polo's, a couple, it's a couple.
You got a wide range. You got a wide range. Yep.
So I'm sure they're all different.
I'm sure they all have different strengths and weaknesses,
but is there a consistent trait
that you've seen in all of those drivers?
The ones that were exceptionally successful in IndyCar
that was just consistent among the group?
Speaker 2: I, I think the ability to focus to, to,
to have clear focus, not just, you know, it's,
it's the entire weekend.
It's getting the most out of the car, being prepared
for qualifying to get most out of the car.
You know, a lot of these tracks you, you know,
everyone can put, um, a theoretical great lap together,
but man, it's really hard to put in the,
an actual get every corner, right.
Um, to get that ultimate lap time.
Um, and that's what these guys are capable of doing.
These, these champions, they can do that.
And then in the race, just having a complete understanding
of the, of the racing and again, more focus
and be able to, to be there at the end.
And, and, and really understanding
that if you can't finish first, finish second,
you know, don't beat yourself.
Um, you gotta get in and outta the pits clean.
And you know, tho those are the guys that motivate the crew.
They motivate the team, they motivate the pit crew,
they motivate the timing stand.
Um, that, that whole package, um, allows you to,
you know, have greater success than one racer one, you know,
looking into a race win. Right,
Speaker 1: Right.
Well, look, we, we talk a lot about the drivers
that have had huge success, um,
but at the same time, it is a team sport
and it can't be done without you
and all the people that you work with at Chip Nessi racing.
And, and that team has had a, a tremendous run in this sport
and it continues and you play a big role in that, Barry.
So wanted to just thank you so much for coming on,
giving us us some insight into, into the drivers,
into the process of, of what you're doing on race weekends.
And we wish you all the best
for the rest of the season, my friend. Thanks.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. And it's, uh, great, great, uh,
seeing the broadcast, I get to see them, you know,
obviously the next day on Fox,
but you guys are doing a great job, so, um, great.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
It's great Randy Carr, so thanks.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir. All right. We'll see you, Barbara.
This has been off track with Hinch and Rossi.
Off Track is part of the Sirius XM Sports Podcast Network.
If you enjoyed this episode
and want to hear more, please give a five star
rating and leave a review.
Subscribe today, wherever you stream your podcasts.
We are at Ask Off Track on Twitter and Instagram.
And if you wanna follow us on Twitter, we're at Hinch Town
and at Alexander Rossi.
If you wanna follow them, though,
we have no idea why you would.
He's at the Tim Durham on Twitter.
Find us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel
for exclusive video content.
Off Track is produced by Tim Durham, and by that we mean f.