Speaker 1: This is, is off track.
Speaker 2: So, Tim, why are you sleeping on the couch?
I mean, you have a really big bed
with two different sections in it.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, uh, my mom is in town and, uh, yeah,
Speaker 2: But you have a really big bed
with two different sections in it. I,
Speaker 3: I just figured I also have a really big couch
that's pretty comfortable. .
Speaker 2: That's fair. I don't think I'd share a bed with my mom.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Just Speaker 2: James's mom
Speaker 3: Feels a little, yeah.
We'd all obviously share a bed with James's mom. .
I mean, that's, that's a given.
You don't even, they don't even need to say that.
Like, we all know that we would do that again, like second,
third time for anything. Right.
Speaker 2: All right, Speaker 1: Alex, I, I,
I'm gonna need Joan's number real quick.
If you could just find that, get a text, that'd be great.
Speaker 3: No Speaker 2: Problem. No problem.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Uh, Speaker 3: James,
before you got here, I was telling Alex something though.
So Teddy is sleeping down on the couch with me.
'cause he usually stays in bed with me.
Um, Teddy knows that if I get up, that doesn't always mean
that, you know, the day is starting.
Sometimes get up in the middle
of the night, you have to go pee.
You just want to go to grab a cup of water or something.
So he takes a cue of, he will stay in bed
until he sees me put on pants. Smart.
Speaker 1: That's a smart duck. Speaker 3: Have still in bed.
We apparently have a similar policy on the couch, so
to keep him in bed so I wouldn't have to feed him
and walk him before we started recording this at 6 28.
Speaker 1: Am I, I see what you're getting at Tim.
I, I not wearing pants. Put it together. Wearing pants.
Speaker 3: Not wearing pants. Speaker 1: Do you wanna know,
I'm gonna be completely honest with you, Tim, knowing
that it's six 30 in the morning there
and knowing you as I do,
I assumed you weren't wearing pants.
Speaker 3: That's fair. I, I like that.
I, I think I've cultivated that like the pants air.
Speaker 2: I figure at 2:00 PM when we record
these things, you're not wearing pants.
Speaker 3: A lot of times it's pajamas.
I'm not gonna, you're more, I'm not gonna
say I'm here in slacks.
Speaker 1: You're more dressed than I thought you were gonna be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this was on the back of my chair.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Like, I thought you
were gonna be in your robe this morning.
I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 3: Oh, thought about it.
Speaker 1: Um, speaking of robes, aprons are kind of like robes
and Alex, except
Speaker 2: They don't cover your ass.
Speaker 1: No, but they cover your front and they tie up.
There's a string involved.
Speaker 3: It's just not all like ae
because arguably robes,
that's the one area they cover the least.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Not at all. The same robes are open in the front.
Speaker 3: Are they, are you just basing this off of the fact
that it's cloth with a string?
Speaker 1: Cloth with a string and you wear it on your body
and it ties up from one side
and covers one sideboard the other.
There's a lot of parallels. Yeah. There's some similarities.
Speaker 3: These are robes. Speaker 1: That's not what I, there
Speaker 2: You go. Said
Speaker 3: We found the transitive property of clothes.
Mm. Happy Thanksgiving.
Everybody. Speaker 2: . So does that mean, does that mean, does
that mean an apron is lingerie?
Speaker 3: I I think that's where we're coming. It certainly
Speaker 1: Could be. Let's,
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, let's be honest here.
If you're just wearing an apron Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2: like, alright. Huh.
So what are like, Nope. Not even gonna say, keep that
Speaker 3: Thought going.
No, no. Keep that going.
Speaker 2: No. Gotten in enough trouble on this show.
Um, alright, James, please tell me why. Aprons, why?
Yeah, please tell me why aprons are like robes.
Speaker 1: They're, they're not, I mean,
other than all the reasons we just discussed, I just said,
speaking of, I said Yeah.
So I was just gonna say how you've been wearing an apron
on social media recently,
and I wanna learn all about your
employment at Cracker Barrel.
Speaker 2: Ah, Speaker 1: I don't think we've discussed the fact
that you've now cooked your favorite meal on earth.
The Cracker Barrel Catfish. Mm. I
Speaker 3: Love, I love that.
That should have been a ten second segue.
And Alex, you and I were like, oh, it should have been,
Nope, not allowing that ,
Speaker 2: What do you wanna know?
Speaker 1: Have you seen these videos? Have you seen these videos of
Speaker 3: I have. I have seen these videos.
Speaker 1: I wanna know what it was like working the
kitchen at Cracker Barrel.
Speaker 2: Pretty fun. I've always imagined that
at least for a period of time, being a bartender
or being a cook in a kitchen would be fun
because it's like, you gotta, you gotta manage your time
and you're kind of running all over the place
doing different things all at once.
And it's gotta, the ingredients have
to come together at the right time in order for it all
to be hot and presentable
and you're cooking more than one meal at once.
Um, so I feel like that fast-paced, like having
to be thinking on your feet sort of thing would, would be,
uh, a cool job to have.
Obviously there's a lot of stress and pressures
and annoyances that come with that as, um, any of you
that work in the service industry can probably attest to.
Um, but it was cool. I enjoyed it.
I, it, cracker Barrel, uh, what's,
and this is not a ad, I just wanna say I was impressed
because like their, their whole thing is like country style,
home style kitchen and food.
Right. And like, there's nothing,
there's literally nothing in our kitchen that's frozen.
Like it's a real, it's a real kitchen.
It's not like your other chains where things come
<inaudible> or, or, or freeze dried or whatever.
Right. And they just kind of flash fry it Yeah.
To, to get it up to temp.
Like it's all, it's all from scratch now.
A lot of it's fried, but still it's um,
it's, it's scratch cooking.
So I mean, they make the biscuits from
scratch every single day. Wow.
Speaker 1: I love biscuits so much. Yeah.
Did you learn, did they give you the recipe so that way you
and Kelly can make biscuits at home?
Speaker 2: They did. I do have it.
I don't think I'll be making it at home.
It's a lot of quite bad things for you. Oh
Speaker 1: Imagine there's lot of butter involved those.
That's all of Yeah.
I feel like that's all of restaurant cooking.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's, mm. It's not great.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm actually, I'm now just thinking back
to specifically Cracker Barrel biscuits
and they are exceptionally buttery
Speaker 2: And flaky and Speaker 1: Delicious and no flirty.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it at all. No.
Speaker 2: I'm here for it. I'm still gonna eat 'em. I'm sorry.
Eat 'em at all. 'cause I have no self-control.
Speaker 1: So I, I was genuinely shocked to learn
that all the like stuff on the walls is actual stuff.
Speaker 2: Me too. So, fast forward to the second video.
So they have an, they're headquartered in, in Tennessee,
outside of Nashville, and they have an antique warehouse.
And it is,
it is the most valuable asset the Cracker Barrel has
because every single piece of antique paraphernalia,
branding, cookware, logos, signs,
whatever is all original, not a single thing, is a replica.
They own the original Coca-Cola, like drink Coca-Cola sign.
And they had some Coca-Cola executives that came, um,
for a meeting at the, at their headquarters
to discuss whatever restaurants in Coca-Cola discusses.
And they went on tour of the facility
and one of the executives noticed the sign in the warehouse.
And it was like, how do you have that
and what do you want for it?
Because we'll pay anything. We've been searching for this.
It's like a lost Monet sort of thing.
And Cracker barrel's like, get outta here, don't care
like it is. So
Speaker 1: When you say the, or like,
do you mean like the first ever Coke sign or like one of the
Speaker 2: Original, like one of the, one of the first,
like there's a collection of like, I don't remember how many
of them, but this is one of them.
And they've, they found they have them all,
or at least have the
Speaker 1: One have they know Speaker 2: Possession of them all or,
or they have lent out still owning them.
Right. But they're, they're right.
Being used somewhere else.
But this one, they had no idea
where it went or where it was.
And it was in the Cracker Barrel warehouse
in Lebanon, Tennessee.
So I feel like we should take
Speaker 1: An offtrack field trip Speaker 2: Because I want to go
Speaker 1: See this place Speaker 2: Because I feel like it's incredible.
I'm a Knick Mack guy. Everything is categorized.
Speaker 1: We can see. Speaker 2: So everything, every vinyl record,
every picture, every
magazine, everything is, is original.
The only thing that um, was, is,
is not original is they said some of the food, um,
cans Right.
Had deteriorated. So they'd, they, the aluminum
is not original, but they had preserved the label
and put the label back on fresh aluminum Oh okay.
Sort of thing. So, um, but
Speaker 1: So like what, what, what, when you say all original,
like what is, what exactly do you mean by that?
Speaker 2: Meaning there, if there was a rolling pit, right.
That looks old.
This wasn't a recreation of a rolling pin from 1983.
Right. It's an actually a rolling
Speaker 1: Pin from they weathered after fact.
It's just exactly right. Okay. Yeah.
And then did you make a frame while you were there?
Is that what I saw in the video?
Speaker 2: I did, I made a picture frame.
So all of their artwork is, um, again, original.
So they have a team of 10 people
who sold job for Cracker Barrel.
It's to travel the United States going to auction,
curate auction and estate sales
and just collected all that Matches. Matches.
Speaker 1: Does 10 people that that's their job.
Speaker 2: Yes. And so they, they get all this stuff
and it's just, that's what they do.
And it all comes back to the warehouse.
And then every, I think it's two years stores
rotate their imagery Right. What they display.
Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Speaker 2: And so they've got, in the warehouse,
they have a mockup of a store.
And so they'll be building, there'll be trial, trial
and error of all the different things they want on the wall.
And they'll go be building it and then it'll be blueprints
and they'll send it to that store
and they'll redecorate it as was designed.
And then the other stuff comes back
and it goes back into the inventory.
And it's all categorized, categor categorized.
It's all electronic barcoded. It's incredible. And
Speaker 1: Then they, they stripped down that one at HQ
and then redecorate it again
and send that bundle out to the next door.
Speaker 2: Yep. Speaker 1: Wow. That is a wild setup.
Yeah. That is crazy that they go to that much detail.
It's not, they just don't like send a box
of stuff and say, put it up.
They send a box of stuff in a very detailed set
of plan saying, set it up exactly like this.
Yes, man. That's freaking cool.
Just so we're clear, this is not,
you did not ask me to break.
Like this was not preuss that we were gonna discuss this.
I just saw those videos. I'm like, this is actually kind
of fa like the warehouse thing.
Really. Like I was surprised.
Anyway, last question on your Cracker Barrel adventures.
Actually second last question. Did you put an air tag in the
frame that you put your picture in and put on the shelf?
Speaker 2: No. Should have. Good idea, but no.
Speaker 1: Okay. Well guys, here's the, here's the new thing.
There's like the ultimate Easter egg hunt that's happening.
There you go. Okay. Somewhere in the country,
at some point in the next, some number of years,
a framed photo of Alexander Rossi in Victory Circle
at Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 2016 will end up
on a cracker barrel wall.
Speaker 2: And if you find it, Tim will pay you 10 grand.
Speaker 1: I love when he forgets to unmute himself, ,
and then his, oh, I hope this week's video has you
Speaker 3: Go, I'll put that in Speaker 1: .
Speaker 3: Uh, no. First person
to find it gets a guaranteed home visit from Alexander
Rossi he'll,
Speaker 1: 10,000 from Speaker 3: Tim.
He'll hang out with you and Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then he will won't around
Speaker 3: For me.
Speaker 1: He'll fly you around in his plane. Yes.
No, seriously, I get you
Speaker 3: Get to drive his car at a race of your choosing.
Speaker 1: No, let's do this, let's do
Speaker 3: This.
How about none of that? How about
none of that? You just get to find How
Speaker 1: About, how about if you find it and you send a picture of
and and the location and yourself in the picture
and you send it to us on social media.
We'll get you two credentials
to an IndyCar race of your choosing
Speaker 2: Deal. Love that idea.
Speaker 3: Fir first person to find it.
Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. Yeah. First one to, to send it in.
Speaker 2: So you better be going to a lot
of cracker barrels for a lot of years.
'cause god knows when that's gonna show up.
Speaker 1: It could just be sitting on the
shelf for the next five years.
We just don't know. But keep an eye out. Yeah. All right.
That's, uh, that's, that, that's just,
I just wanted to talk about that.
'cause I was curious. Alex, you're on vacation? No,
Speaker 2: I'm not.
Speaker 1: Oh God, I hate you so much.
It's literally raining in Indianapolis
right now. Is that, is
Speaker 3: That Cincinnati ? I'm
Speaker 2: In Indianapolis.
It's just a, it's a filter.
Speaker 1: Um Oh, right. It's one of those yeah. Backgrounds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm on vacation. I am in, uh, The Bahamas.
That's how they said you pronounce it. Uh,
Speaker 1: Bahamas.
Speaker 2: Bahamas. Bahamas.
And I'm here with, uh, my, my dad
and his wife and her children and their significant others.
And obviously Kelly and Baby Ben.
So, um, just a little nice family Thanksgiving vacation.
Speaker 1: That's pretty cool. So that's your Thanksgiving sitch.
Tim, what are you doing? Yeah.
On this holiday weekend,
you mentioned your mom's in town. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Over your to Universal Studios today
and do an early Thanksgiving thing.
She's actually flying home for Thanksgiving.
She just came out for like the first half. Got it.
Speaker 1: Got it. Speaker 3: Are
Speaker 2: You gonna like do a meal though? Are you gonna cook a
Speaker 3: Turkey?
Yeah, we were talking about doing a meal.
I was like, oh, you know, I'll get Turkey and stuffing.
She's like, do you like Turkey?
I was like, not particularly. She goes, Hazel's vegetarian.
I was like, yeah. Was like, so
how about we just do something else?
And so I'm gonna make a beer, canned chicken for my mom
and I, and some mashed potatoes
and stuffing and things like that.
So it's gonna be, it's gonna be a low key. I
Speaker 2: Love that.
I love that Turkey. Turkey.
I mean, I don't know if we talked about it
on the show, but Turkey sucks.
It's not, it to the best part,
Speaker 3: A Turkey is the smell of Turkey.
Like, you smell a Turkey cooking in a house,
you're like, that's good.
And then you eat it and experience like, no, no. Yeah.
So I'm gonna do the beer, canned chicken.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it even like,
looks better than it ta Like the presentation
of a well cooked Turkey on Thanksgiving is like, you know,
that's an important thing and it's a beautiful thing.
And then yeah, once you start eating it,
it's like you put a piece on your plate
'cause you feel obliged to, the only way
to choke it back is absolutely drowning in gravy.
And you really just fill up on the 47
different sides and casserole. Well,
Speaker 2: You, to be honest, you're full
before you even get to that part of the day.
Um, so if you're doing it right, the only way
to choke it back is with some cocktails.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you're full of, you're full of beer
and dips of of yeah.
Various sorts. I do have to say, I know ,
I know we've talked about this, excuse me,
um, plenty of times.
But America does do Thanksgiving
so much better than Canada does.
And its a lot of fun. I do. Like, why don't say that.
Don't be like that. You're half Canadian,
so don't insult your own people. I'm
Speaker 2: Not.
I'm not. My son is,
Speaker 1: I'm not, uh, two thirds, two thirds
of your family is Canadian. All right. So,
Speaker 2: So that, just Speaker 1: Careful there, pal.
You are a, you are a majority Canadian household.
Now I would like you to know .
Speaker 2: That's Speaker 1: A good point. And when Becky
and I come over, you are numbered four to one, bro.
Like Yeah, four to one.
Next time we come over for dinner, you are gonna sing.
Oh, Canada to us upon entry.
Speaker 2: Okay. . So get
Speaker 1: Get learning if you don't know it already
anyways. Oh, that's fine. Um,
Speaker 2: Yes, America does Thanksgiving.
Very good. Hence why I left to go to The Bahamas.
Um, and hence why ? You're leaving to go to the Middle East.
Speaker 1: Yep. Yep. Sure I Speaker 2: Am. Makes sense. It's,
Speaker 1: I'm a little, I'm a little disappointed on the timing, uh,
you know, happy to get to go to, uh, to Qatar for the race,
but, um, I do love American Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: While we're pronouncing things correctly,
is it not cutter?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is, but it just sounds wrong from us.
So I just, uh, it, it, I wanna, my gut feeling is,
and I could be totally wrong on this,
but my gut feeling is like if you're,
if you're speaking in an, in an Arabic accent, then yes,
it's like the French don't say Paris.
Right. They say Paris much better than that.
But like, I feel like Right.
We are allowed to say Qatar if we are just
being us, I think.
Speaker 2: Okay, good to know. All right. So
Speaker 3: I've been saying guitar, cut.
Guitar. Guitar. So,
Speaker 2: Uh, Speaker 1: Guitar you've been seeing
Speaker 2: What guitar?
Do you like it? Do you like it there? Guitar?
Speaker 1: I've only been the one time and Okay.
It's, it was
Speaker 2: Okay. Airport's
Speaker 1: Cool.
Okay. I got to play paddle, which was nice this year.
This year they're putting us up in an all inclusive hotel,
which I, I cannot, I cannot verbalize
Speaker 2: That's for a dry country.
Speaker 1: No, in the hotels, they're, they're licensed.
That's the like, only place you can get alcohol. Got it.
But to that end, I cannot like verbalize strongly enough
how bad an idea I think that is.
Um, you know, I I it's,
and I'll, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be totally honest here.
It's not me that I'm worried about.
Um, you know, a Alex, you know what it's like you travel
with, with a race team, you know, uh,
a race series is kind of the same
and, uh, you know, no, I'm not gonna call out
Speaker 2: Specific departments.
F1 personnel and mechanics, even though they are held
to a, obviously very high standard in terms
of doing pit stops under three seconds
and this sort of thing, they, they drink with the rest
of them as good as the rest
of them. It's because I've heard
Speaker 3: It's a drinking series with a racing problem.
Speaker 2: Motor sports mechanics
and personnel in general are just land
pirates. Speaker 1: ,
yes. Speaker 2: .
I mean, without obviously to like robbing and pillaging,
but like in terms of the alcohol consumption,
of course land pirates, right?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Why is all the rum gone? So,
Speaker 3: All right.
So we're, we've now burned about 20 minutes on nothing.
Uh, there was some
Speaker 2: Noose.
James hasn't even talked about his cutter time.
Speaker 3: Okay. Speaker 1: I haven't got, I'm not, haven't gone yet.
I don't know. I'm just telling you that.
Yeah, I'm, I think we're gonna lose a,
I think we're gonna lose a few good men out there ,
you know, with, with the, for the Yankee situation. ,
yeah. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm very curious to see if everybody
that goes to Qatar is still employed when we leave
Qatar, let's put it that way.
Hmm. Okay. Um, but yeah, I'll, I'll try
to not have Turkey in, in Thanksgiving.
Tradition on Thursday.
Well, before we get to the news though, while we're talking
of one, we haven't covered the race from Vegas.
We covered the penalty on Tuesday,
but the race in the weekend itself, we haven't in a shock
to absolutely no one max for Stepin won.
I think we all kind of predicted that,
but dude, honestly, the, the race doesn't, compared
to the previous doesn't, no,
he doesn't winning his driver in America, I think
that was his eighth win, uh, on US soil.
The session that I really want to talk about is, I mean,
because Vegas, the last,
the first two years was like a really good race.
It was a lot of good action. There was a lot
of passing whatever year, three slightly less good race,
but the qualifying session,
Speaker 2: Terrible race.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: So boring. The
Speaker 1: Qualifying session was extremely entertaining
and it was genuinely super, super impressive.
Like there are obviously very impressive drivers in Formula
Formula One, we talk about it a lot.
We, we love giving, you know,
the guys the credit when credit's due.
This was, this was one session where I ha my, my respect
for everyone, every single one
of the drivers actually went up so high.
Like look at it on paper.
You've got a street circuit naturally slippery
and hard to get around, right.
The, the asphalt is not like the street circuits in Monaco
or Jetta
or whatever that is basically just a
racetrack put down on the road.
It's just good old fashioned road asphalt for the most part.
Uh, temperatures so cold, the tires barely work.
A downforce configuration,
meaning you got the lowest downforce of the year,
then you throw in rain.
And let's not forget there's walls everywhere.
Like worst case, like I cannot think
of another element you could add to make it worse.
In fact, sorry, I will make it worse.
Park fur may rules mean you cannot change the setup
of the car between qualifying in the race.
The race was gonna be dry.
So you had a dry setup on a wet cold,
low down forced street circuit.
What? Yes, Alex, what makes that worse?
If you're gonna say like a meteor hitting the track, I,
Speaker 2: No, I mean, that would make it,
that would make it worse for sure.
I don't think it would make it better. I
don't think that would improve things.
When did I miss When they got rid of, uh,
tire blankets on wet tires like
Speaker 1: Two years ago?
Speaker 2: Okay, well I guess we don't run wets very often in
F1, unfortunately.
That's just, I didn't, I didn't realize that was a thing.
So that makes it hard
because these guys, I mean, they're used to going, these,
these cars are obviously very fast.
Um, and tire temp is a big thing in terms
of getting the car on the right operating
window, even when it's dry.
And so they, it's every day they have, they have tires
and blankets, they leave them onto the last possible
half second they roll outta the garage
and they immediately have to start pushing
to maintain the temperature in the tire
because if you drive slow, you'll start
to lose the temperature, which means you lose grip,
which means you lose more temperature.
And it's a, it's a vicious snowball
effect to the <inaudible>.
On the flip side, you leave pit lane on a cold tire,
it's very hard to push
to generate temperature because you don't have the grip.
So you have to like push through this phase of
what you gotta drive the out of it, not crash
to generate temperature to get the grip.
And doing that with no blankets. Yes, IndyCar does it.
Yes, other championships do it. It's not unheard of.
But in F1 it is something that's fairly new.
So yes, I agree that that session looked horrible
and really was one of those sessions where I was pretty,
pretty content being a spectator on my couch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Dude.
100%. 100%.
Only one guy clipped the wall
and it like, kind of barely clipped it.
It was, it was sort
of like he just overcorrected slightly and hit the front.
Didn't even like have an over steer and,
and take out a rear corner.
And, uh, I thought we were gonna have, you know,
we set the record in Baku for a number
of red flags in a qualifying session.
I honestly thought we were going to maybe give that a run
for its money 'cause of,
'cause of all those, the confluence of factors
and circumstance that made that one
of the most gnarly sessions ever.
And when a guy like Vertin gets out,
he was like, yeah, that wasn't fun.
You know, , it's like, yeah, it's gotta be pretty bad.
Gotta be pretty bad. So anyway,
that part was super impressive.
The race Lando off, you know, Lando, first of all, credit
to Lando because this is,
this is the other thing too, right?
When it's a session like that
and it's all those things that make it so hard,
and most of the drivers bar like Alonzo,
I think got outta the car
and said, worst conditions I've ever raced in,
had no fun doing that.
That was awful. It was terrifying.
When you're the guy that comes out on top of that,
that's pretty, like, there's extra
bragging rights there, right?
Like getting pulled one thing for sure.
Getting poll when everyone else is like,
that's the hardest conditions I've ever seen.
That's a, that's a nice pat on the back there.
So he starts on pole
and then he tries to out Max Max into turn one
and he didn't quite do it,
Speaker 2: But now at least he tried.
Speaker 1: I that's exactly, that's just gonna say, I was like,
what's your, what was your take on that?
Because I was proud he went for it. Mm-hmm .
Because like at this point, you know, he's been, he's been
kind of owned by Max on multiple occasions over their,
you know, careers together and he really went for it.
But I, man, I gave him the credit for, you know, he's,
he's got more to lose than anybody at this, you know,
goes in with a 24 point lead or whatever.
And uh, I thought it was awesome.
Speaker 2: What's funny though is, is
Max is inevitable in turn one lap one,
like he never screws up a launch.
He is always going to lunge the <inaudible> outta you.
He is never gonna like, oh, just take it easy.
And so when Lando knew this was the case
and went super aggressive to cover it off,
max was like, nah, I'm good.
and Lando just out broke himself
and um, lost the lead anyways.
Actually lost second as well, um,
by the time they got to turn four.
But no, I was, I was proud of him
because that would've been, like you said, at that point in,
in the championship, he can just, he can finish second
to Max for the rest of the year
and come away world champion.
But he's still fighting tooth and nail
because he knows as well as all of us that, um, he needs
to still keep beating Max no matter what the math says.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. And then the, the other part of it
that I thought was so funny was after the first stop,
or the stop I should say, um, Orlando gets around George
who had got him in the first stint
in the, you know, off the start there.
And he was, he came on the radio
and he was like, are we sitting here still taking care
of tires or are we going for it?
And the team was like, no, no, let's go for it.
Get around George and let's go chase down Max.
And dude like flipped a switch past George in half a lap,
which in and of itself was like, man,
he's just sitting there really taking care of these tires.
And he is like, let's go get Max.
And then GP Max's engineer comes on the radio goes, uh,
alright, max, uh, Orlando's now P two.
He has been told to come get you.
It, it was like, you could hear it in his voice, ,
it was so good.
And Max, I don't think he even replied on the radio,
or at least they didn't play it.
He just replied by absolutely like, hammering fastest lap
after fastest lap was like, yeah, go ahead bro.
Come get me .
Speaker 2: It's just, it's, he's so much better than everyone else.
And Lando is like in the top 0.1%
of race car drivers on planet Earth
and Max is just infinitely better
and is so unfair to everyone.
Speaker 1: It's dude like,
thank God he doesn't just have the best car this year.
Like it's, uh, I'm really curious as to
what happens next year on a lot
of levels for a lot of reasons.
But yeah, Max's Max's ability at the moment is just so
Speaker 2: Ridiculously good.
But what's what's funny is it's uh, I think gp, his engineer
said two years ago
after his third consecutive world championship in a row,
he was like, what's terrifying
and equally awesome for me is like
he's just scratched the surface and is getting better.
Yeah. And like that's, we're seeing that play out.
So he has not at all reached his, his limit
or his his capacity, um, to be the best,
which is insane.
Speaker 1: And he's also, the other thing I love about him,
and I think Alonzo's,
the only other guy I've seen do it kind of
to the same extent is, you know, he kept,
he kept himself in the running in the first part
of this year, having no business doing that, right?
Like the races that he won, Suzuka
and ela, like no business winning those races.
Right. And he just ke his car is just not
what the McLaren was, especially early in the season.
But it sound, it sounds too simple to say,
like he just never gives up, right?
Like we all never give up,
but like some guys you see, like they, they
they're doing 99% when you know that your car's not as good.
I don't mean to brag, but I give up a lot. Yeah.
You've never even, you've never even made it two 99%.
Nevermind, you know, you don't back off to 99%
if at first you don't
succeed. Speaker 2: ,
Speaker 1: No . If at first you don't succeed, try try again.
If still you don't succeed, burn race, all evidence
that proved you tried in the first place.
Speaker 2: Nope. That's better. Sounds exhausting. Yeah.
Yeah, a lot of work
Speaker 1: Throughout this year.
A good chunk of the year, he didn't have the fastest car
and he just kept pushing as if he was still fighting
for wins every single week.
And that's why he's still in the running
and that's why he's max for Stepin.
Like the Ferrari guys, I know they're trying
to do a good job, but like at some point on a given weekend
they check out and you can just, you can see it.
It's, you know, you've seen it from every other driver.
I it is, it is. Not even naming names.
I've just, Fernando's the only other guy I've seen,
like remember when he was driving the McLaren Honda
and they were, it was just not a quick car.
Like he would fight
for those 15th place finishes like he was fighting
for a world championship.
Oh, unfortunately, like I, you gotta love that kind
of like you and Mikhail fighting for 12th in Road America on
Speaker 2: The last like 17th, but yeah. Yep.
Speaker 1: Whatever. Speaker 2: Anyways, um,
Speaker 1: Terrific.
Speaker 2: IndyCar, now that you Speaker 1: Brought that up, IndyCar News.
Speaker 2: IndyCar News, uh, one more,
one more seat is gone.
So, uh, mixed Schumacher has been confirmed
and to RLL in some obscure car number,
but essentially replacing, uh, Devlin in the 30.
Um, so that lineup is complete, which means
that there is only one seat left at Coin.
Well, depending on what happens, Premo,
Speaker 1: Depending on Premo.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But there's one seat left at Coin, which, uh,
Dale did say that he would have it done by Thanksgiving,
but he also said he'd have it done by Halloween, neither
of which I really believe at this point.
I always just figured we'd get it right
before St. Pete. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I'll have it done by St. Pete. Yeah, I'll it done by St.
Pete. Yeah. But Schumacher, so
Speaker 2: Again, it's a big win for the series.
Speaker 1: It's a huge win, man. He, um, you know, obviously had
that test that was fairly successful
and I think we, I'm sure we talked about it at the time,
like it is anytime that RLL tests a
European driver at Indie gp,
they are stacking things in their own favor
quite aggressively.
Not a criticism, there's not
a lot of places you can go test.
It's an easy place. It's down the street.
I'm not saying that they're cherry picking the track and,
and that it just happens to be one of their stronger ones.
Um, I'm not surprised that Mick wanted to come.
I'm not surprised that he was happy to sign there.
I would've loved to have seen him test
at least one other place.
Uh, but then at the same time it's not like there were a lot
of options for him to like go shop around.
So if he wanted to be an IndyCar, that was kind of the,
the best option out there.
And it seems like he wanted to be an IndyCar.
So I think it's great.
Uh, I love that, uh, that he's doing it at a time when
so many F1 guys have said in the last 2, 3, 5 years,
whatever, that they're like, yeah, ni car's cool.
We watch it. We love the racing,
but like I would never do it.
Ovals scare me, like two dangerous, not worth the risk.
And you know, here comes a kid that doesn't have
to race if he doesn't want to races 'cause he wants to race
and he's choosing to come mix it
up with us. And I think that's awesome.
Speaker 2: A hundred percent. Um, and l let's call it what it is.
Um, while his, his career F1 was probably over,
um, he had a pretty thick, uh, job
for a factory, um,
prototype team in the world Endurance Championship, uh,
which I'm sure paid very well,
he could continue living in Europe, um, race on track, Ken
Speaker 1: Eight races a year like pretty pretty relaxed schedule
Speaker 2: And he's taken a, a big, big, you know, swing at coming
to a completely different championship on tracks he's never
seen before and a style of racing
that is unlike anything he's, he's dealt with.
And you know, obviously you combine that with,
with the learning curve of the ovals
and um, it's, uh, it's gonna be a challenge for him.
But it's cool to see, as you said,
like he's embracing all of it.
It's not just a, oh,
I'm gonna do a part-time program, see how it goes.
Like he's, he's fully committed to, to the process and,
and wants to be successful at it.
Speaker 1: I'm, I'm really curious about RLL for next year.
You know, kind of putting on my commentator hat
and looking ahead
because they've done some crazy hiring over the,
over the season.
They've brought in a lot of people. Yeah.
Very aggressive hiring strategy. Gavin, right?
Gavin Ward is now part of the team, which like, you know,
when he left McLaren, dude,
like we didn't hear anything about him for a year.
Like I, I, I don't know what he's been up to.
I dunno where he went. I dunno who he's been talking to.
But then yeah, he just sort of pops up, uh, joining Jay Fry
and the gang over at RLL off the back of some other kind
of hope, high high profile, uh, hirings.
Now you got Mick in there.
Um, Louie got resigned like we talked about the other day.
So yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be really interesting
to see, I think,
I think Deb's looking at some sports car options, uh, now
that that's, you know, that seat's gone there
and that opportunity on the IndyCar side's gone for now.
And like you say, it's down to one.
So who do we, who do we know is in the mix?
Who do we think's got a chance
for the final coin seat again?
Well, let's just say, let's just say premise is either not
there or coming back with the same line. Sure.
Speaker 2: I mean I think, I think it's your defacto guys.
You've got Connor, you've got Leanness, you've got,
um, you know, guys like Uri VIPs
who obviously is an RLL guy
but continues getting passed over.
So at one point I'm sure he
and slash Ray Hall would let him go,
like if there was an opportunity. Um,
Speaker 1: Same with Toby salary.
Speaker 2: Toby salary. You've got like Hunter m
Ray, you've got Oh
Speaker 1: Yeah, true.
Speaker 2: I would say those are probably off the top of my mind.
Those are the, the main guys.
But I mean I think it's really leanest and Connor, right?
Or the, the highest profile. Well there was,
Speaker 1: There was a lot of rumor about Rojan maybe
making a triumphant return.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And so I I was, I was kind of hearing that too.
Um, but the fact that it hasn't happened has made me think
that's less of a, less of a thing
because, you know, Roma is a, isn't a driver
that's gonna bring money.
You might, you know, he might have a, a partner here
or there that can, can be an associate
for a couple races on, on the car,
but, um, you know, he's a paid driver
and I feel like if Dale was gonna hire a paid driver at
this point, he would've just done that.
But I think, I don't know, I don't, I don't know,
but I would, my my gut says it's, it's a con leans sort
of situation going on here, but who
Speaker 3: Knows?
So I mean, let's put on your team principal hat.
Say it was your guys' decision, who would you
Speaker 2: Go? I'm not answering that
question. Speaker 1: . .
There's some biases here. It's uh, that's a tough one. Yeah.
I mean it's an easy one and a tough one at the same time.
Um, you know, I could tell you who I, who I wanted the car.
I mean, I'm not gonna, but I could.
Um, but it's, it is, it is interesting
because again, with, with that being the kinda last seat,
the fact that we were able to just list off like five
or six different drivers, um, you know, that shows
that IndyCar's in a pretty solid spot.
There's a, there's a lot of good shoes out there that,
you know, deserve a shot.
I mean, you look at what guys like McElroy Ray
and s did in the couple races they did for Coin, you know,
Yuri like you say, has been there
and I don't know, is he,
is he gonna be doing something
with their sports car program?
Maybe I, I don't dunno. I dunno.
Maybe they got the, the McLaren GT program now.
Yeah, there's, I don't know. I don't know.
Let say you got Connor and Lean.
That's the, but you know what,
you know what's probably gonna happen is a month before St.
Pete, some pressure is gonna come out with some driver
that was not even remotely on our
radar because Oh, for sure.
That's what, that's what Valentino Rossi is gonna come race
for Dale Coin, you know, in, uh, in St.
Pete. 'cause that's the kind of thing that, that Dale
Speaker 2: Can do.
I mean, there's a, there's a big, there's a big rumor.
I have no idea if it has any legs to it,
but there's a big rumor that Yuki
with some Honda help is looking at IndyCar and
Speaker 1: Damn Speaker 2: Dale is a Honda team.
Obviously. I don't know if there's any sort
Speaker 3: Of truth to that, but
Speaker 1: It's, it's too bad
'cause I'm, I'm still of the opinion
that Red Bull shouldn't be promoting Linblad yet
and should keep you key
and Lawson for one more year and then make a decision.
But that ain't happening. So Dude, that'd be so cool. Could
Speaker 3: You imagine you on those things?
Speaker 1: Uh, not anymore. Not, not since I told him
to pass up on Max Tappin.
Whoops. My bad.
Speaker 3: What has that kid done? I was like,
Speaker 1: He's too young.
Um, dude, could you imagine Yuki in the series?
I know that's probably a pipe dream,
but that would be hilarious and amazing. Mm
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm . It'd be very
Speaker 1: Funny. You're like,
Speaker 3: I don't know, , Speaker 1: I don't know if I want that.
It'd be great for me. It'd be great for me. Uh, okay guys.
Um, that's that.
It's, we, we were, we argued we were gonna do a,
a shorter episode 'cause it was Thanksgiving
and we didn't, we've managed to
eke out our entire episode even though we talked about
Turkey for a long time.
So, um, and
Speaker 3: Aprons being lingerie
Speaker 1: And aprons being lingerie and bikinis being aprons.
Uh, ipso facto, but
Speaker 3: Are they sandwiches ?
Speaker 1: Tim, Tim, let's not go there.
We're not gonna get the VP of Meat on again to discuss this.
We've already had this chat.
So let's sign off with our annual tradition, gentlemen.
What are we thankful for in 2025?
Speaker 3: Mine's pretty easy. Yeah. The Bahamas .
Speaker 1: No. Oh no, you're kidding. I'm
Speaker 3: Thankful for Ben and use it now. ,
Speaker 1: Steve, you know, race. Speaker 3: Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: A good one.
You're thankful for fatherhood. Yeah. Yeah.
Uh, Tim, you, you can't use that
for the 12th year in a row, so you gotta go with something else.
Speaker 3: Okay. You know what, I was thinking about this
because James, you
and I were talking, uh, over the summer about, uh,
you know, how how long are we gonna be doing off track?
And it was just kind of like,
you know, were like, well, I don't know man.
I, I like having an excuse to talk with you guys,
you know, twice a week.
So I'm gonna go equally as cheesy
and say I'm thankful for this show.
It's, uh, equally as cheesy. I am,
Speaker 1: I don't think, I don't, for
Speaker 3: The first time, cheesy I meant on,
I meant based on my prior ones.
Oh yeah. Nice,
Speaker 1: Nice recovery there, Tim.
Speaker 3: I think he bought it. , thankful for the opportunity
to talk to you guys, uh, twice a week and just, uh,
and, and keep whatever Tim.
Hi James. We'd much, I don't think we'd be as close.
I think you two would be as close
of friends without this show,
but I don't think I'd be anywhere in the mix without the
show, so I'm thankful for that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, come on. Those rooms aren't gonna escape
themselves when you're in town.
and, uh, and, and,
and DTF is not gonna eat itself when I'm in la Lord
Speaker 3: Knows, Lord knows your kitchen isn't gonna clean itself. ,
I keep waiting on it. . I keep waiting for it to do that,
but no one of these days, I noticed
Speaker 1: One of these days, Speaker 3: .
Alright, James,
Speaker 1: Man, your turn.
Um, look, it's, it's been a, a crazy year for me.
And, um, it's, there are a lot of times, you know,
especially this latter part of the year
where you're like getting kind of tired
and you're getting kind of ready to be off the road
and all these things, but then you sit there
and you realize just, you know, how lucky I am
and have the opportunity to get to
still work in this business.
You know, I, I grew up, my entire life was racing.
I stepped away from driving
and was lucky to find something that kept me involved.
And now I'm more involved than ever in multiple series
and, you know, getting to do this, this,
uh, this crazy thing.
IndyCar F1, still driving an imsa.
Uh, it's a lot,
but it's, I'm very lucky to get the, the chance to do it.
I'm very thankful to get the chance to do it
and that I've got a really supportive wife
that understands me being gone a lot,
and lets me do, uh,
lets me do the things I'm passionate about.
So I'm thankful for that, man.
Speaker 3: Alright, well, happy Thanksgiving everybody
and have a I'll leave Nashville next week. We'll
Speaker 1: Definitely cover Nashville next week.
Speaker 3: Can't wait. Speaker 4: This has been off
track with Hinch and Rossi.
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