This Past Weekend - E407 Tony Kanaan

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Starting point is 00:00:55 I want to announce a new tour date. November 3rd in San Diego at the Balboa Theater. We'll be heading down there with the return of the rat tour. The Patreon pre-sale starts today at 2 p.m. The artist pre-sale starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. That's September 7th with the code RatKing. And the general on sale will be Friday, September 9th at 10 a.m. And they're available to everyone then with no code. As well we have October 11th and 12th in Wichita, Kansas. October 13th Omaha, Nebraska. And October 14th Denver, Colorado. Both those shows are sold out but we will be adding new Denver dates and some other Colorado dates in the earliest part of the year. It's looking like January. You can go to theovan.com slash tour for those tickets.

Starting point is 00:01:54 For all tickets. Thank you for your support. I'm excited to announce that we've got the new Rat King Racing Collection hitting the store today. If you like being in a vehicle, if you like driving or yielding, using your blinker, going fast, using gasoline, if you like all of that, Automobiliary. You'll love it. It's at theovanstore.com, the Rat King Racing Collection, shirts, hoodies, hats. Get that hitter baby gang. Today's guest is, he's that racer baby. He's that boy. You know what I'm saying? He likes being on wheels. He's been an IndyCar driver for 25 years. He's won the Indy 500. He's from Brazil. He's from another country. But he's put a lot of miles on America. That's for sure. His team took me out earlier today in an IndyCar. And man,

Starting point is 00:02:48 I hit a couple hundred miles. I hit a couple hundred miles. I hit a damn mock or a couple mocks. I don't know what I hit. I mean, there's still people looking for me. So that's how fast we went. I'm grateful to have him here today to learn about his life and to learn about racing. Today's guest is Mr. Tony Kanan. Yeah, man. So if I seem flustered, I, uh, the pool, you know, which immediately tells people that I'm making money, um, the pool, something broke and the water's flowing into the backyard right now. You know, that's, that's what I tell my kids and my wife at home because obviously we work hard. We make money, but if we didn't have a pool, we wouldn't have that problem. Right.

Starting point is 00:03:57 Right. But like I was traveling to a race, um, we, we live in Indianapolis and I have four kids. Oh, wow. They all go to the races with me when they can. So I have obviously a smart home with all the security because, you know, you have to have it and, uh, we, I turn the alarm on and I can see anything that happens. I can see it on my, on my phone and going down the road, driving to one of the races, uh, my phone starts to go nuts and gives, gives me different alarms that, you know, the bathroom lights on or I'm like, it's somebody's in the house and I'm looking in the camera and I can't see it. I can't see it. We're not too far off. I said, I don't know what we need to turn around and see what's going on. We had nobody there. So I turn around, came home.

Starting point is 00:04:44 But first you get home. You're like, I don't know how to fight. I don't have a gun. I'm like, if somebody's here, but I also don't want to call the police to look like the fool. They're like, Hey, so I go in. There is nothing going on. I'm like, what's, what's wrong? And the phone's going crazy. Then I start, try to turn the light on to check. Doesn't turn on. So I'm like, something's happening. Are we going to catch fire? Anyway, to make a story short, because you talk about your basement. I have, it's a smart home and all the equipment is in the basement in a room with air condition because they say needs to keep a cool, like, you know, like we do it in the studio. And it's positioned in a room specifically made, but that is one pipe, one single pipe

Starting point is 00:05:27 that goes through. That was actually, they put the rack with all the equipment underneath. Oh, it was the sewer pipe. No, so it was dripping. And it was broken. So it leaked, it burned the entire system. So the house wasn't working, but also it's the sewer pipe. So you can imagine. Not your finest pipe. Yeah. And it was floating by the time I got back. It was at least 40 minutes between and then it flowed the, the basement with no that clean water. Wow. So who had to go in there? Well, I was in there. As soon as I saw that, I'm not very good at, I was, I almost barfed. Yeah. I told my wife, look, damage is done. Nobody's going down there. And I still had to drive. I mean, we're like,

Starting point is 00:06:13 I have to go to a race. Right. So I called a couple of the contractors, the guy that built my house and they helped me out and they, they sent people there. We fixed the pipe and had to call the insurance company because then we had to change everything, the whole carp. I mean, everything was. Oh, is that probably the worst thing that's happened to you as a homeowner, you think? No, I, I lived in Miami for 22 years and I used to collect watches, like expensive watches and stuff, but never really had them in a safe or anything. I had probably 35 expensive watches, not insured. No. And, but you do interviews, you talk about things. Yeah. You like, you know, you have cars, you have this and it's not a brag, but people like,

Starting point is 00:06:57 oh, so I know you like watches. So then I actually had just given an interview to a watch guy and I got home and they're all gone. A couple million bucks. So really a couple million bucks worth? Yeah. Some expensive was like, if people don't understand about watches, but a Rolex ponywoman, which is very rare, like, yeah, I actually got left with the watches that I was wearing, which is always my workout watch, which was the cheapest one. Oh, damn, isn't that crazy how you'll get something nice for yourself and then you just kind of lock it away? You know, that's something that I hopefully, I mean, hopefully it didn't happen to you, but you feel so violated, right? So you work so hard in it. I'm, I don't come from a rich family.

Starting point is 00:07:42 I mean, everything I've done, I really worked hard. I gave up a lot of things to, to do it, never with the intention to make money. I mean, to be rich. I've never said, oh, I want to be a race car driver because I want to be rich. I just want to race. But then you like nice things. You make money, blah, blah, blah. And then somebody just come and takes it from you. You know, yeah, that must have been really disheartening. Did you, um, it was so bad that actually into this day, I probably have five watches now. You know, I love watches and I bought the, my top five because then you go, you don't need all of it. You don't. You really like, looks like, you know, people can take you the wrong way to,

Starting point is 00:08:21 when you brag, wow, I had 40 watches. I just liked them. I didn't, you know, it wasn't like, oh, I have how much time you need year, you know, you have one, well, you have to risk, but you only supposed to wear one watch at a time. So it's not like, so I bought my favorite five watches and, and that's it. I would never bought it. Never bought it again. Now I have a safe, then you insure them and so on. But it's almost ruined your love for them a little bit that somebody, you just go, that's it. And it did go away. Like, you know, on that particular, like, I don't know, whatever you want to call, like, pleasure that I have of collecting, that is, it's been gone ever since between 12 years now. But yeah, yeah, I, I could have, thank God,

Starting point is 00:09:01 I could have bought all of them back or some of them right now. I don't want to. And did you call a detective or anything like that? So we did. But like, like I said, they were not insured. Some of the watches, I mean, I had listed. So they say, well, if this watch comes to service at Rolex or whatever, we can probably catch it. If not, they're gonna be gone. So we put, we think it's so hard because when you do an interview, look how many millions of people are watching us. Yeah. And then I could say something. And nowadays, you can Google anything. Our lives, yes, because we live on a social media environment, they know when you're gone. Yeah. Right. As soon as you post, Hey, I'm going to LA, I'm shooting in LA today. Whoever

Starting point is 00:09:47 knows that where you live, they can assume you're not in your home. Well, if they come, I hope they don't come to swim. I'll tell them that. But that's what I'm saying. Like, and that's my biggest fear, especially coming from Brazil, which is it's a toward world country. And yes, it's, it's quite, you know, it's not as wealthy as, as, as America. You have a lot of those kind of things. And my biggest fear is like, when people know I'm going, my family's at home. And they know my wife is alone. So you try to protect yourself. And in Brazil, do they have a lot of kidnappings and stuff like that? Big time. I mean, I when I go down there, which I do a lot. I still have family there. My oldest kid still lives there. I'm racing there this year. I have a bulletproof car.

Starting point is 00:10:36 And I have two bodyguards that follow me on another car and talk about not having any privacy. Because if you try not to catch, catch attention, you know that well enough, you shouldn't walk around with four people, right, looking like, you know, like a wardrobe behind you. Like double OC. Yeah. And then every time you stop somewhere, they go in first, check it out. And then you come out and people are like, well, who's that? Right. But a lot of people do that, which is it takes your privacy away. It takes a lot of things away. And I'm always worried about my mom. My mom is 74. And it's interesting because it's almost like, you know, you achieve some of your dreams and your goals. And then you have to, even if you want to be anonymous, you almost can't be

Starting point is 00:11:17 just for your own sake. Right. But then when you talk about kidnapping, they're not going to come for me, right? They're going to come to my kids, right? To my mom, to my sister, because they want me to probably pay for it. Yeah. If they call, if they kidnap you, they can't call you. Yeah. They can call me. And then I said, guys, if I don't make a call to get you the money, who's going to get you the money? Unless they're the worst kidnappers ever. And I said, if they call my wife, she might pay them to keep me for a few extra months. Wow, that's fascinating. And in Brazil, is it a, I guess like, well, tell me about that bulletproof car. So that thing is like, dude, it's the most amazing thing you'll see. I mean, it's, I, I, I raced down there for Toyota.

Starting point is 00:12:00 So it's a Corolla, but they add another, I don't know. Nowadays, it's very, you know, exactly what I'm talking about, but very the ballistic stuff that you put in a car, the metals and stuff, it's so light that is only like 100 pounds more than you add to the car. But it goes inside the door, the column, all every single, you can break, like you could sit in your car and flip anybody off. And if you're locked in, they cannot get it. Like you just be like, whatever, you know, but which is not, it's not funny, but like they, they still like an iPhone, just to give an example, an iPhone down there, just think about currency. You have to think about one to one. If I say, because the dollar there, it's five to one. Okay. So yeah, it's five

Starting point is 00:12:47 of our currency. Okay, got it. Let's pretend you live there. So if you make 10 grand, you're making 10, whatever, right? So an iPhone there, it's 50 grand, 50 grand in, in real. But you have to think that if, if, if you live there, you're making 50 grand of something. Right. So, but I'm telling, so, and then the minimum wage, it's 2000. So think about this for 100 years to make an iPhone. Not a hundred years, but like a 10 years, right? Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So you walk in, you're walking down the street talking on your iPhone. Yeah. Wow. Somebody takes it and they make two grand a month. They can sell it. Okay, it's stolen, but for 40, that's almost two years of work. So they take it. But you know, in a bulletproof car, they, they try to actually,

Starting point is 00:13:34 they actually try to break the window and then you just flip them off. It's not getting that one. You keep on knocking, but you can't come in. I mean, you know how it's miserable to live a life like that. Oh yeah. You're just like this big game of hide and go seek and it's only because you achieved some of your dreams or you had some success. Right. You know, I actually went to one time, um, Salvador. That's where I'm from. Really? Yeah. That's where I was born. Dude, I got mugged by a, uh, I mean, it was all, it's beautiful, but also I got mugged by a woman there, dude. And I never fought a woman before. What did she take? She, I had, uh, some of my money and spa just belong is in my front pockets, right? So she

Starting point is 00:14:14 put one of her hands in my pocket. So I grabbed her wrist and held it against my side. So locked her hand in my pocket, but then now she and I each had to start, you know, I never, I didn't know she was a woman at first. So I was just ready to defend myself. And then we, we, we each punched each other a decent amount. But guys, look at, look, can you imagine Theo like, does he look like a Brazilian walking down the street in Brazil now? No, that's why. Yeah. Yeah. I don't look like paleo. I'm sorry. Yeah. It's, you know, it was, I thought, look, it was awesome. And it kind of was like, and I hadn't had any coffee. So it was like free coffee. I mean, that'll get you going. Oh, it gets you adrenaline up. But it was also, you know, I mean, I think some of that stuff is

Starting point is 00:14:57 just, it's not a frown on the society. It's just part of, you know, some cultures there, you know, they're not doing as well. And I remember there was a kid who said he would bite me and that he was infected that he had HIV, right? And it was just like a scam, you know? And I was like, well, I probably, I might have something, you know, so I'll bite you. And then I think I just gave him a couple of dollars, but I actually, I admired his ingenuity a little bit, you know, that dirty Dracula. That's desperation, right? You think about, like, it's just like being in the jungle, right? You're like, well, it's not fair that the lion's gonna eat the little elephant, but he needs to do that to survive. And that's basically, unfortunately, it's what

Starting point is 00:15:38 with like, you know, when your family is starving, and you can't make ends meet, and you're making less than 1000 bucks a month, and it costs you five grand to live. Yeah, people do desperate things. And, you know, it's a shame. It's really a shame. Yeah. And then it becomes a culture because then starts like that, but then people are that's easy, right? Right? Yeah, I'll do it. Why am I going to work nine hours a day to make $2,000? If I can steal a phone and make it 40, right? In 30 seconds. And then you have weird things where it's like, okay, if I have one kid, and he's out threatening to bite people and making money, why don't I have five kids and have a little nibbling family? And then it becomes like, you know, like a full like a chorus almost, right? Like just like,

Starting point is 00:16:23 you know, there's out there just snacking on people. But yeah, I think a lot of that is just it happens with poverty, even in poverty, people have to find a way to survive. So and then when you're when you're poor, your enemy, because my enemy always growing up was rich people. I fucking hate a rich people, dude, you know, and for no reason except that they were rich. And you kind of have to have an enemy, you know, especially when you don't have anything, you got to have an enemy, you know, it's a motivation. I take it as a motivation. That's what it is. Like, you know what? It's not. I'll show you. Yes. You're thinking rich. Yeah. It's a motivation, man. Like I remember the first time I went to somebody's house and they

Starting point is 00:17:03 had a dog in the inside. And it blew my mind. Inside dog. I'd never seen it. I thought it was like a myth. You know, it seemed like something out of the Bible. You know, I remember being by my buddy Scott's house. You know, dogs do acupuncture now, you know that they have masseuse. Do you know that? Do they? Yeah, man. See, you're going to hate them even more. Not the dogs, but bring up that dog acupuncture, please. Let's get a peek at it. I want to see what you're talking about. Because I never seen an animal shoot up. Look at that. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, come on. See, some of this seems a mildly satanic. They have migraines. That's what they say. I don't know. I have migraines. I do alcapulcher, but yeah, how does your dog tell you

Starting point is 00:17:45 you have a migraine, you know? I don't know. Somebody tells you that, right? Yeah, somebody tells you. Right. And you believe it. Yeah, the dog is saying it. Yeah, the dog, this seems like a little voodoo dog right there. That one. Wow. Hey, can you bring up an article on it, please? Do you mind, bud? Dog acupuncture. Yeah, when I was young, they didn't have dogs didn't do acupuncture. I think that, you know, like they say that they have arthritis, like, you know, like some stuff like that. But they got four legs, man. If you got four legs, you're going to get arthritis, bro. If you don't think you're getting arthritis and you want four legs, that's your fault. Into the dog's body at specific points, where nerves and blood vessels converge,

Starting point is 00:18:32 these points are located in sites called meridians. Just like human, huh? Just like human acupuncture. But that's what I'm saying, though, but we can go to an acupuncture guy or a doctor, whatever you call, say, I'm having a headache. How do you know your dog does? Yeah. You woke up in the morning and said, let me take the dog to the vet. Because she barked a little weird. She has a migraine on it. He had a long night. Yeah, I think he could. Yeah. That's crazy, bro. That's wild. And that's one of the side effects, having too much money in a culture. Well, but also it's the same. I have dogs. I mean, I had dogs all my life, the kids love them, and then it becomes part of your family. And you just will do whatever.

Starting point is 00:19:14 Yeah, I guess I would never, I couldn't imagine a dog getting acupuncture. I think I don't know if it would, I couldn't do it, I don't think, no matter what was going on with it. Even if I got a little note from it saying, hey, man, I'd love, you know, some little, you know, a Chinese therapy or something. I'd say, I'd say no. I'd say no. But I remember, yeah, the first time I ever saw a golden retriever indoors, somebody said, I've never seen a golden retriever before. And it came around the corner of my buddy Scott's house and it looked like it had just come out of the Bible, man. It was beautiful. God, it was beautiful. In a poor country is, because NASCAR or racing in America is often synonymous with poor people. Right. You know, and I don't know why

Starting point is 00:20:04 that is really. You know, I know when I was, you know, I was poor and a lot of people like cars, poor people like, you know, getting a car, it's kind of, there's something cool about it. Because we can't have good cars, so we have to like cars because we have the crappiest cars, you know, they're always breaking it. Yeah. People would be like, oh, I got, like I had a 90, 90, I had a 1984 Ford Escort and somebody stole the passenger seat out of it. So you had to get in the front and then just go sit in the back, you know. It's actually like a limo scene, man. It was pretty nice, man. It wasn't too bad, but it was weird though, you know, people would get in the front door and be like, well, where do I even go? They're like, we'll fucking get in the back.

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Starting point is 00:23:24 you know, sometimes don't have, but like to fund a kid to race go-karts nowadays, you're going to spend at least $200,000 a year. And then go-karts, you don't find a sponsor to get the return, right? I mean, nowadays, a little easier. But so Brazil is like, we have soccer, which is extremely popular. Yeah. Because it's very cheap. Oh, y'all are so good at soccer, we watch. Right. But all we need to play soccer is soccer ball. Right. So anybody can have that, you can play anywhere. So in the favelas, which is like people live in this cartoon houses, board it. Yeah, you can play anywhere. So we have the majority, 80% of the population play soccer. And then you have second, the second biggest sports racing because it became,

Starting point is 00:24:12 it became very popular back in the day, but it's very expensive. So it becomes a rich people. If you're rich, you go carting. If you don't have a lot of money, you're playing soccer. So I was very fortunate because my family wasn't rich, but we were not poor, poor, we're mid-class. My dad worked really hard. So we, I started, I used to watch races with them on TV since I was, I mean, since I can remember. So like four years old, five years old, watching Formula One and IndyCar and some NASCAR wasn't very popular at the time. It was more open-wheel. And you go watch in person. You guys are watching this. Yes, both. Right. So we do a father and son thing. And so finally, when I was eight years old,

Starting point is 00:24:56 I actually asked him for a go-kart. So he bought me a go-kart and started to kind of fund it. We didn't have the best equipment, but I was pretty good at it. I won every championship I've ever raced from eight to 16. But what happened was when I was 10 years old, dad got diagnosed with cancer. And he was really ill for like three years. And when I was 13, unfortunately, he passed. With his passing, we basically lost everything. And into a year, my dad ran his business. But my mom always, my dad was from Lebanon, a very mid, like the mentality there was my wife will take care of my kids. She never worked. And I get home, everybody needs to be ready. You're talking about 48 years ago, very traditional, but we need to wait

Starting point is 00:25:51 it for him to have dinner. And my mom and we all sit in the table very like, so mom was, my dad was 42 when he passed. My mom was 36 and never had to work. So basically to make a little story short, his business just went bad. We lost everything. So we basically went from mid-class to like, then we really like, we had, we didn't have a car. We both went, my sister and I, we were in public, private schools, we went to public. But remember public schools there are not like public schools here. If you go to public school, it's because you can't afford it. And the, it's not good. The safety level falls off. Safety level. But even the education, it's not as high. It's not as good because we, it's just like a product of, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:47 the government that we have. But so then I had to go work. So I, my dad made him promise him that one day, the day before he passed, he called me up in the hospital and we're sitting, he was actually very lucid. It wasn't like, and going to a hospital with him, I did it for three years in a row. So it was very, it wasn't a problem. He's like, Hey, let's go sit down and have a chat. So he asked, actually it was on a Thursday. He called my mom. I was at the race track. We usually like race weekends are Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Even for go-karting at lunch. Even for go-karting. So it was Thursday afternoon, I was at the track getting ready for Friday. And he asked my mom to tell me to stop by the hospital because he wanted to speak to me. So we sat down and I sat in his

Starting point is 00:27:33 bed, he's talking, obviously sick, cancer, you know, no hair, but not like, oh, he's dying or something. And he's like, Hey, man, you know, if anything ever happens to me, I, you need to promise me you, you need to take care of your mom and sister, but also you're never going to give up racing because really good at it. And I'm like, but he, he like, over the course of the three years, we had a lot of talks like that. I think he was trying to prepare me. I have a younger sister, so I was the oldest, my cat that inches. And one day you need to win the Indy 500 for me, because we used to watch that race. And to me as a kid, I mean, it has nothing to do with the win with a, I remember that the winner will take a picture with a million dollars cash around the

Starting point is 00:28:17 car. That for me was like, that's what I want. Like as a kid, you're like, whoa, right? It's like, dude, I don't have a freaking million dollars here. So he says, and I said, yeah, man, sure. But what are you talking about? Whatever. So I go home that night, I fall asleep or wake up Friday morning to go to the track. My mom is at home. I'm like, what are you doing? She goes, wow, your dad passed last night in the middle of the night. And so I just came here to tell you. But before he passed, he asked me to remind you what you guys talked. Really? Yeah. So I was like, then she says, do you know, do you know what it is? She wasn't there. I said, yeah, of course. She goes, okay, I said, well, I'm gonna go to racetrack. She goes, what?

Starting point is 00:28:59 I said, well, that's what we talked. So we, I did not go to his services. I didn't think I, I didn't want to have the picture of my dad laying there. I think as a kid, he was going to dump me for a long time. So was that a personal choice? Or was that a part of your mother's choice? Because that seems like a strong choice. Mom was actually because I said, I know, I think the first thing was a promise that I made him because I had a race that weekend. So I said, I promise I'm going to keep racing. I can't miss a race. Right. So I went. But in the process, I think, I think I don't recall exactly because it was such a long time ago. But I think that probably led to maybe, I mean, the goodbye was denied before. It's not, he's not going to talk to

Starting point is 00:29:43 me. Right. You know, I know people like to pay respects, but I mean, that's my choice. And your mother was okay with you making that choice? Yeah, because that was, because I told her the promise I made him that I was going to go race. And I won that race that weekend. Wow. So that trophy from that day, April 8, 1998, my mother still has it in her nightstand in her home. Oh, that's beautiful. So and then from then on, basically starts the poor kid living the right, right? And I have to do whatever I had to do. Man, that's, it's interesting, man. Yeah, my father passed a cancer when I was 16. And, and he was,

Starting point is 00:30:27 he was 70 when I was born. So he was older. So even today, when I got to go about you guys's track and ride around with Mr. Andretti, who I think was 82. Yeah. It's like, that reminded me of being a kid riding around with my dad. I mean, my dad went a little slower, but that was, you know, that was the Mario. Here's your hero. When I was, yeah, when I was 10, when I was 12 years old, my dad was 82 and we go drive. And then when he, when I was 13, he let me drive when I was tall enough. He let me drive and he would just sleep and stuff while I was driving, which was insane. Cause I didn't know, I had no idea what I was doing. So yeah, I've never done anything like NASCAR, but that was the closest I ever came was just driving

Starting point is 00:31:12 a senior citizen around. But that was a little bit of a similar experience that I had out there today. So the, the prominence of racing is that big in Brazil? It's big. Obviously it could be bigger, but it's so expensive. That is not, but like a kid that is born in Brazil and obviously follows sports, either they want to be a soccer player or a race car driver. And well, it's easy. It's easier there for wealthier kids to get into. It's like the, in racing, you have, if you have 20 kids, one will be that has no money, everything. Everybody else has a parent or somebody that is paying a hell of a money to, for them to start. Wow. It only becomes more expensive, right? So when I looked, because

Starting point is 00:31:57 I mean, when I look what my mother did for me after my dad passed, because like I said, we're mid-class. I mean, that was responsible. So we had some savings and my mother to keep my dream and my promise to my dad alive kept funding. That's why we ran out of money. Wow. And I told her that I have four kids now. And with all the respect to my kids, if they want to follow a career, I wouldn't jeopardize it because I have, I had a sister that had to actually sacrifice for me as well. Wow. Right? I don't think I could do it to one of my kids because what about the other three? Okay. I have a little bit too many kids, I think, for that, but it was me and my sister and I got all of it. Yeah. Spent all of it.

Starting point is 00:32:45 And she's like, what about me? What about me? Was there favoritism? Is there like because you were the male as well? Was that part of your culture? Not at all, man. And you know, that's something that I, I, I joke about it. I said, the day that I find that I, you know, finally I'm not around and I meet my dad again, he's gonna hear because it was a big responsibility that he put it on me because until this day, my sister never said a word. Wow. I mean, they all knew the story. So I think it was more of dad's word, putting the responsibility on me and on them to sacrifice for me for a dream that we had him and right, they had nothing to do with it. Wow. So that must have felt like an added pressure, huh? But yeah, because, but because then you think

Starting point is 00:33:32 about it, after a year and a half, we lose everything. Then I actually quit school. I, I, I stopped. I was in ninth grade because I had to go to work. Pretty high. You know, so I had to stop. She obviously graduated. She's extremely successful now, but it becomes that I started working on the go cart factory to be able to have money to pay for our bills and also had the equipment to keep racing go cart. So it was, it was a good, good situation. But, but then since then, well, not my sister anymore, but I still take care of my mom. She's still my responsibility. So all of a sudden a 15 year old had two daughters. I didn't have my mom. Oh, interesting. Right. My mom was 38,

Starting point is 00:34:18 trying to find a job anywhere, even here. A 38 year old woman that never worked in her life, trying to find a job that you can actually maintain two kids. And, you know, it's hard. Nobody would give her a job. So yes, tough. I finally had a good friend that own five night clubs in Brazil and night clubs. I mean, it's a mass, right? So they always worry about people stealing from the cashier because they deal with a lot of cash. Oh yeah. Oh, I used to work at when I stole. So he was like, Hey man, I need somebody to take care of all the cashiers and somebody that I trust. And he knew my mother would never. So basically my mom was to go to work at 11 at night and come back when they closed the nightclubs, which in Brazil, it's 5am, 8,

Starting point is 00:35:03 2 30 in the morning, like some of the places here. Yeah. So we never really actually saw each other. Oh, wow. Right. Passes. Yeah, she'll come home to sleep and I'll be leaving to go to work and my sister had to go to school. So. So at what point do you get out of go carts in? Because I mean, obviously, you know, you've had like the penultimate of success like in America is kind of, I guess the Indy 500, you know, it's like, I'm sure it's a lot of you guys's dream. Right. So how do you get from, you know, go carts? When do you make that transfer? And how does that happen for a driver? Do you get called up? Is it a matter of sponsorship? They are, they are all the above. But my story was I had no money. I mean, but people knew my story. So you have a couple friends

Starting point is 00:35:48 that would help you out. You have a team that would, but at the end of the day, you have to win races. That's the best way you can actually achieve success or move and get higher. But and why did you win? Do you think at that point, why were you winning? Honestly, I, I'm, I could sit here and say, well, you know, I'm very talented. I'm good at what I do, which I believe that. But I think at that point, I had no choice. I had to, right? I mean, it got to a point that like people asked me, what about if it didn't work? So I never give myself that option. It was going to work. Now, was I going to go to IndyCar and win the Indy 500? I didn't know that. But I said, this is what I know what to do. And

Starting point is 00:36:37 then this is how I need to make a living. So it's going to work. So I think what made me good, it was like just whatever, man, I slip on a floor on a mattress on a floor in a race shop for three years. Wow. In my boss's office. Or we'll get up and kick some ass in the racetrack. And I think you can see that like, you know, when you can see when somebody really wanted that bad man, I mean, I left my country, I didn't speak. When I came to America, I spoke zero English. That was back in 1996. I went to Italy first. He should have went in a NASCAR then. He should have went in a NASCAR. So, and I went to Italy first before I came here. And it was just, I think, to be honest, when people, actually, my 14 year old just asked me that question because he's in the phase of

Starting point is 00:37:24 trying to figure out what he wants to do. And kids nowadays have 3,000 options. Yeah. And I said, I said, I think it was the no option, no choice. Interesting. Yeah, I can kind of relate to some of that. Like, even with stand up comedy, I never felt like I was going to lose really. Right. But but you how many people said, go find a job, man, you think just you're gonna make people laugh all your life. You think, what about, you're not that funny, you know, like that is always, and there are people like, no, man, go ahead, you know, yeah, like that is always going to be, and nowadays is even worse because everybody has an opinion that they can write about it, right? And you can get instant on. But yeah, I never

Starting point is 00:38:08 thought, I said, I'm going to make this work. Because it's interesting. I thought maybe you would be a lot more intense when I met you, you know, because I don't have a concept of what really drivers are like, you know, the only race car, I met Tony Stewart one time, I did some commercials with him like years ago. He's intense. Yeah, he was interesting. He's seen, he kind of like was like, kind of like, he seemed like a little quiet and maybe crazy of, I don't know, I couldn't tell. He was the interesting dude. Where am I? They know. Right. Just tell me, I'm interested to hear. I don't know what Tony was like. I saw him at the comedy club actually a couple of years ago, and I went up and said, Hey, to him, I'm trying to remember what he was

Starting point is 00:38:51 like. I can't, I, you know, I can't remember that, that good. He kind of kept to himself a little bit. And he had this blonde chick with him too, man, with some damn bombs. You know, that's race car drivers. We always have hot chicks. Yeah. But then we're so short. So every woman is a lot taller than us. It's crazy. Yeah, that's why a lot of times you don't even know what driver the chick is with, because you just see the chick. Just look for the short guy and you find it. Oh, look at her old son. Yeah, exactly. It's like, you know, oh, and then they're gonna go, look, he's, she's only with him because he's somebody because he can't, he can't date somebody that short. And then, uh, and then I met Clint Boyer a few times, who's kind of about who's a,

Starting point is 00:39:33 he's a buddy of mine, man. He's crazy, man. He's crazy. And he is sheerly crazy. Like, you could see that he probably hadn't slept in maybe 17 or 18 years. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like he's just got fucking, you know, his, his stare is like 93 octane. You know, he's got really, he's got diesel in his fucking, you know, just in his damn, uh, in his gums, you can really feel it coming off of him. Um, so yeah, I was, I was like, I was, my question is, what is it, is it intensity? What does it take to really make someone who can operate a vehicle at these speeds and be in that sort of atmosphere? Cause, uh, even just going today on the trial, you know, went around for a couple of laps or something. And it was, you know, it was just damn intense.

Starting point is 00:40:19 You know, all my blood went to my back strap or whatever. And, you know, I was just full in the back, you know, I felt like I just, you know, I don't know. I just felt like you said you would. Dude, I got the opposite of a motor, man. You know why I'll tell you why, because it gets tight. So you ain't getting a boy. I didn't want to spoil your comment there, but I let you experience. But, um, no, man, I, I honestly think the biggest thing is you need to be able to compartmentalize. Like, like you need to divide what you can't leave your life the way you race. Life's not a race. And then I, I'm saying that now because I got somebody brought that up to me eventually. Because when you grow up in a competitive environment, that's the only thing

Starting point is 00:41:12 you know, right? So anything is a competition. Oh, let's go down the stairs. I want to beat you. Yeah, doesn't matter. It doesn't even, what is that for? If you're going to beat me, doesn't matter. Let's go out. I know exactly what, where are we going out? Where are we going to a bar and your buddy's bar and okay, how long it takes? It's three miles. It's gonna, it's like my entire life was like that. So I think you, you met me in a very good, I would say a very good moment of my life that I'm more, but I'm calmer. I mean, I used to be a lot more intense. Now I probably know how to separate that and say, okay, time to be intense. It's when I put a helmet on, but I can't carry that all the time. Right. You know, but just to

Starting point is 00:42:06 give an example this morning, I drove from Indy to here and four in the morning and somebody was trying to pass me in the highway and I just got the best out of me. So they're not passing me. I'm sorry. 70, 75. I'm like, dude, come on, give up. And, and, but you know, so I guess, I don't know, maybe it's funny that it's, I like to hear people that meet me for the first time to hear their, because you didn't know me at all. So you haven't followed me. So which is a good thing. I'd seen, I'd seen some pictures and we barely talked because we didn't want to, and the same with me when they, I knew who you were, but I really didn't follow you all the time when they said that you're coming on the show. I said, so here's an example of the show. I said, I don't

Starting point is 00:42:54 want to watch it. Yeah. I know who you were. I know what you do as a combat. I said, I don't, I don't want to watch it because I want to be, I want to experience because I mean, oh, you know, I watched that. And I know what I said, I don't want, which was such a coincidence that you said that through the first time we just met today is don't mind if I don't speak to you right now. Yeah. The first thing we said to each other was, I actually don't want to speak to you either. I don't hate you or anything, but which is, I didn't want to, which is great to hear that because I'm actually very intense. Wow. But, but it's nice that it doesn't come off all the time. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, oh, this guy's really has a, just a fun personality. That's what I thought.

Starting point is 00:43:33 And I thought, because I've always thought is intensity the thing that these drivers need, because we do, we do. I mean, that is no way you're going to strap your ass in a race car and go some of the tracks 240 miles an hour here. Okay, here's 200, but you have walls. You can't make a mistake and not be intense. I mean, just the environment itself is going to bring the pressure. I mean, it's a performance sport. You win, you're good. Monday, you got to do it again. You're not good anymore because Sunday is past. And the next race you lose, you're bad. So, and that's just like that all the time. Would you say that you probably became pretty hard on, I noticed from my people always tell me I'm extremely hard on myself. Do you think

Starting point is 00:44:16 that you are 100% Yeah. I'm my worst enemy. Like, yeah, I suck. You know, you suck, man. Even when I win. But that's, that's the thing. And those are things that I'm telling the people that brought that up to me. I didn't really smart enough to realize you in a race. Two hours later, I'm like, fuck. Well, yeah, do it again. You're never happy. You know, he's like, what the fuck? Where does that come from, man? I think we just, you know, when, when you're good at what you do, man, and then that's why we're good. I'm not, I'm not here bragging. I'm here to say, I'm the best. But I think that's what makes you good. Because if you are happy, then, then, oh, yeah, good job, man. That was a good show. Good job.

Starting point is 00:45:02 I'm like, no, what can I do better? Right. I want to race, but I, you know, yeah, I'll come off stage. I will be people will, my group that is on the side will be like, man, awesome. And you can see in their faces, they're literally waiting to tell me how great it was. And I'll be like, mother fuck. Do you know I chew their asses, because you guys only tell me that because I pay you the day I stop paying you, I want to hear what you have to say. So let's do this. I'm going to stop paying for a month. You come to a race and you tell me the truth at the end. You know, because it's like my friends, bro, awesome races, shut up. You're my friend. You never guess,

Starting point is 00:45:37 are you really going to say you come off stage and I'm one of your best, but you know what? You suck, man. That joke was bad. I was like, TK, you drove horrible. It's like, I wonder if I'd appreciate it though, if one of my friends actually said, Hey, man. But you know, I actually, my mother is the best one because she does. Yeah. She's like, why are you going to crash again? No. Well, the way you're driving, like, but I appreciate that. It's like, same thing the other day, my wife actually dressed up the other day and says, how do I look? I said, not good. Yeah. She's like, what the fuck? I said, well, let me explain to you. I don't think,

Starting point is 00:46:15 I'm not saying you don't look good. What you're wearing doesn't look good. It's not vulgar. It's just, I don't like it. Your, the pockets under your jeans are spread apart. It looks like you have your mom's butt. But so, and I said, I, and you should appreciate that. Yeah. Because I don't think you look good. And I think a lot of people don't think that you look, but they don't have the balls to tell you. And she actually says, I actually appreciate that. I said, well, then can you start telling me the truth as well? So I don't think in 15 years, I look good all the time. I drove the best races of my life. I'm the best driver in the world. I haven't won a fucking race in three years. So you can't tell me I'm good. Maybe I am, but there's a lot of people better

Starting point is 00:46:49 than me now. Man, yeah, I used to, I used to date this girl and her, she had the same butt as her dad. It's, it's great. And it always, dude, it was so like, it made it impossible sometimes for like, I have a challenge with my wife, you know, like, for sex, you know, because I'm every time, because she, her mom's, you would see her dad. Oh, well, it just, I didn't, but her mom's, like her dad had, a diss, she just had a distinctive looking butt. And when I met her parents, I was like, Oh my God, his dad is cool. But see, don't they say that you're, you're, this is going great, guys. Don't you think, they say that you got to look at your mother-in-law to see how your life, your wife's going to look like, which I don't think it's true because you

Starting point is 00:47:31 said, you know, I told my wife, you better not, not on this one. Yeah. So I'm going to get divorced at sleep. Oh my gosh. No, it's interesting though, being hard, being hard on yourself is interesting. Do you think that you had that your whole life or do you think it happened after your father passed away? Do you think it was just built into you? Well, just granted from eight, I started racing, I was eight, eight to 13, so it was five years. I think my dad was pretty hard on me. Like he was just that type of person, putting the pressure for me to be, you want to be a race car driver? You got to sleep early. You got to eat well, like typical, like, like you got to be home for dinner. And so I really didn't do anything apart from racing my entire life.

Starting point is 00:48:21 I suck at anything else that you tell me to do. So it was like, but that's what he wanted it. And we can sit here and debate if he was still alive, if would I resent him or not? Yeah. Right. But because he's not, there was a choice that I made. Yeah. Right. Because you see that on top athletes all the time. I mean, you see in tennis players like your parents are the ones they will because at eight years old, I can't just I didn't woke up and said, I want to be a race car driver. He took me to the races, kind of induced me to same way I take my kids to do six different sports to see what they like the most and whatever they like, we're going to help him because I think it's healthy. But yeah, no, I think yeah, I was always really like, I don't

Starting point is 00:49:09 think ever I finish a race, even if I win in the races that I won, that I would tell myself, hey, good job. Yeah. Which which is kind of sad. Yeah. I mean, man, you are talking. I am listening to myself right now. You know, yeah, it's it's sad in a way, but I can't do it. I know. And you always think about next. Well, because you raise the bar, right? Well, then, and everybody's watching because people, everybody's watching you. Your job is much harder than mine because people have to laugh or clap. If I crash, they actually they clap because I come out of the car alive. I guess it's a consolation. If you're bad for a loser, go home. I don't know. Your job might be harder because people hate being in traffic and that's what

Starting point is 00:50:02 you're in, you know, they hate me. They hate me even more. So I drive a minivan with kids and they hate minivans. I can tell you that you see a minivan that you think it's a no lady with kids. She's going to be on her phone. They just whatever opportunity people have to pass a minivan, they will because they're like, I can't be behind this person. And then you get me driving a minivan that give people to run over their money. But then I have my kids and my wife, what are you doing? I actually this is the only time I know what I'm doing. So shut up. Yeah, this is it. This is it. You know, I'm not a dad. You can't play baseball. You can't. No, I can't. But this I can. So you guys shush it. Once I park. Yeah, I'm back. Right. I'm back to the

Starting point is 00:50:47 loser that you guys think I am. I can't text. I can't talk on the phone. I can't play any games. I can't play basketball. Nothing. But this is what I do. Man, you're like a cartoon character, dude. We all deal with the Sunday scaries. You know, those dreadful, nervous, can't sleep, impending doom of the work day tomorrow feeling. You get them right before Monday. And some people get them every day of the week now. That's why Sunday scaries CBD gummies were made to defeat the crap that life throws at us. If you don't relax well, if you're a horrible sleeper, if you're good at staring at the ceiling and worrying, if you're looking for new ways to get better sleep, Sunday scaries CBD gummies

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Starting point is 00:53:23 when you go to babbel.com. That's babbel.com. For up to 55% off your subscription, Babbel language for life. I used to see, I used to listen to this singer called Timaia. Yeah, Timaia, of course. It's my favorite. It had like love songs and stuff. Love songs and stuff. Yeah, man. He's awesome. I met a guy, a friend, this guy named Patricio, and he used to do racing, actually, too. And he's from Brazil, and he would always listen to it and sing. He liked slow dancing with the ladies. It's like a Brazilian soul, like the guy, the singer. He passed away, but... It was cool. Can you bring him up? Bring up Timaia. Do you know how to spell it? I don't know how to spell it. Yeah. T-I-M-S-P-A-M-A-I-A. Here we go. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:54:23 Big dude, big voice, man. He's awesome. Yeah. Dang. I bet he... You think he had a lot of children, you think? Dude, I don't know his... But that guy, I don't think he ever, ever did a concert that he was not annihilated. That's why. But I'm like, if I drink that much, I couldn't ever speak, then the guy will sing. Like, I went... I knew him personally. I went to a few of his shows with an awesome dude. Wow. Fun, but typical rock star, you know? That's interesting that I've brought him up. Yeah, that's the only thing about Brazil I know except for him and soccer. Yep. Um, what else did I see the other day? Something about cars. Oh, they found a bunch of rats in cars. Do you have that? Here we go. Why so many cars have rats in them? They threw all your wires

Starting point is 00:55:14 and stuff. Yeah, they sure do. For... So, but you know, you know what's funny? You know why? Like, they don't... They are not hungry that they want to eat the wires. It's... They always go to the engine compartment because it's hot. Oh. So, it's kind of cozy. And so, and then they're there, since I guess they go, I might as well eat that wire to freak fuck with them. Might as well have some lunch. Yeah, yeah. Increasing vermin in cars had doubled during the pandemic, I guess, because cars were sitting around. Oh, they're just parked, you know. What kind of... Do they have any interesting vermin in Brazil? I don't know. We have a lot of rats for sure. They do? Yeah. Like, it's, you know, I think... Oh, there they are. Because I used to sell hamsters. My first job when I was

Starting point is 00:56:04 young. Really? I used to sell hamsters and guinea pigs. Yeah. Tell my kids that. Yeah. It was pretty big business for a little bit, but people started doing drugs. The guy that I worked for, and they shut it down. But what do you think like... So, when I was in that vehicle today, so I had the opportunity to go out there and ride, right? So, what kind of car was I in? You're in an Indy car. In an Indy car. Because of the Laura, that's the make. But it's a special made chassis for that full carbon fiber, which is a composite that race cars are made. It's not like a Nasker car or your street car. It's the carbon fiber. We have some pieces in our street cars, but it's a lot rigid. It's a lot safer. You know, because you crash your car, it goes like, you know,

Starting point is 00:56:54 you can see the door like getting smashed. Right. Those cars, they have intrusional panels. So, if you hit the wall, nothing comes in to hurt you. Open wheel, which is, you don't have fenders, and you have an engine. We race for Honda, but which is around 700 horsepower. Oh, yeah. I used to drive a Corolla. I used to drive an Accord. Yeah, but they didn't have 700 horsepower. It was sedan. I don't think it did. I think it had, I don't know what it had. It was four-wheat. It had a hundred horsepower. Yeah, maybe a hundred horsepower. Yeah, I don't know what it had. It was okay though. It was black. It was a 700 horsepower on the street anyway. Yeah, it was fun. I mean, I like it. So, basically it was a, yeah. So, the Indy cars are

Starting point is 00:57:33 specially made just for the track. You cannot drive them on the streets. You know, they're so low to the ground. Yeah. You saw it. So, when, the craziest part that I noticed was, so you're going, you're almost going, you're going so fast, it feels like, I felt like I was on a ride at like Disneyland or something. That's what I tried to tell people, like, this is, what does it like? I said, well, get on the craziest roller coaster you can think of and do 200 laps on it. Wow. And at heat and other, you said it, I mean, that's the only time we actually talked when you got out. You said, I can't imagine when I did that by myself if we had more people around. Yeah, be very alarming. Yeah. But it, 33 more guys around, it will get exciting.

Starting point is 00:58:21 So, do you, over time, do you get like a feel for things? Like, is it become, because I noticed with stand-up comedy, like after a while being on stage, I get a feel for what's going on. Right. I get a feel for like, I can tell when this part of the crowd is enjoying something. I can tell when they're waiting for the next thing. You know, you start to just get like a, just an energy. Right. Is that something that grows over time with racing? Like, is it like, what is that like to? Well, the feel that you get, obviously you're feeling people, we are feeling a race car. And with experience of being doing indie cars for 23 years, 24 years. Okay. I used to say, you feel it in your butt. So basically, you go out and the way that the car

Starting point is 00:59:06 behaves, because you're sitting so close to the floor, to the ground, you can tell, you can tell when somebody, they were making changes all the time, you find tuning things. It's so complicated. Engineers have an idea, you don't agree or you agree. And it's always like a very, you know, the engineers try to tell, well, but the computer is telling me this, I'm not a computer. I'm your computer, you need to listen to me. So you feel it in your butt. So you can tell, they change something, you go out in three corners, you can say, this is going to be awesome, or this, oh, this sucks. But sometimes you can do things about it. And sometimes you can't. But then it's very, it's, it screws with your mind, because we have so much resources

Starting point is 00:59:53 that you're always looking to improve. So you're never happy. Right. So he said, Tony, so you just dominated the race, you won, kicked everybody's butt. How was the car? That was okay. What do you mean? It was the best car out there. Well, but that doesn't mean I liked it. Right. And 90% of the times, you actually, it's, I'll give you a stupid example. You're telling jokes that people think it's funny, but you think it's stupid. I'm driving cars that I, it's cool to drive, but I hate the way they drive, but they're fast. And I have to drive it that way, because I'm still better than them. So it's very, so you feel it in your butt, basically. So you sat there, and you turn, and the car will, will, will behave. So that's, that's what I say,

Starting point is 01:00:44 feel it in your butt. And then you, and then you describe that to a person that is sitting in front of a computer. And then we both say, okay, so for this behavior, you can do this, for that behavior, you can do that. I don't want to get technical because then people would just don't understand what we're talking about. But that's basically, we have a fix for everything, but doesn't mean it's really fixed. But you always, but then there's a fine line as well, because what's, what's your gauge? It's your stopwatch. You make a change, you go quicker. It's better. You make a change, you go slower, it's worse, not necessarily. Sometimes you make two changes that are worse, but then, then you're trying to put a piece of the puzzle together to be better. So you're making choices

Starting point is 01:01:33 constant. But you have to be so confident that the choices you're making, you can't second out yourself. And that's a big, so that's what I think. Also, race car drivers become extremely confident. Are they are a lot of race car drivers? Do they have to be like, are they angry people? Are they a lot of them like driven? I think we're more of adrenaline people than angry. I mean, you can't like driving angry sometimes doesn't mean you're going fast. Actually, it's probably sometimes it's worse. You make more mistakes because then you're doing things that you're not thinking. Because when you're angry, your level of thinking, it's a lot less. So he actually, the calmer guys, I mean, I have a teammate, Scott Dixon, they call him the iceman because

Starting point is 01:02:17 the guy's just flat. And he's the fastest, but because he thinks, you know, you're not mad, you're like, okay, this is how I'm going to get sneaky, you know, in a good way. But are some cultures better at racing than other cultures? Do you think it's just built into people? I don't know. I mean, obviously, I'm not American. I became American a few years back. My entire family was born here, my kids. But I think we have goods and beds like everything. I mean, we, you know, like me, I'll give an example as a Brazilian, I had to fight for what I wanted. So I actually perform well in a pressure in a bad situation because probably I'm being in bad situations a lot more than I'm being in good ones. So I'm really good at managing that. I'm not really good

Starting point is 01:03:08 managing when everything is right. When everything is right, what's going to go wrong? Because I'm not used to that. It's too good to be true. This can be right. Totally. And of course, what's the shittier situation than a bunch of people going really fucking fast? But I think it makes a difference when a race car driver, you're you're constant making choices. Right or wrong. You have one second to make that choice. And I think guys that brought up in the hard way, we can think a little bit more outside of because it, you know, you're forced to, when you're just, I don't know if I'm explaining myself, because you're already used to being in a shitty, like in a rough environment. So you're

Starting point is 01:03:49 like, oh, you're under pressure. So you know how you're more confident to make that decision, and it's not going to be a bad one. And if it's a bad one, who cares? I've been in a bad one plenty of times. Right. I'm right back where I've always thought I was anyway. What about like, if you get into a crash, what do you do? Do you like close your eyes, you keep or what do you do? So it's human nature. You definitely close your eyes. You're not going to go, all right, let me watch where I'm going to go. Oh, that's cool. That's all. You just, I, we usually, the first thing you do, you take your hands off the steering wheel because it yanks. And actually I have a, I don't know if you guys can see it, but it's a pretty big car.

Starting point is 01:04:30 You can see that easily, dude. I didn't take my hand off the steering wheel, came in and broke my arm, hit my elbow, and I broke seven of my ribs and knocked myself out. I was in a coma for two days, but. In a race? In a race, in Detroit. Wow. And did you, you just were driving and then it happened, you got knocked out? It was a, it was a long corner, long right hand corner, and we're racing on the streets. And we had a manhole that actually the, the car prior to mine, a few seconds ahead of me went and actually just level and brought it up a little bit in our cars or solo. And I was the next car and then took off and landed no brakes at that 180 miles an hour into the wall. Wow. That's all I remember. I mean, I don't, somebody told me that. And do you remember coming about

Starting point is 01:05:16 like just waking up later? I mean, what? So I remember. That's so sick, dude. First of all. This is, I'm telling you what they told me, but what I remember is I woke up two days later. So basically, I had no idea. And my arm was hanging because they just had surgery. I had two plates, 14 screws, and it was hanging because of the swelling. So, so, and I opened my eyes and that's how I remember. I had my arm up there and I'm like, what the hell, where am I? Yeah, like you're probably in class or something. Yeah. I was like, uh, am I in heaven or something? Yeah. Can I go to the bathroom? So when you like, are there different things that you have to do for your body to take care of yourself for this type of sport? And how has

Starting point is 01:05:56 that changed since when you got started? Like are people physically doing things different? 100%. Really? Well, you think about it, right? So racing hasn't been for the longest time. People didn't think it was, we were athletes because you're driving a car. Right. That can't be that hard, right? Right. If you hadn't driven today, you go, I get in my car, put my seat belt on, power steering. So it wasn't very common between drivers to work out because you didn't need to, like the cars were easier to drive. And then, you know, with evolution technology and they becoming, you're talking about 240 miles an hour, the thing is pull three Gs into the corner. You saw how much you're sweating on that suit. Oh, yeah. So, but it was not a specific training for it,

Starting point is 01:06:48 because it was something new. Like, you know, basketball players, what do they do? They play basketball all day. And then yeah, they go to the gym to try to improve a couple. So for us, was more was the developing like, okay, what do we need? We need core. Then we need neck. You need shoulders and you need forearms. So and then you start developing, you know, and talking to experts and you say, okay, what can I do? Nowadays, I mean, I'm 47. Really? It's not very common to last this long. I mean, you talk about any and any top high level sport, talk about Tom Brady, he's old. I'm old. But we took care of each other, like of ourselves. And, you know, you're lasting that long because you still fit, you still sharp. But today, I think the biggest improvement for us,

Starting point is 01:07:39 like you have a lot of reflex machines and stuff that you can train your eyes. Like, first time somebody told me, you know, you can train your eyes. I'm like, stop, man, come on. It's like, yeah, tell me my dog need acupuncture. And you do. So you have like nowadays, we go to the gym. For the heat as well. So we go do a session in the gym where let's say we go lift weights for 20 minutes. They put you in a freaking hot room in a sauna. You come out, you do another drill, come back in. Because that's you saw how hot it was. And you come here. I mean, natural street course, 90 degrees outside, you have to sit there for two and a half hours. It's gonna be hot, you're gonna dehydrate. And we train to drink as little as possible because in the race car,

Starting point is 01:08:30 you're not, oh, let me drink it 200 miles an hour, you don't want to like, and there is not enough space to have a drink bottle, you have a little tube that you can have, maybe less than half a gallon on your drink bottle that you can, you need to suck at it. It's like, like, what? So I think and the reflex machine, it's awesome. It's just a flat screen TV. It's a program that you just, it will pop a light and you have to cause reflection, but and you keep, you're getting better at it. And then that's something that, you know, you train your eyes and then the overcorrections and you saw like, you always fighting the serious, not just a drive from your house to the supermarket. So it's, has improved a lot. And I think since my generation, we have increased the level of

Starting point is 01:09:17 fitness and sharpness. And then I think, like in every other sport, one guy starts doing it and he does well. Everybody's starting to say, oh, I got to imitate. I got to do the same he does. And then he brings the level up and then you just, Do they had, do drivers have to be smart? Is it a smart man's sport? I don't think I'm smart. I don't think so. I think we need to be dumb to do what we do, to be honest. Now you strap yourself in the car, very uncomfortable. You go faster than everybody else, but you can die every time you hop in, but you don't think about that. Yeah, no, no offense to us, but yeah, I think I've always been pretty close. You know, I'm not stupid or you are the

Starting point is 01:09:59 better. Yeah. Because people's like, I just told you, I broke my arm seven ribs in the coma. First thing I said when I woke up, the doctor asked, told me, because I don't kind of remember, I had a concussion. I said, when can I get back in the car? That's stupid. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, my sister's an idiot and she's the best person I know. She's the best person I know. I mean, you can't beat that. You know, I love to be here because I can't say things that I probably wouldn't say on the norm. Like you sit down in a podcast and go, wow, you know, my sponsor is here from American Legion. If I get fired after that, I might need an American Legion. American Legion. Oh, really? It's all the veterans. Oh yeah, I went and saw, you know who I saw at the American Legion playing

Starting point is 01:10:43 out long ago was Hank Williams Jr. Or Hank Williams. Yeah, Jr. is the one that's still alive. Yeah. You know, we, we, we raced the 500 of their cars and it was a really cool cause. We are, you know, we have this campaign, be the one trying to save veterans from, you know, depression and when they come back and try to reintegrate them and, you know, being veterans, they think they need to defend us and they never would admit they, they're in depression. They actually, we lose with seven lives a day, 17 a day. So we've been trying to get the word out. So great sponsor and a great cause. Yeah, it's interesting. Just a lot of the mental health stuff these days is just crazy. I don't know what's going on with humans. It's a weird time to be

Starting point is 01:11:27 human. Do you feel like y'all sport is at risk of like, optimization ever? Does that ever, do people ever start talking about that or? Look, there is always talks like they talk about, what about race cars? Are they all going to be electric? They're not going to make any noise anymore. Or we're going to have robots. We don't need drivers. I think technologies around and we've been getting better. I mean, let's think about it that 20 years ago, we thought we'd be flying cars now. That's true. We're not. We always think we're going to be doing a lot more. Oh, in 2022, cars are not going to have wheels anymore. You're going to be just like all space shuttles. Yeah, and all we're doing is ordering pizzas and doing dumb dances.

Starting point is 01:12:11 The humans are still delivering. It's not a robot, maybe a drone, but you know what I mean? It's like a guy still could knock in your door. Hey, you know what I mean? So no. They just had a guy actually, they had a guy who, what did that guy do? Trevor, can you look that up? Oh, damn. God put me in a position to save kids in a burning house, this dude. He's a guy, right? He was delivering. But see, if you had a drone, the drone wouldn't do that. No. Yeah, the drone just... The drone just dropped it. So yeah, I mean, okay, you're going to have race cars without drivers. This is, you know exactly what I'm going to say because you're in an entertainer business. If nobody watches you, you're not going to have a show anymore. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:12:59 Anyway, right? If it's a comedy or your podcast, racing is the same thing. Yeah, you're going to show up to see empty cars. I don't know. If that happens, I don't think we'll be, we'll be actually be like frozen somewhere. Yeah. Chronically frozen. Yeah. That's crazy because you're about to talk with that guy. But do you think like, because also then, yeah, you're not going to have fans aren't going to want to come watch a rock. I don't know if fans want to go watch that mobile. My question is like people talk about, you know, there is a lot of debate nowadays about the electric cars, which I think it's awesome. I mean, the environment and everything. But then you talk about racing. Like I said, maybe the next three generations won't know

Starting point is 01:13:41 what race cars sound in the past. But we still have enough people. Will you go to a race and just, it would be quiet. You can actually talk. It's like, Hey, I think it's weird. Yeah. They do have a couple series that they run, which is awesome. But there is a place for them to write. I'm saying, are we going to just vanish everything? The extremes for me, it's what people exaggerate. It's a great series. They have a couple. They run. It's innovative. I think we need that because what people don't realize racing, it's actually a lab. Everything that you have on your street car, we've been developing for decades, the electric, our stuff, our engineers are guys that the manufacturers are only involved in racing to make their product better. It's not because we love

Starting point is 01:14:34 racing. Yeah, I guess we do. But why are we getting out of it? Right. And that's what they do. We develop a traction control, the pedal shifts that you have on your steering wheel. We did that traction control, the electric cars. So my point is that is a place for everybody. I hate when people say, You're not going to be racing with you anymore in 10 years. I'm like, Come on, man. And yeah, we have this series there that will and people can watch. Right. They can watch both. Right. Yeah. If you like being quiet, some people go because they don't want to listen to their spouse for damn three hours. You know, and that's the truth, man. True. I can't say that about my wife. Well, no, but I think I can say it and I don't have a wife.

Starting point is 01:15:17 But I think a lot of people, you know, you see it, you're just like, just a second, honey, and then you know, and she'll say you just a second, honey, you know, and that's men or women, you know. But I interrupted you earlier when you were telling me how did you get from, so how'd you get from the go-karts to the next level? So I was struggling to make ends meet and working. So I was in a go-kart track. So to make a little bit more money, I was teaching kids how to drive a go-kart. So I had a clinic and so that I would make some extra money at the go-kart place. At the go-kart place. What was it called, the go-kart place? Interlagos. It's in São Paulo. It's one of the most famous racetracks. I actually just raced there Sunday last week.

Starting point is 01:15:59 In a go-kart? No, no, in a stock car. In a stock car. I'm doing stock car in Brazil as well this year, apart from in the car. So I've been traveling quite a bit. And granted, man, back in the day, we didn't have cell phones. So I was down at the go-kart track and the guy that used to prepare my go-karts, my mechanic, comes down. The race shops are always near a racetrack. That's very common in Indianapolis. All the shops are there. He walked down and says, somebody's on the phone for you up. I'm like, dude, I'm working. So it was a guy called Nelson Pique, which is one of the biggest, most famous race car drivers in Brazil. I'm like, so I'm very well known for pranking people. So I'm like, it's one of my friends that are screwing with me. So whatever. So I go up and

Starting point is 01:16:47 he says, hey, it's Nelson. I'm like, come on, man, who is it? He says, no, no. He says, listen, it's me. And this is what this is the deal. He was very well known. People that we were very well known for like having good race car drivers in Brazil. I have a friend in Italy that owns a team and he says he wants a Brazilian race car driver. If I knew somebody that was good, it was you. So you have to go to Italy. It was Friday. You have to go to Italy tonight. I'm like, dude, okay, great. I can have like I used to take two public buses to go to work and come back. I'm like, I barely have the money to take a public transportation. And had you been practicing driving actual car? Was this for this is for? This is for cars. Cars. Yeah. But I was actually

Starting point is 01:17:30 racing cars in Brazil for a small series and doing go-karts. So I was already driving cars. So I said, all right, so I called a couple friends that, you know, had a little bit more months. Guys, I got this opportunity. Can you help me out? I need to buy a ticket. I don't pay you back, whatever. It's like, no, no, no, no, no. So a dad of so my dad is sponsored me and a lot another kid when he was alive. This kid had no money, a lot less money than us. Funny story because then he passed the situation flipped. And then so his dad says, no, your your father helped us a lot. So I'll buy you the ticket to go. Oh, wow. So you get over there. So but I go there. The test was Saturday and Sunday, I was going to go home Sunday night. I had a ticket. It was a

Starting point is 01:18:13 weekend. So I go home. I said, Hey, mom, at that point, I was 16, but 17. I didn't have to ask permission for anything. I was working. I said, mom, I'm going to Europe. She's like, hell, how? Where did you stole the money to go? Then I explained the turn I left. So I landed Saturday morning, went to the track, they had 10 guys that they're going to choose two drivers. They're doing kind of like a gong show, putting 10 guys together. You would go out to two cars, and they will time it, and they will pick the two fastest guys. So I get there didn't speak in Italian. So I didn't know the track. I never had driven the car. So I go out. I do five laps like you did. And I come in and they they check the card ago. Okay, now you can go and do 10 laps. And we'll check it out.

Starting point is 01:18:59 I went out, I did four more laps and they actually called me in and they said, get out. I'm like, what did I do, man? I'm screw up here. And the guy took me to the truck. I mean, we're trying to talk. I mean, I didn't speak Italian. He says, you're good. You're good. Sign good. So basically, I think on my four laps, I went half a second quicker than everybody. And he says, no, you're good. And he was looking for a Brazilian. He must have been good. So he's like, you hired. I said, okay, so when can I go? So I'm going to go home tomorrow. That was Sunday. And then when do I go back? He goes, no, you can't go home. Like, okay, you're Italian now. Then he goes, we're going to hire you, but I can't pay you. All I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a car to race for

Starting point is 01:19:46 free. I said, well, I don't have any money. He's like, wow. So I, well, then I can't stay here. I don't have I can't rent a house or can just drive around all night. So he goes, well, okay, we'll take care of it. So like, you, you figure out how you're going to find a way to have whatever a little bit of money, but you're going to you can we have the race shop, you can leave in the race shop. This is my office. We're going to put a mattress there. Every morning when I come here at eight, that mattress needs to be out and clean because I'm going to this is my office. This is a TV. And I was underage. So the shop was in a remote area of the city in Milan. Just at six o'clock, we're going to lock you in. You have a phone if you're in trouble, you call at 7am, we open up and you

Starting point is 01:20:27 can and you work on the cars during the day. I said, all right, jeepers. So I did that for three years. Wow. And we won a championship. And then at the end of 95, that's actually a funny story that I like to tell my kids that and people that like, we talk about racing a lot that I start racing now because of the money and same to you, you said I start you start your career because you enjoy what you do. Yeah. At the end of 95, I was making $1,000 a month, leaving for free. A lot of money. You have no bills, man. I had no phone, no car. 95 is good. Right. So I get a call from a manufacturer in Italy saying, hey, can you come talk to us? Sure. I was racing an open wheel car called Formula 3. And they invite me to say, look, this is a contract for half a

Starting point is 01:21:20 million dollars. Damn. And we're going to give you a house in a car to drive apart from so it was Audi at the time. And you're going to race the touring cars, which is the normal like kind of an Oscar, like your streetcar but converted to a race car. Like what do you mean? Like a Dodge Neon or something? Right. Something like that. Like, yes, just yeah. So I said, okay. He says, here's the contract. Take to somebody to look at it if it's okay. It's a two-year deal. So it was a million dollars. Damn, bro. You must have been geeked up, huh? Dude, I'm like, I actually said, where do I sign? I was like, there's no lawyers looking to tell me where's the pen? I'd have been licking my fucking legs. Tell me if somebody gave me that. But at the time, I had one sponsor.

Starting point is 01:22:06 And it was Philip Morris at the time when the cigarettes were big and racing. Good. But the CEO was kind of like my mentor. Like the guy, I mean, he didn't have to sponsor me. I was nobody. But he knew my story. So I called him up and I said, hey, I need an advice. This is what's going on. And I explained to him, he says, well, I was about to call you because we, as Philip Morris, we're going to take five drivers to the United States to do a test on IndyLights. So IndyLights, it's actually the series before IndyCar. Like you got the Leather series. I was really young and says, and we're going to do a test. And out of those five, we're going to pick two guys. And we're going to fund it for two years. And the deal is you learn the first year because you're racing

Starting point is 01:22:57 ovals and stuff that we didn't do. And the second year, if you win, we'll take it to IndyCar. Well, IndyCar, my dad, I promise him, I'm like, well, but what about if I'm not, if you don't pick me, he goes, well, the team doesn't pick you. That means you're not good enough. So. And you have to smoke too or no? No, it didn't matter. It didn't matter. Which is, it was, it was, it was, it was kind of controversial at the time because I was an athlete. So I used to go a lot of media training because at one time I, I sat down to do an interview and the reporter says, hey, so your car, you have mobile sponsorship, you know, the cowboys have said, yeah, yeah, they helped me. And he goes, well, how do you feel about inducing people to smoke? I was like,

Starting point is 01:23:46 what do you mean? I'm just here doing my job. I'm not telling you like I would never, I never did a commercial. But anyway, so it was kind of if he had the time with, so anyway, back to, he said, well, but that would be your choice. It's, it's your own risk. But man, I had like, it's like money. I mean, it's a million dollars, two years. Like, at that time, I'm like, I'm sad for life, man. I'm good. I do two years. I can't retire. Yeah. So I went home and, and, and I'm like, what do I do? What do I do? And I had to make a decision. And, and, and, you know, at the time, I'm like, well, I'm young. Yeah, money is good. But the promise I made my dad, I'm going to go. So I actually bail on the deal. And I came so the

Starting point is 01:24:37 next day that he bought me a ticket. And I came to America the December 95, spoke zero English, I actually asked a friend of mine to write it down in a piece of paper, a couple of keywords like, Hello, I'm hungry. Where's the bathroom? Yeah, I landed here, went to Phoenix, Arizona, and I did the test. I was the fastest in the test. I got picked me and Castro Neves, which he's racing this week, and he won 4 in the 500 Helio. Was it? Yes. He and I, we got picked. We were teammates. I finished second in the first year. I won the championship in 97 and indie lights. Then I moved to IndyCar and start to pursue my dream. But, but the store, I like to tell the story because I could have actually had gone for the easy, easy money, right easy. But I don't think

Starting point is 01:25:24 I would have fulfilled my dream and the promise I made my dad. But then on that, probably need to thank him because it's tough to make a decision like that. When you broke. Yeah, right? Yeah, dude, I wouldn't have made it. I would have taken, I would have probably taken the cash. Yeah, but I think I would have too, but then the only thing that stuck out was my dad wasn't around. And that was what I told him I was going to do. So yeah, you think your dad's proud of you, you think? I hope so, man. I mean, I, I, you know, I took care, everything he asked, I've done it. My mother is sad. I mean, I first thing I did when I made enough money, I told my mother, from today on, you're never going to work for the rest of your life. You tell me what do you want to do?

Starting point is 01:26:12 And when I do one thing different every day, he will. And she is very obviously like, lives a very simple life. She lives in a one bedroom apartment because she's actually kind of like me when I'm afraid to get old and become like her. It's like one bedroom, so nobody comes to sleep in my house. Yeah, interesting. They want to come visit me, they can sleep in a hotel, come to my house, and then they can leave. You're like a cat, man. You're interesting. You know, so, but she does, she lives in Rio de Janeiro, which she goes to the beach every day now. She's 74 to care my sister as much as I could, but my sister is a lot smarter than me and extremely successful. And I, I want any 500 for him,

Starting point is 01:26:54 everything else. Obviously, I have a beautiful family. I have four beautiful kids and I tried to show them as much love and my wife and I hope so. I mean, I do hope so. I'm not perfect, I mean, in any, any ways, but hopefully, yeah, you'll be proud of me. And according to you, you'll never will be, you know, I mean, we, we, we're never, we're never going to be having impossible. Yeah. Yeah, my wife tells me that every day, you're not, I said, well, just get used to it. I live my entire life not being happy. I ain't change it now. And I'm getting older. It's right. Getting worse. Right. We're bitch more. We complain more. You know, oh, it's too hot. Oh man, it's too cold. It's like, when are you happy? I'm not.

Starting point is 01:27:36 It's too something. It's always too something. Right. Right. Right. Who's like, who is it a driver that's just a, who's like the, just like, who's, who's the toughest driver you think you've met out there? It's hard. There are so many generations, right? I'm a huge fan. Like, I can ask you the same question and what you do, you can go 30 years ago to current. So I would say I would pick something in the middle. Okay. I think the guys that race prior to us back in the 60s, like, we, like, they burn a death all the time. They will die, three of them will die a year. Wow. You lose three drivers a year. Four. Nowadays, we don't lose anybody. You crash the 200 miles an hour, you get out of the car, hop on the backup car, and you're racing five minutes later.

Starting point is 01:28:27 Right. So I think AJ Foyt, probably for me, like he worked in his cars, you see a guy who get out of the car and punch people because he was mad, get a hammer to fix something. You don't see that anymore. So those are the tough. Bring him up. Let's bring AJ Foyt up. I want to see him. You know, he fought a lion for real. Yeah. No, no, no, Teal. No, you guys put, just put AJ Foyt lion. He went to do a photo shoot. Look, the lion attacked him. He was doing a promo shoot. So you tell me if this is not a bad ass. Look at him. Yeah. Let's see that article. Can we get to that article? This is unbelievable. Look at that picture. Hold on. Zoom in on that picture. He's going for his job. Look, it looks like he's trying to hug him a little too in the one.

Starting point is 01:29:15 Damn, that should look good. Zoom in. So how many people you saw that photo line and survived? Yeah, that's crazy. It looks like he's laughing even like. But I raced for him before I drove for Chip Ganassi. Really? He told me the story. He says, you know, he's from Texas. I can't. You know, a photo line. Here you go. You can't do that. I cannot impersonate him. But he says, you know, I was doing a photo shoot and they brought this. He speaks like he's freaking lion. Yeah. I'm looking at the lion. The lion looking at me. I didn't think he liked me, but I didn't like him either. And then all of a sudden he was with Stuart Haas. Yeah. He came at me and then I said, but what was his trainer? He says, well, he was trying to get, but like,

Starting point is 01:29:56 that's it. And a lion's trainer, let's be honest, dude, is just a trainer. The trainer knows the lion. He ain't going for him. The lion is mad. Come on. The trainer is the dude who watches the lion attack someone. You know when he's mad. And if he's mad, when he goes, you going to hit him? Yeah. Come attack me instead of him. Go ahead, my friend, knock yourself up. Sorry. That's exactly who the trainer is. See if you can see an article on that. That's crazy, man. Man. That's unbelievable. Being attacked by. It was such a long time ago that I don't even know. That's beautiful though, man. You don't get to fight a lion very often, unless you're doing like a Wizard of Oz. And he's a, he's a, man, I'm telling you,

Starting point is 01:30:44 he's one of my heroes because this guy, so he was in a bulldozer. He's 70, 70, 74. Okay. And he got attacked by, he was in his bulldozer, attacked by bees, more than 300 bees. Damn. And he was by himself and survived. Like he's. He beat them all? Oh, dude, you should see his, I'm like, I was, I was ready to see the bees. I was like the poor, and then I said, so AJ, how was it? They thought they were going to fucking kill me and I killed all of them because when they bite you, they die. Yeah, man. So I mean, you can't, you can't win. Yeah. He just like keep biting me. But like a hardcore dude, but then very hard, like you drive for him, he would be one to say, what are you doing? You go, what do you mean? You suck out

Starting point is 01:31:31 there. Okay. I'm going to take you out of the car. I'm going to put somebody else in. He's that type of person, which I appreciate. Wow, that's powerful, man. That dude's a freaking gangster. He's here this weekend. Is he really? I would like to meet him. He won everything. Like he's the type of person that like he drove car race cars are not the same. Like not that you drive a NASCAR car is you're going to be good in an indie car and vice versa. And he drove all types of cars and he won in everything he drove. Wow. Like Mario, the old man that drove you around today. Yeah, dude. He looks like he still pulls some beautiful women too. Was he married? He's a widow, but there I guess he's single now. So yeah. Oh, he's a widow? Damn. Or male widow,

Starting point is 01:32:19 huh? Right. I don't know what that's called. What else was I going to ask you about? Oh, so what keeps you in it now? Because you're, I mean, you're in your 40s now. What keeps you in racing? You've won the Indy 500. You've kind of achieved your like, is it you got close last time? I mean, is it like it's, it's, it's, it's addicting, to be honest. Like, you know, like, I think you will relate to that because you were very successful in what you do. So, but you could say, why keep doing it? Right? It's that adrenaline, then you're going to go like the same way. I believe I've never actually, obviously, we do speeches and stuff in front of people. I don't get the crowd reaction and we don't hear them. So to me, it doesn't affect me at all. They can be

Starting point is 01:33:08 bullying me or good care less. I can't hear you. But you know, that moment before you get on stage that you get that butterfly near stomach, that that's what keeps, that's what it is. It's not, it's the speed, it's, but that those kind of things, I'm used to it already, right? So you used to make people laugh. You used to talk to people, you get, you know, how to ask the right question. But it's like, it's the feeling of when you, when I get in a car, it's my moment. Like, it's, it's me in the car, it's me and the beast. And like, we're going to go beat everybody. Doesn't necessarily happen all the time. But yeah, I think the adrenaline and, and, you know, I've been doing this all my life. I think the toughest part is to realize I said that the other

Starting point is 01:33:55 day, my biggest fear, because I think I'm still competitive and not because I think that my results are still telling right I am because that's, that's our life too. Doesn't matter how old you are, but you have a couple bad years. That's it. That's it. Because you have to perform. It's a performance based sport. But if Tom Brady had had the past two seasons weren't good, he wouldn't be playing this season. Yeah. And he wouldn't be coming back. But that's the toughest decision. It's to let it go when you still think you have it. Right. And until the day that something overcomes that, because it's a very selfish and you know that too, because I mean, anybody can relate to that when you dedicate your life to what you do. Everything else comes second. Yeah. My wife, my kids,

Starting point is 01:34:42 like my wife asked me the other day, which she knows very well, because she worked in racing. So she knows, but did you ever think about that something could happen to you? What about us? I said, I do, but I don't, because I still want to do this. And I hope you guys understand that. And I'm, but then she says, no, I'm not asking for us. I said, what about you? Are you fine with that? I said, I am. And I think the day that I'm not, that will be the day that I think I need to say, all right, now I'm done. But I'm not ready for that yet. I mean, we just finished starting the biggest race in the world, we had a chance to win. I want to do it again. And then there's a bunch of annoying people saying, when are you going to retire? Why should I? Yeah, was I that last?

Starting point is 01:35:27 Yeah, was I that bad? I thought I was bad. But I thought I have that opinion all the time about me. Yeah, right. So it's a tough call, man. It's a tough call. And you know, you think about out of my four kids, I wasn't there for two of them on the day of their birth. Wow. And you miss many things. Oh, you miss many things. My girl went back to date. It's her first day at school. I'm here with you. Yeah. Am I sad? I hate to say it, but I'm not. I mean, that's our life. And that's the way I chose to live mine. I mean, I give them the love that I can and as much as I can, and as much as I want. But it's a very selfish thing. And it's not even selfish to you, it's selfish to you, but it's the requirement of the job is a lot. Right, because it's not people

Starting point is 01:36:15 think that whatever we're doing here, you just sat here right now, we talked and we're done. What about the studio? What about the preparation, the thought that you had to put in? Who am I? You're going to talk to me and the same thing with me. I go home, I got to wake up and work out. It's not just yet the race car, the easiest part is to drive the race car. Yeah. About go to the race shop, talk to the engineers, dedicate yourself, look at it. It's a full time job. It's not just yeah, you guys had the best life. Right. I mean, this is my 14th weekend in a row that I spend in a racetrack. Wow. So the entire summer, we didn't go on vacation, which I understand a lot of people don't either. But I'm saying like, it takes your entire time. And in the meantime, you have kids

Starting point is 01:37:02 to race. You have soccer games to take them or basketball, whatever, but then you just try to make it the best. But like I said, to answer your question, what makes it's the selfish, selfish, selfishness, sorry, Brazilians, but and selfish. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and the yeah, it's interesting. It's a selfish life. It's a very selfish life. Everything needs to go. It needs to actually rotate around you or me, right? We need to go. Well, I want to take the kids to Disney. When next weekend, I can't I'm racing, but you can go or can we go? Can we make plans to go in November? Well, I don't know. The team might ask me to go test because we have a new you don't have us. You can't have a schedule because you're on call. You're like a doctor. You never know.

Starting point is 01:37:55 You never know. You might get like, oh, you said, cool. Let's tell the team. We're going to go this week. I'm going away with my kids. TK, Theo, call you can be on his show. I mean, I would be trying to go to see him. I'm a fan. Honey, I gotta leave. Yeah. Well, you guys can stay and then you leave. I know. Yeah, my whole life's been like that. I think doing things that it's hard to find people that understand that because then it becomes so you don't want to you don't want to actually share your life with me. No, I do, but but right. But yeah, it's my life. I know. Yeah, I'm hard to reach sometimes, man. I think in a lot of in a like a lot of like communication ways and stuff, like when it comes to relationships and stuff, it's really, you know, Theo, but I think at the

Starting point is 01:38:46 end of the day, like I'm on my second marriage. My first wife, which is the mother of my oldest kid, a great person, but she she was a normal girl like normal girl. I mean, she got brought in raised live with her parents until she got married, never actually watch racing and stuff. And she couldn't she couldn't do it. And I couldn't do it because then I couldn't do it more of her requiring and asking me all that it was a lot of pressure. Yeah. And then I get my wife that I've been with with Lauren for 15 years. She was a reporter. She had a TV show all about racing and cars. She gets it more. Well, she knows. Yeah. And then it becomes like, we'll do whatever he needs to do. And then in our relationship, again, it could be flipped the other way. If she

Starting point is 01:39:37 she had a much bigger dream, probably I would give up mine at some point and leave hers too. But in a relationship, somebody's gonna have to give up. And I'm not trying to say, Oh, I'm the man. No, but she met me. I was already who I am right now. And I think the same with you like either right, they get used to it. Or then that's not for you. Yeah. Yeah, man, to give you like relationship advice. No, I don't think I would. But I feel like yeah, it's the same kind of stuff. It's like, man, it's hard to find somebody to fit into it, you know, and then understand, right? Because you never have a schedule. And that's for some people, it's a problem. Because you can say, All right, you know, tonight we're doing this, this, this,

Starting point is 01:40:21 that you have all these plans and you get a phone call. Hey, you got to go to LA right now. Because you hear something change. Yeah, you got to tell this. I'm going. Yeah, sometimes you can. That's at some point in your life, you will be able to say no. But even then, I think you're going to think about it because no, but it's still still a good opportunity there. It's a movie or like, come on. I mean, if my boss calls me and says you need to be in Pittsburgh tomorrow, I don't tell. Well, yeah, you know, my girl has a you're going to put on a stealer jersey and freaking hit the airport. Yeah. What time? Yeah. What time do you need me there? Yeah, what time? Yeah, I got six great watches. What are you doing? What are you doing when he calls his favorite

Starting point is 01:41:06 word, right? He's like, Hey, what are you doing? I said, whatever you need me to do, boss. What do you want me to do? No, no, no, I'm asking what are you doing? I said, waiting for you to tell me what to do. Have they tried? Have they tried any like advanced, like alternate types of racing or things to get the sport different or more, not more exciting, but to add variation to it? Or there been like, we do it all the time. Really? I mean, it's, it's no different that, you know, the fans are the hardcore fans will be critics. They're the worst critics and you're never going to please everybody. But the best way we try to make in the car is that everybody that actually is going to the field of car, they will have a chance to win the race. Some series that is only

Starting point is 01:41:54 two teams that dominate and then that gets really boring. It's get it's awesome for the two teams that are dominating. But so we try to keep the competition level side, which is hard to control, but with the equipment and the cars and the engines, you give them rules to keep the cars closed. So then you take the best out of the driver, the engineers, and obviously there's always going to be the teams that are well funded. They have the funding to hire better people. Right. It's like baseball, right? And that's that's like, like anywhere in the world. But the way they're making, so we're making adjustments all the time. And you talk about not just on the equipment, but how the way we race. I mean, look at the challenge here in Nashville, we have a street course,

Starting point is 01:42:40 it's, it's, it's a street, you just built around it. Yeah. And you know, if it's going to be good. Yeah. What do you so we did the first year, some places are bad, then you come back and you make it better. We shouldn't start the race at this point, because a lot of people crash, you should start it over. So it's constant. I mean, it's, it's, it's a tough job, you know, but that's what we do to equalize. And then it's easier to sell sponsorship, because when you go sell your sponsorship, the trick is question because it's like, let's say I want to buy your drink. I said, how much is that? He said five bucks. He said, here five bucks and I'll get it. I drink that's good. I sponsor ask you, how much is a season to win? Well, that's not a question.

Starting point is 01:43:28 Because if you can give me the biggest budget, but that's still not guaranteed, I'm going to win. So it's never, it's a risk. So the season costs x million dollars. Well, cost five million dollars. What about if I give you 10? Are we going to lap the entire field? No. Oh, about 15. No. And we're probably lose to a team that had two million dollar budget. So it's, it's never, it's never guaranteed. So you kind of like trying to, so the way the series is, you can actually say, all right, well, we don't, we don't have that budget, but we still very competitive. And then you have a chance to show off and be on TV and have a good result to give the return to your sponsors. So we're making changes pretty much, like

Starting point is 01:44:12 every year, there are new different rules and you're trying to improve every race. Is it different being in, in your, in, in IndyCar and in NASCAR, are they two different worlds kind of completely different? I mean, I've never raced NASCAR, but our team owner has a team. I have a lot of friends, Tony, I mean, I know Tony well and Clint. It's two different completely different mentalities. The way they run things, the cars are not similar. They run more of a raw old school. They're getting like more and more advanced, but we're technology wise, we're, I don't know, in the future, 15 years ahead of them. But that's, but that's not because they're not capable. That's the way they choose the way they want it. That's the product and it works. Yeah. Because then we

Starting point is 01:44:57 don't even compete. Like there is no competition. I mean, they got 160 miles an hour, 180 tops, we'll do 240. Yeah. They corner at 120, we corner at 230. Damn. You know, so, but yeah, there is huge difference and, and, and the fan base as well, because then you go from the guy that likes electric cars or open wheel or NASCAR. Interesting. Man, I think I've learned a lot, you know, I learned a lot about you and I've learned a lot about the sport overall. I think there's probably more stuff about the sport that I could learn, but I think I just have to get out there and experience it more. I think you got probably the best shot as far as, you know, experiencing something that, you know, it's like you, you've been on a car now. So you probably,

Starting point is 01:45:45 you relate a lot more than if I just had said here and tell you, you know, you go to a roller coaster now, you know exactly what we're talking about. You talk about, you have a, you have a wheel that has, it costs 50 grand, just a wheel and you have 15 buttons that you have to change them four, five times a lap. Why are you going 230 miles an hour? Why are you having cars all around? Why you have to look for, because you know, that that's another thing that people don't realize when you're going that fast, you're not looking what's happening here. You're looking what's happening like way ahead of you. So yeah, I think you have, I mean, hopefully, hopefully you enjoyed it and you have a different appreciation for what we feel.

Starting point is 01:46:28 Well, I certainly have a appreciation for you now and I have, I think I have a better appreciation just being in the car and just kind of seeing what that's like. You know, it's just amazing we come up on a tour and I'm like, I don't know if we're going to be okay for this. And then we would just, you know, we have the same thought, right? Yeah. But we have a little bit more of notion that it's going to be okay. But sometimes like, oh, that's not going to be okay. When can you even pass someone? I didn't see any opportunities. Yeah, I mean, you, it's a setup, man. It's, it's a cat and mouse game. Sometimes, like in this type of track, there's probably one place to pass. But sometimes that your car is not as good at that

Starting point is 01:47:12 place. So what you do, you force the guy to make a mistake. You put enough pressure on him until he pops. And that's when it comes in back to whatever we've been talking for an hour now, the pressure, the guy that can take it. And it's just really, it is like that. And then you rely on a team too, because we do pit stops, right? We change four tires, and we put 20, 20 gallons of fuel in eight seconds. But then when you put those eight seconds when you come into the pits, that the entire field of 26 cars that we have, probably going to be in one and a half seconds from first to last. Wow. If you come in and the guy has an eight second pit stop and you have a 10 because somebody made a mistake. He lost. Hey, you go from first to last and then a place that

Starting point is 01:48:00 you can't pass. You're done. So there's so many other things that are out of your control as well, that they have to go right. That is, it's actually, it's brutal. You know what I mean? Because to win, it's brutal. Well, because in any other sport, some of the other sports, if you don't win it, because you suck, because you suck, you can't shoot the ball, right? It's on you. Yeah. Right? Well, I can't make the basal. I can't hit the baseball, but that's on you. You need to go there and press us. You can be the best guy out there. If you don't have a team behind you, you're done. There's a lot of factors. Right. And on top of that, you have the best team, but the manufacturer that make the little lug nut, one of those are defective and they break. And then you're like,

Starting point is 01:48:45 so it's very unfair. It's like life, man. Yep. 100%. And we're never happy. We're never happy, man. Life's unfair. And so is that sport. Tony, thanks so much for your time, man. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Really, thanks for having me. I'm a fan. And it's a pleasure to be here. That's the same way that I feel, man. And I look forward. I'm going to come out to the IndyCar in next May. I'll be, hopefully, hopefully it'll be my, we're working on it, putting a lot of pressure on the people behind the scenes. But it's going to be my 25th year. And if you're really serious and you have the time, you'll be my guest. And now I promise you, you're going to experience something that you never did with 400,000 people in that place. I'll give you a radio.

Starting point is 01:49:34 You can listen to the conversations during the race. Yeah. You have to be sick. I'll definitely make it. And I have to say it might be my next one, my last one. So you'll probably be there for the good farewell. The shower, huh? And then we can go potty Sunday night. Yeah. The way I say, we can go drink to celebrate or to forget. Go get you a third wife, huh? No, no, no, no. Stop it. I'm joking. No, no. I'm joking, miss. Get you a wife. Yeah. There we go. She has some friends. She does. I want a Brazilian wife, too. Well, she's not Brazilian. She's American, but I have a lot of Brazilian friends. So are you sure you want that? Yeah. I think so. My friends married a Brazilian lady and she seemed like a great lady. All right. Well, I'll send you

Starting point is 01:50:13 some friends. Send me some T-Maya, some T-Maya so I can play it for them. Tony, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. Now, I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these leaves. I must be cornerstone. Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this piece of mind I found. I can feel it in my bones, but it's gonna take a little longer.

This Past Weekend - E407 Tony Kanaan

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