Scott Goodyear joins Gary to go through his story from go-karts, to sleeping in his car in debt, starting fresh, his rise to Indycar, and becoming a Porsche Factory driver at LeMans.
Scott Goodyear scratched and clawed and never gave up. We go over his career, racing go-karts in Canada, to Formula Ford, Formula 2000 to Formula Atlantic, Indycar, his two 2nd place finishes at the Indy 500, his famous finish with Al Unser Jr, and his five Indy Car wins. We go over his first trip to Germany to try out for the Audi Quattro with Hans Stuck. Scott was the
Porsche Factory Driver – 24 hours of LeMans – 3rd place. in the GT1 Porsche. He was an
Audi Factory Endurance Driver with Hurley Haywood, Hans Stuck & Walter Rohl.
Jaguar Factory Driver – 24 hours of Daytona – 1st place GTP with Davy Jones & Scott Pruett.
Watkins Glen 6 Hour Endurance Race Winner – Brumos Porsche Prototype with David Donohue.
We discuss the current state of auto racing and the differences between the 80s and 90s compared to the prospects of making a living today.
And I knew when I crashed that one it was like Brazil Brazil I couldn’t feel waste down and the crash in India I couldn’t feel waste down I knew something was going on today on the podcast we have Scott goodier Canadian guy Indie Car Legend uh winning five
Indie car races finishing second twice at the nd500 and most famously uh in the closest Finish ever against Aller Jr there uh he was a factory Porsche driver at Lama going to Lama a handful of times uh finishing second in the GT1 and third overall uh he was a color analyst for
ABC ESPN uh for the Indie 500 and the Indie Car Series for 17 years he’s uh he’s seen Motorsports from almost every angle he’s been in Motorsports his entire life and currently he’s the FIA race director of the F3 uh and F4 USA championship great podcast Scott is a
Wealth of knowledge and uh a a real profession Enjoy so I guess the first question is did you did you grow up in Toronto like downtown in the city um when I uh was born I was really around um moved around a little bit my parents moved around a little bit but um even young in aington
Area uh for a while and then uh probably ke 401 area for a couple years as my parents told me and then uh when my dad had a house and property there on a ravine which I guess I enjoyed going down the back hill to bogging uh all the
Canadians know that stuff uh and then they this was obviously decades and decades and decades ago and then they came along build the coverly for the 401 and 400 and all that sort of stuff so we sort of got uh moved out of that whole
Area I gather from what I was told and then um ended up moving up into Willowdale Area North York which is bayew and 401 area and lived there for for uh really all of my life um you know going through ended up joining into public school there probably about grade
Three I think it was and then uh went to Junior High and then um high school and then uh didn’t last very long three months into University when I decided I was moving to Europe to try and go racing so um the only one in my family
Who doesn’t have a uh College University degree so uh and I remember distinctively coming home and telling my mom that um as we all do in Canadians understand that she do everything over a cup of tea right or probably more importantly today made a Tim’s coffee anyways it was a cup of tea
Back then and I said to my mom uh mom I got some news to share with you oh what’s up go I’m uh quitting school I like I said I was three years in the University at the time three three months and then I was um I was going to
A point where I just said um you know I’m going to go racing and all that sort of stuff so anyways it was all cool and then I said um I got some more news and that upset her obviously enough and next set of news was I was moving to Europe
So you know it was hilarious because um she said you’re crazy you need to go to school you need to get education which I advoc gate and actually all of our kids have that was one of the things for all three three of our kids getting through
And getting a degree or two degrees and um and uh she said yeah you’ll uh you’ll come back and you go to school and uh you’ll you know you have to go to school and but I disappointed her really bad they got right what what were you taking
For those three months I was just going in there in general courses and going through with uh and most thing I was taking like public speaking you know because I was I remember the one thing that I was sort of interested in I wanted to make sure I could understand
How to um you know get and talk to people and everything of that nature so I was um really just interested in getting better business skills and uh you know my dad owned and operated a motorcycle cycle snow bile business and so for me I was um having the
Opportunity to understand about business and and we were um probably um you know gosh he was into that uh caki dealership uh snow bill stuff uh import for so many different things from United States and China at that point in time so I um really was working in the business at
The same time so had a bit of a business sense and really knew that I just wanted to go car racing that was the whole H so how did how did caring start for you I assume your dad was an eraser uh my dad um was actually um he ran late
Models down at the CNE uh Fairgrounds and then had an old um you know car that super modified as they call it back then um yep and it was uh a sgo places like that and uh in the end result um they had a cleaning business in downtown
Toronto called Metro cleaners who was on Queen Street and uh what ended up happening uh I got both of his cars stolen off the trailer or the whole trailer and everything stolen because it was just sitting out back on the of the cleaning plant on Queen Street and he
Told me um you know because I was obviously very I think I was probably three or something like that and um he say so he walked out one day and they were gone never found them again so in the end result he couldn’t afford to replace him he was trying to build a
Business and raise a family and then years later he ended up uh going to a go-kart track and doing some rental stuff having some fun and bought myself a go-kart and did that locally in Ontario uh and then in the end result um I guess we were traveling into New York
State just for a bit of a family vacation and he ran across a cart shop um I think around the Avon New York but Tav New York area because there’s a lot of cing going on at that time and got some uh performance PS for his uh
Go-kart and put them on and made it go better and then people said oh what’s that where’d you buy that and then he thought maybe this could be a business he started bringing that stuff in and selling it on the back of his trailer and then uh started selling it out of
The house and I remember people coming to our house when I was young well before I started carting um they were coming and buying stuff on even the evenings and on weekends and stuff like that and uh that my dad was actually in the car business at that time and
Working for a dealership he um closed the uh car or he walked away from the car business and um because he had sold the cleaning plant well before before that and um in the end result um he uh started a store and it just grew and
Grew and grew and ended up uh I think we ended up with about probably just under 1,200 dealers coast to coast and that was um everything from motorcycle parts snow meile Parts lawnmower parts everything we were the um RC cam yoshimira um pistons and products uh clot fuel wisle Pistons cazoo traction products
And a host of other things I can remember we were the distributor for all of Canada for all that stuff we were the official rebuild house for Bombardier for all their snow whe engines that had any problems at that point in time uh we were the first and only one for a while
And then it grew after that um and then like I said the Kawasaki dealer and then I remember um he used to get magazines he was buying stuff from China and I was old enough to remember this and but and ordered ahead and sent money and all
That sort of stuff to China to get a crate um container of uh mini bikes because they were cheaper than the rup mini bikes that were out at that time so here was an opportunity to make money right so he got all this stuff and and
They went out the door for I mean if a mini bike at that time was $199 I can’t remember what the price was $199 we were selling these ones for $129 because you know you already paid anything for China and then a couple weeks later everyone came back with we
Were rewelding frames because all the frames were breaking and all that sort of stuff it was just like yeah I remember him saying that was one of my smarter moves that was pretty funny yeah but uh oh that’s entertaining yeah but yeah just a ton of of um then we had the
Uh the leading Performance Machine Shop in across Canada doing stuff for motorcycles and snowmobiles and and uh everything matter of fact um yeah and then got into um you know with all the machinery and stuff like that and I ended up getting through and being machinist when I was younger I just
Loved that used to build all my own motorcycles and snowmobiles um and then uh I started the carting stuff obviously a young age of uh nine because you weren’t allowed to actually start until or nine at that point in time and today um gosh they start them kids carts where
They you know the whole dads pick up the go-kart and everything with a kid in it and put it off the trailer onto the track uh at about five I think it is now around here or something of that nature and then you start competing at seven
Going 45 miles an hour I think it might be a bit too young but uh yeah and then started uh I couldn’t start until I was nine so took a long time right right and and talking with uh with Ron Fellows he was saying when he started carding just
The the difference in caring back then to now you know it was such it was so much more of a grown man sport back then and you know you know and now it’s you know if you’re not out of carts by 14 or 15 you’re behind the eightball kind of
Thing you know you really are I mean it was amazing and that was he’s got that coin perfectly because um you know I remember being you know there’s a junior classes and they were well attended especially in the states and when I was cing back then um you know there was one
Major carting sanctioning body across really North America it was called ikf the international caring Federation and um you know we went everywhere from bridge Hampton New York to Atwater California Jacksonville Florida that track’s still going because I went there with my son years ago uh and obviously
All through Canada uh you know we obviously Goodwood cart ways which is still there most important another gokart track at that time the other track was in uh Whitby uh and that track was actually terrific uh because a Clark family owned it and they built a rental
Cart track and that was on its way up to Cottage Country so it was always just a cart rental track and then uh they decided to hold a race there one time they held a race once a year for maybe three or four years row and it was a
Money race which they started doing way back then you know 5,000 to win 25 for second a th000 for third and um I mean you had everybody coming from the state up to Canada for that uh you know those names back then it was uh you know Lin
Hadock and Lake speed um Scott puit Mark dismore you know interestingly puit ended up getting into car racing as did Mark gizmore just like myself and um and Scott pu and I ended up being teammates in the Jaguar Factory team for the 24-hour Daytona um so it’s funny how
Things so go full soar you go different directions and and what have you and um but you he coined that perfectly because um I remember moving into a senior class in Barnesville Georgia for the Winter Nationals and um I guess you had to be I
Think like 16 I was 15 and something my dad signed me up and uh then you know when you’re out there now all of a sudden you’re at the front everybody’s going what in the world’s going on here and then they found out the real age so
They got booted out of that and then um yeah but it was very much you were running against uh you know grown men with families you know it was like yeah and then I come back um gosh uh my son started caring back in 2011 maybe or 10
Or something like that but uh and then uh it’s just it’s just full of uh kids Junior kids and we were lucky here in Indianapolis area because Mark dismore um who was caring like I said when when I was run his father owned the same type
Of business as my dad did so uh they have the largest caring retail facility uh sales facility here in outside of Indianapolis and um they also built a track here called Newcastle Motorsport Park every major carting facil or carting series goes to that facility super tours the Nats everything um it’s
Got 80 garages on site and we had a garage there you go and you unlock the door turn the alarm off and roll the door open start the cart and drive out like you’re in a Formula One Track pretty darn cool uh he has his own
Banquet there at the end of every year which houses almost 200 people for banquet and his own restaurant that’s on site Own Parts facility there on site and then he’s got his major shop down the road um you know we were very fortunate we got involved in carting
With my son Michael the thing that was strange for me I remember getting our carts out uh when I first started carting with my dad and youd pull them out and and with the tires he said you know as long as they’re holding air you’re good to go right well I get
Involved with my son um and we get involved and caring and um I get there and I get a shock very first time people are throwing six of tires on per weekend um you know and I’m going well they’re not learning anything if you put new rubber on the time but it’s defeating
What we’re trying to accomplish here and uh yeah I was fiberg Gast and then it was um you know it was basically uh Sports parents or hockey parents it was completely different from what I came from and um my oldest son who’s 63 very athletic was playing Triple A hockey and
For a longest time and um you know I got into like the hockey parent scenario and like oh my gosh and then we had this carding stuff with my younger son Michael and um it was like no better the cing people was just I thought my gosh
Um it was really an eye opening and the amount of money parents didn’t mind spending was is ridiculous actually and astronomical uh and I still see it today with what I’m doing running our our F4 and our F3 andr program um I see all these K parents come out of carding and
The amount of money they’re spending is enormous no it’s it’s certainly changed I was I feel fortunate that I was kind of you know during my time in cing was the last era of showing up with your dad and that’s it with you know maybe a
Little trailer or in the back of the pickup truck yeah um but going back to your your carting career like you you know I assume you were quick right away and you really dominated was that where the you know thought process came into your head like hey you know maybe I can
Make a living at it did you see anyone move from cing and go hey you know there’s a real path here you know and I get asked that question a lot over the years um I think at that point in time it was uh fun to do and enjoying it your
Friends were there all summer because you went up to Goodwood or Georgetown was going at that point in time for I mean there was so many uh smaller cart tracks around that area before whiy came on uh came on uh play um you know and then we started
Traveling to bavia New York Avon New York and then we started really going throughout the states and then in my carding man in and started up running for the maray factory out of St Louis Missouri so I was going Coast to Coast um I honestly think G at that point in
Time I’m not sure that I had um you know a plan or there’s probably maybe that would be cool I’m not sure if I thought about that young as a kid I think only when I became probably like even 16 15 16 um and then at that point in time you
Know you’re going through school and you’re going to think go what am I going to do for a living and then you know somebody goes well you know um we got a car for you to drive there’s people in the industry cazoo traction products actually had built a car that was
Running on a little oval circuit in Michigan and um my dad got me a ride we went over there and I went around on one of these little oval things for you know like a Saturday night thing or what have you all the big cars were there and all
That sort of stuff I’m not even sure at that point in time I really thought I was going to be making a career in Motor Racing um I will tell you that um I was probably 18 finishing off all the carting stuff that I was doing we were
Running mostly huge big National events that time or the PK the pro caring Association stuff at that time which was money races and um like I said coast to coast and and what have you um I think for me the turning point was when I went
To my uh Formula Ford school at mport was a John Powell Formula Ford racing school I went there uh in 1979 obviously a long long time ago and uh I came home and said to my dad and my mom I go that’s I’m gonna go racing not sure I’m
Gonna I was into everything at that time my my cars motorcycles was in music I came home sold everything and just um you know with the exception of small little tool boxes for fixing my car um and I had a couple cars I was working on that time I mean nothing like your
Family builds and cars way back then but I mean uh old old Monte Carl with a big block in it then I had a 240Z and and Z I guess as you say and then um yeah I uh add some stuff like that like I said
Music just sold it all so I could then un go off and and I went and got a loan to go get a phone Ford race car to start racing in 1980 and um you know and then it’s a dream I mean it’s just like I am
You know seeing all the parents and the young drivers like I was back there in 1980 I’m seeing them now in the present position that I’m in and uh it’s fun um you know with what I’m doing you get to guide them um and you get to share with them the highs and
Lows and the frustrations of it you know so um all that said in fast forwarding a lot I mean we’ve got five drivers now that have come through our F4 F3 and F FR Five drivers that are running Indie Cars now since 2016 so there’s some um
You know um certainly some enjoyment out of that um but man it’s um it’s a hard business to be in um of which explain to my youngest son who was racing and and I think excuse me maybe that’s why he turned around decide it was time to go
He’s now a commercial pilot so um yeah it’s it’s it’s a tough business tough business for sure and and I imagine you probably had a high degree of of naivity when you you know bought a Formula Ford and um I guess it was a pretty robust
Formula 4D series or you got to run a bunch of different tracks up here um you know kind of unlike now I guess um so you bought the car and you know just went racing yeah my dad co-signed a loan um took out a $20,000 loan at that point
In time um wow and actually signed by a bank manager still remember him to this day uh Doug palmeter was his name and um he was a a Carter himself and my dad co-signed obviously so that was fine with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and um then uh gosh that was
1980 and uh yeah naive I mean talking about that I mean gosh I um you know as long as I’m still paying the uh the loan on it which I was still obviously paying monthly and paying more ahead trying to pay stuff off as I was racing working I
Was working three jobs at that time and um along with working at my dad’s business and um after the first year when we won the Canadian form 4 championship and the race at the Montreal Grand Prix and charier and a bunch of other stuff um the factory in
Europe Crosley um decided that they were going to give us a new chassis in 81 so and it was uh for free from the factory so I thought okay well this is cool so I turned around sold the 1980 car obviously and there’s no Canadian Ontario registration or something like
That I just sold it put the money in helped me continue my uh my career you know then you U get another decade down the road and start to really understand understand that I probably should have paid the loan off when I sold the car
And uh it was uh you know because it was like gosh I was uh I I paid that loan off in October of 1986 after I won the North American former Atlantic Championship I took my prize money and finally paid off the remainder of that
Loan uh but I also remember that I don’t know guess it was 84 five or something like that a new uh bank manager came in Canadian in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and uh called me in and um said I’m going through this paperwork I don’t see the title for this
Crosley 40f I don’t even know what this is so I had to explain to him it’s a racing car he goes well we just generally never do stuff like this and etc etc um but anyways you know that came to lighting me going I could be in
Trouble here because I guess I probably should have paid this off because I don’t have this car anymore uh yeah the end result uh a bit of a scary moment and um but when you said naive I was I was going to go become a racing car driver however you know you’re not
Honestly you’re just you’re just one one day to the next day to the next day and um you know I see it now with the young drivers that are coming through our series um you know and you almost have to be like that Gary because I mean at
You know late teens or early 20s or something like that I mean yes there’s responsibility you have to have um knowledge of what you’re doing but I mean uh you have to be na in some parts of it otherwise you wouldn’t go do it I mean it’s no absolutely the odds are are
So stacked against you did you you know how did how did things progress from there did you I mean clearly you were on the radar winning that championship and and um I guess how did you end up over in Europe and and why did you move there
Well after doing everything the same in 1980 81 and 82 winning the formula 4 Championship the formula 4D race in Montreal grou Prix I think thier I mean just a ton of stuff and and stuff down the states and stuff in Canada um you know and let me add this on it’s funny
When you say about caring um you know you come involved in caring and then you’re running against um established middle-aged men or whatever it was back in caring when I arrived in Formula 4 and I remember the guys distinctively in Canada there was one guy to beat he’d
Been winning the championship each and every year he was out of God Rich Ontario and um John scratch was his name and uh there’s nobody could beat him he was the guy and he just he just kept on winning they built their own cars they had engineers and all that sort of stuff
Uh his engineer last name of pery I can’t remember his first name Alex I think it was and oh yeah these guys were like uh man are you ever going to be able to beat these guys so that was a great Benchmark to be able to run and
The guy down here in the states is like a multi-time seca formula 4 Champion was the best in the country Coast to Coast running for the zinc Factory which built the car uh Dave ween off out of Ohio nobody could beat this guy so uh those
Are my two benchmarks when I came in so these are guys and Dave wof was an engineer at um uh Firestone products in um akan Ohio and uh so like I’m these guys I’m showing up at 20 and these guys are 35 or something like that been doing
It for a long long time so it’s funny you say that but anyways after those three years um I uh owed $887,000 and um so this is the end of ’92 um and I turned around and started a school at shannonville Motorsport Park with my uh the team owner that I was
Running for at that time was named Colin Hine Colin Heine was out of Ottawa Canada he was the Crosley former the Ford distributor uh past racer himself excellent mechanic had a very good program going on so I ended up uh connecting with him in 1980 we ran three
Years together so we started the school together with the uh 1600cc cars we had six formula Fords and then uh we got an association together with BMW Canada for sedans for that school uh that time was a 318 you know the 318 I or E 318 e the
Ed engine way back then and um so thankfully and BMW came on board and I still remember that guy’s name Wayne Jeff was the guy that was in charge of BMW can of that time and um yeah so we started the school did out through 83
Went and did um the Sportsmans show the world of wheel all those shows that go on you know and with a booth with a car there and selling the space and I was there signing people up each and every day and what have you and um you know um
Paul Tracy even came through the school who was one of my students at that point in time but we we had um rented the track in advance and uh had three days schools we sold everyone out uh all in 83 and all through 84 and then um in uh
At that point in time the 2000 car F2000 car came on board and F2000 a big Series in Canada form 2000 and um Colin Heim was running a team there and one of his drivers was not able to make a race at TR ofier and the father said we’re
Finished Racing for the year he’s going back to school whatever the whole program was said if you have somebody wants to run the car you’re welcome to do it and uh because the fees were paid for it just needed tires and uh paid for and Fuel and obviously any expenses
Which I really didn’t have so um but Colin called me and just said this is available you want to try and go money and see if you can uh run T rier and I went you i’ been Racing for almost two years at that point in time um so I
Jumped in my from the Ford school car at shannonville warmed up a little bit uh we brought the F2000 car down spent an uh one afternoon and after our school finished at four o’clock one day I jumped into it and and ran it because we didn’t have money to rent the track on
Top of what we had and got used to the car just a little bit and then we put it in the trailer and sent it up to trir so I went up there and um qualified 14th out of 26 or I can’t remember what that was there and I just remember being on
The grid and just going uh this is a mistake you know if I was to go anywhere make the career start again I’d have to be on poll and winning and what have you but uh so I uh fact I was I think it was
Hyper vening I had to loosen the belt on the uh the seat belt in the car because I was just my chest with pounding so hard I was I couldn’t mouth was dry I was like oh my gosh uh anyway so we got out in the track got a good start got a
Lot of people in the first lap and continued moving forward and um clicking people off and ended up winning the thing if you can believe it wow so one the thing and then uh in the end result uh that was cool next race for the that
Was all part of the big TransAm weekend and TransAm went to mport for Labor Day weekend I was there uh wasn’t driving anything and basically um uh ran into a guy out of Houston Texas he was on his golf cart driving to tner 8 I was
Walking from the pit lane or back in the garage area over to turn 8 to watch Cars and um he stops and says hello and he’s a very heavy set uh Texan with a cowboy boots on and a big hat and he goes boy where you going I said I’m going over to
Watch I’m going there too hop on so anyways I hop on his golf cart we start chatting and told him the whole story and he goes I was a chier with a TransAm car he goes I didn’t what number are you I told him he goes I think you won that
Race I said yeah I did he goes well that’s pretty cool he gets home and I get a phone call um seven eight weeks later from his shop and saying uh come on down why don’t you come and see what we got going on so I go down to Houston
Texas uh People’s Express back then you probably don’t know that Airline because you’re way too young ask your dad will understand that people Express uh fly out of Buffalo New York and anywhere in the country for 99 bucks you had to go through the Gia airport right and it was
Always that night so it was like a red eye to get over there so I took that went down there one of the mechanics that used to work for me was actually down there working with him and um there was no guarantee said if you want to
Come back I’ll pay you something to work on cars we you know we’ve got a shop and we rent cars out but you can drive it and I had nothing going and uh you know we had the school going at that point in time had to talk with Colin and um you
Know Colin knew that um you know and I give Colin Heim full credit that um him giving me this ride knew that if it helped my career our school was probably going to close because I was red and that’s exactly what happened and in my reference letter that I wrote for Colin
Hind to be um for the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame for considerations a couple years ago I wrote that in that letter and I said he knew full well that if I um had a successful week in and it rekindled my career that school would probably close
And it ended up obviously we ended closing the school sold everything and then into turn became the spard David school with Shard spard Raymond David and um but I ended up going down there and um we did a Podge Podge in 1985 of uh a couple old TransAm car races um C-
Sports racer um ended up getting a sports 2000 and then came up here and learned a lot of tracks um Mid Ohio Road America Elkart Lake tracks I’d not been to before but that actually helped us a lot and at the end of 85 he said boy
You’re doing pretty good and uh what would you like to do next year if you had a Vinnie car and I told him I’d like go former Atlantic racing North American former Champion that’s where you need to be right and uh because you get to run
The Montreal Grand Prix all that sort of stuff and um so he uh walked in one day at the shop he goes I just ordered uh two brand new ralt RT fors and four Jennings Motors and um I mean it was you know it was like Christmas working with
Him obviously and he was an oil Trader and uh he didn’t drive any of his cars because he couldn’t really fit in them at all obviously right but uh he had his NE and um you know he just he just loved to do it so that was sort of the thing he
Did it was a little bit of a business so yeah we went forign Atlantic racing in ‘ 86 and won the championship um we um then he ordered AR cars which people today know them as Indie lights are now Indian nexts that Roger pensy is taken over and Pat Patrick started that series
Way back then ordered uh ARS cars and engines and all that sort of stuff and at the end of the year um we were selling all the stuff that we had the RS and all sort of stuff and he walked in the shop one day and said um uh that’s
It he says um we’re closing down and um I mean the cars were not there yet the ARs cars Indie lights cars were not there yet but they’re on the way ordered and his wife had served him with divorce papers and and that stopped everything
So um you know he had a he had a Lear jet helicopter I mean it was just it was just amazing right and we didn’t have any budget issues if you needed a motor rebuilt on the Atlantic motor um and we had spares you just sent it out and got
It fixed it was like I’d never lived like that before it was like right I used to uh sleep in the back and my dad’s in B210 on a formula 4 race at San a Quebec because I wanted new tires that weekend and I was definitely going to
Buy new tires instead of actually going to a hotel right obviously yeah it’s like and so I was like wow so yeah so I came home uh I remember they closed down we finished the day before Thanksgiving and um I got my car uh Thanksgiving of 1986 us Thanksgiving and stopped and and
Um and got a hotel and and ate at a Cracker Barrel which is a big restaurant chain down here I got back my the next morning and and got back to Toronto with not knowing what in the world I was going to do so it was uh but you know
Fortunately got uh into some porous stuff up there got called to do a couple of former Atlantic races uh um and then and that was now in 1987 and in 1988 I ended up driving for faf for Chris faf and Bill meaf in group bill mcaf was uh
My best buddy and uh the manager up at faf at that time and and that’s when David Deacon started the um the Porsche series that had been going on there for a little bit 86 and ‘ 87 and yeah all that stuff and ran some of the stuff
Even in ‘ 86 occasionally up there and then came back and did more in ‘ 87 uh one of my long time friends and managers was a lot of help and all that stuff Rob Tanner and um you know and still keep in touch with Rob today matter of fact we
Were emailing back and forth just a few weeks ago um yeah it was just it was you just never knew if you were ever going to make it I mean we’re talking now we’re going on eight nine years still wondering if you’re going to make it and
You know I don’t know if I was that that’s naive part that comes up you know um or I just wasn’t very smart to figure out it may not work I don’t know right was right I had uh I had David on the podcast actually not too long ago we had
A we had a great chat was that um you know your exposure in that in that Porsche Turbo Cup Series uh and I guess connection with Porsche was that how you got your foot in the door for the the Porsche Factory stuff at Lama um I think
It was in a sense honestly I think um quietly beside the scenes um I honestly think it was probably Harvey hudas you know and he’s passed and never got chance to ask him this but I ended up getting invitation and it was really through um Porsche Canada Audi Canada everybody in the
Series um and and I think uh Harvey HUD is also everybody quietly going behind the scenes to find something else for this kid to go do and after winning the 88 Porsche Turbo Cup Series um I think that’s how I ended up on the radar
Without e so I got an invitation to go to uh Europe and um have an an opportunity do a test at Hawking Heim uh in the Audi quatros uh Co and Gary you understand this I mean there’s no Sims back then right you’re learning the racetrack by looking at magazines and
You know maps and and uh races on TV and all that sort of stuff right and I remember flying over being just nervous I don’t think I slept that much and got picked up by um by the people from Audi and went to English lad and the factory
And everything like that and then we’re g on our way to hackenheim and stayed at the hotel and it was all set up he said uh you know the person for out he said uh you know tomorrow morning we’ll have breakfast down in the hotel and then
We’ll go next door to the circuit and um you know this will be uh what we’ll do okay it was all you know very tough in the language but still getting there and then um the next morning he picks me up we’re sitting he says um the test driver
Will arrive today he’s going to join us for breakfast and then we’ll go next door to the circus so that’s wonderful we’re sitting there having breakfast and then obviously with the circuit just over there and then and me not knowing who the test driver was I remember this
Like it was yesterday was was such a it was such a idiot at that time that inw walks hanu being as tall as Hans is and everybody in the restaurant goes oh and I said to the colleague that I was with from out oh look it it’s h Stu and the guy looks
At me goes but yes of course that’s your test driver today and I’m going oh oh you know so I’m enamored because it’s Han stuck you know seeing read about him and all sort of stuff and then found out he was my test driver I was going
Against that day I was sort of sunk in my chair a little bit you know so but he was super um got to know him and went over there and we did our test programs it was very short I mean it’s as you are you get 10lp segments over there and my
First 10 laps was to get out there and get to understand where the track goes and feel the car a little bit come in make sure the seats fitting and all that sort of stuff heads good and all that sort of stuff another 10 laps and and
Then uh to get another more climatized to what’s going on and then then a 10lp segment to see how consistent you are and how fast you are and then they went out and had two cars um Hans and one and myself and another and just a a back and
Forth to see how you know you do it so I’m out there doing stuff and I took times and pass him and we just went out and you know a flat out type thing um and then came back in and and uh it was very quiet and and uh I’m thinking okay
Maybe I did something I wasn’t supposed to do I really know what was going on so anyways he asked me just to go sit in the motor home uh of which I didn’t I thought I’m not sure what I did but I guess I’m probably I have no idea what’s
Going on right because they’re all talking in German all when I other the car and I’m in there which seemed like for a day I’m sure it was probably only 10 minutes or something like that and then the door opens up and Han steps
Into the motor home as big as he is and I get up and Hi and then he sticks his hand up shakes my hand he goes uh Scotty welcome to the team cool W okay I mean I thought I was being pitched out of know what was going on right so obviously
Test went well so I was pleased with that and then got to run with them here in North America and got to know Hans quite well and my teammate was Hurley Haywood uh which we become friends and I’ve did more stuff with Hurley in in the career with the Daytona prototype
Stuff and what have you um but yeah it was just uh you know it just sort of went from one thing to another but you never knew even in September of that particular year if you were driving next year you didn’t know if you were making
A living I mean making a just paying expenses and paying your insurance and paying your gas bill being able to pay your flights and all that sort of stuff and you know and way before that um I and I explained this to all the the drivers that I have now in the position
I am I um you know I tell the uh young Lads that you just need to continue to put yourself up there and meet people I was very fortunate early in my career at mport uh sitting underneath an awning one time uh and sat at a table with a
Bunch of people and ended up having a conversation with a guy that was beside me and um and he said oh I saw him again the next day at the track at most Port we started having more of a conversation he was an old dock shoes shorts and old
T-shirt and what have you and um and not really never raced or anything of that nature but anyways uh listen to my story and he gave me his uh just his name and number he said uh you know Toronto just um we’re probably not far from each
Other why don’t you just uh call me we’ll talk a little bit more and see what you got going on I think your story is pretty cool type thing so anyways I get this and I call the number and make an appointment to go and see them
There’s no address on this piece of paper he gave me and you know the lady I called didn’t say a company name and then because it was his personal secretary and then um in the end result um I go and I get appointment time I get
Then get the address you know it was before Google where you’re Googling address what so I’m going down I’m pulling up and I stop and I pull up I look at the front of this place and I’m going oh this can’t be right you know so
I drop up and down the street I’m going I guess this is it I pull in and I walk in there I said to the reception I go I think I’m in the wrong spot but I’m looking for a man by the name of Steven Codwell oh yeah Steve are you scy yeah
Yeah he’s expecting you it was waste Co sanitation that’s Steve C so anyway I walk in there and uh this is I me that we’re talking this is uh way back before I back up a little bit like 83 84 type thing you know in that time and he said
To me uh well you need to go off and see people why don’t you just go travel and get to racetracks like you said you need to do and talk to managers and talk to teams and see if you can get yourself a ride do whatever you need to do um
Flights cars hotels and just bring me your Visa bill I’m going really he goes yeah and so I remember taking the first one in the first time you know was it was $947 he was looking over his glasses and all that he’s look like and I remember distinctly go said well this is
Not going to work and I’m thinking oh man I’m I’m done now right and he goes uh you obviously have not been traveling enough you need to be somewhere all the time every week so I go really so now they became G A Couple Grand or three
Grand and that’s I didn’t have the money to travel right so that was back like I said back even in the 80s and that allowed me even get to that point down to to Houston so he was very helpful uh became a very very good friend uh over
The years and um so much so that it came continue with me all the way through and even when I became a hired driver I still had waste Co on the top of my helmet on my visor and Steve would come to races and just hang out and have fun
Uh he got involved with Derek Walker who was one of my team owners matter of fact a lot of people don’t know this but um when Derek was uh built you know he Derek even had form Atlantic team before uh he got um a lot of other
Stuff going and um it was Steven cobwell that bought the former Atlantic cars that will power and Simon piono drove own the cars for Derek Walker when those guys drove for them and then he he owned other stuff I had no longer was with Derek because I’d let the valving team I
Was on doing other stuff but uh yeah and those guys became good friends and then we’d all get together unfortunately uh Steven passed to cancer a couple of years ago and which very unfortunate and uh but remain you know friends and got to see each other all the time and he
Even came out and watched my son Michael do a little bit of racing um you know when Michael was um running uh in F4 the stuff that I’m taking care of now Michael did that a bit in 16 and then um Michael and I ran up at most port in 177
For Chris uh in the for faf in the um faf touring car BMW faf car at that time so in a three-hour race which we won GT2 class so uh but Stephen was out there with that and so it was just nice to share all the sort of stuff of them but
Uh yeah sort of strange how the world all works with that but um AB you keep digging right right so how did you get you know I imagine you got uh maybe a small paycheck maybe I’m wrong but a small paycheck from you know Audi and
And now you are a you know you’re a factory driver driver you know you’re established people know your name how did the jump to Indie Car happen or you know really kind of getting opportunities there funny story uh obviously I had a couple of opportunities to drive an indie car um
With Gore racing a guy by the name of Dick Hammond that own Jesy beer distributorship in Upstate New York and he had an indie car uh Rob Tanner um manager at that time like I said and great friend uh put that all together where I got to do a couple of road
Course races for uh the Gen beer wagon that time matter of fact that car was rebranded rothman’s when I ran at the Toronto Indie um but in 19 89 um I was now had an invitation from the Porsche Factory uh to come over and run the
Invitational race in a 944 Turbo Cup car um before the 24-hour of Lon race so you know I think it was held at 10 o’clock in the morning 11 o’clock in the morning before the major race started and uh and I’d been to Lon before because I was
There with Brun uh the Canadian team with um the Brun 962 Porche 962 and with Bill Adam Rashard sard so I knew my way around there a little bit obviously but as a um champion of the turbo Cup Series you got invited but there was champions from around the world um probably 20
Cars something in that neighborhood if I can recall um I ended up um qualifying H seventh and um and then got up to Fourth was passing the guy into third up into the S’s and the guy punted me off I ended up in a gravel trap I ended up
Getting back to I think maybe fourth or fifth from being 12th or something like that I was I was in sense but that was 89 but anyways I was over at Lal for that race and at that point in time everybody over there as you know it stays of these big Chate everybody’s
Together and what have you Porsche Canada took a group over and uh part of that group was good customers and and business people and what have you uh one of them was uh the customers there was Jim Odon founder in president McKenzie Financial Corporation i’ never met him knew of him
Um I was uh with my girlfriend at that time my wife now Lesley and uh we came in from a morning run and you know those breakfast rooms and those things have you know 20 or 40 people or something like that you get yourself and you go
And sit at these big long tables and anyways I’m sitting there with my wife beside me I said uh you’re not going to believe Who’s down the table on that side and he was always traveling with a you know like a traveling person protector bodyguard what you want to
Call it all time I guess but any case um I I noticed who he was had not been him before and I said well maybe we’ll see him at the track I never would go and call another sponsor or some other driver’s sponsor never did that I had
People calling my sponsors all the time but I would never call somebody else’s sponsor so I’d never met him before and they were involved in indie car racing at that point in time uh doing some racing with uh Luda krath Jr and with the McKenzie cars this was in 1989
So anyways uh he gets up and he leaves and and I thought okay fine and then 30 seconds later because he had to come out and go through a door and he must have went down the hall came around I feel taping my shoulder and I look around and
I’m go oh my gosh you know get up and say hello how are you and and he goes uh I remember like it was yesterday he goes hi very softspoken individual as he is um hi I don’t know if you know me my James Jim oon and um I sponsor an indie
Car team I don’t know if you know about it right and I’m thinking dud yes I know all about it you know I just haven’t been one of the guys that’s on the phone calling you type thing right and he said well uh I’d be interested in talking to
You if you wouldn’t mind because um we’re thinking of running two cars uh this year at two events one being Toronto and the other one is Big market for us just outside of Chicago at a track called Road America and um do you know the track you’ve been there yes I
Have I said oh yeah sure I know that he goes okay um I’ll be back next week can you please would you like to come down and see me I said yes and I was staying the next week um because I actually had the engagement ring with me to get inv
Engaged to my wife right let’s say at that time so we stayed the next week uh very difficult I was almost like telling uh her at that point time ah we got to go back got to go back to tr anxious to go meet with him right but being through
So much of this stuff and highs and lows I thought okay well getting excited something may not happen here so that whole thing go so anyways we got back the next weekend and I remember I distinctively called now a week later on Monday you know I think like 9:01 a.m.
Or something like that I’m calling and uh remember the lady’s name Deborah Kemp was the lady that I called she goes hi yes oh yes he was expecting to have go is this Thursday work for you go absolutely you know I’m so so I get down there like Thursday I don’t think I
Slept Monday Tuesday or Wednesday night right so like Thursday morning I’m down there going to meet him for lunch in downtown the big tower and all that sort of stuff and uh had lunch and terrific gentleman and ended up doing a couple races with them in 1989 at Toronto in at
Road America and then um got invited to come and be full-time starting in 1990 so um you know it’s funny because as much as you are chasing sponsorship you are on the phone to teams uh and I say this to all the drivers that are in the
Series that I’m doing now um you just need to make sure that you put yourself out there all the time communication and um you never know where stuff’s going to show up and some of the stuff that you chase you get and this a stuff that is
Odd like running into the Texan at mport uh on the golf cart uh running into Steve Codwell sitting beside him in a group table of a bunch of people that were all sitting there chatting and you know didn’t know who he was or anything of that nature um you know it’s just all
That sort of stuff and my point to this is that I tell the drivers all the time you are e breathing sleeping motivation to be successful on the track you are representing Motor Racing you’re representing yourself off the track so anytime that you go and do something that probably you shouldn’t be doing
That’s the stuff that usually gets seen sometimes and there sometimes and explain my stuff that I talk to whether I’m in group settings or individuals and I tell them stories and just tell them that you just never know somebody may turn around and I said if you’re really
Pleasant and you know they take a liing to you you can turn around and end up uh finding sponsorship and you know and a 15-second quick story on that and that happened in our series probably 3 four years ago now there was a young driver
Um at Middle High had got to know a owner of one of our SV SV is the Vintage racing stuff with these guys come in their own planes have their motor homes it looks like an indie car padic because you’ve been there you seen and our group
Owns TransAm ventage racing SV F4F all that sort of stuff and then um so anyways this young driver liked one of the cars because his dad was looking at like the car started having a conversation all that sort of stuff with this one team won’t mention names or
Teams like that so he’s walking from the paddock area back up and the the a gentleman comes out and he’s in his 50s very wealthy hey how’d you do today we blew a motor oh my gosh well once qualifying well it’s this afternoon but we’re not going to probably make it
Because we don’t have a spare motor I think we’re going home and he goes oh was there spare motors from here he goes I’m sure they’re around here but we just don’t have it he was with his buddy driver right and then he said just a second he walks inside comes out with
His checkbook and he says how much is a motor and he stands over this checkbook and writes a check for 14 Grand hands it to the young man he says go buy yourself a motor it happened amazing and the motor just he and he went to the team owner
Team owner came to me he goes I don’t know what to do with this I mean who because he says you guys own this spr stuff and what have you how does this all work and uh yeah so you you just never know I mean 14 Grand to him was
Like probably you and I going out to you know McDonald’s for a big breakfast or something you know and and it’s all about who you know and and uh you know because I mean in our Series right now we’ve got families arriving in their planes and then we’ve also got families
That are arriving that are weekend to weekend uh the Canadian Patrick Woods Toof who won the F4 Series this year comes out of Ron Fell’s carting program races around Fells caring program in Canada runs for Trevor wickens which is Robbie wi brother and I had never met
Him had never heard of him I started a carts to cars program down here in the states where I take uh kids that are cing from high level programs Ron fellow sends me a driver Mark dismore that has the facility Here Indianapolis I take a couple of drivers here I’m calling upon
All my friends to send me drivers will power has a cart team so I call will he sends me a guy and um you know I take these four guys one year to um the Radford school which we have association with out in Phoenix because they have
Our F4 cars and it’s Patrick Woods Toof and he was race to race so he got to the first race um and did well was on the podium every every race first three races that of the year that last year and then um you know he didn’t know if
He’d make the second one because he’s out looking for money Ron fellas is trying to help him and then you know he gets to the second one now he starts being up in the podium again now he’s leading the points Championship now he’s won a race and then lo and behold Carla
Fedini comes along from Orlando corporation that owns mport and says let’s give this guy a shot now he’s got Orlando on the side of the car but he started all last season in 2023 not knowing if going to the next race and then right you know so you’ve got that
Level of it and then you’ve got the families like I said showing up in their own planes in our series and right that’s how it works and that’s you know as much as people complain about that being the you know the the reality of the sport you know I’ve done a decent
Amount of homework just by the nature of you know looking up old cars and old race car history and whatnot and that was certainly the case back in the you know the 20s the 30s and the 40s and then you know my question to you I guess
Is was there do you really think that that those you know 70s 80s and 90s specifically were they really kind of a golden era of of Motorsports where there was more opportunities for drivers you know and and um you’re making me a little older than I am so I mean I can’t
Tell you on the 70s and stuff no no no I know that that’s okay um you know it’s it’s interesting when you say that and you know and I guess and I’ll tell you a quick little story on in my world it tells you how that is it has changed
Dramatically we talked about how different it was just going carding or going car racing or what have you um you know and then when I look at it now uh when I was doing what I was doing uh won the Atlantic championship and then had a call from Peerless Corvette in Maran
Indiana and said hey uh we’ve got a was was jav the brother not jav brother and they said um you know we saw that um you know we won’t pay for you to come and attend a test but if you’re available excuse me you should um you know we’re going to test some
Drivers in West Palm Beach and you know four weeks if you coming down there uh yeah I’ll be down there I didn’t know I was getting down there I was getting in the car and drive me down there was what I doing and so um you know I I got to
Thinking about it and then um there again uh at this point in time there again with the help of guys like stepen Cobo uh you need to go down there and just say hello so you jump on the car he’s helping me pay gas you know this is
Back in the mid 80s and um you you call up as Maran Indiana I said hey I’m going to Indianapolis to talk some some people some teams and stuff like that and you Marion’s in the on the way because it’s up the highway here in 69 uh can I stop
In oh yeah it’s like well why wouldn’t go to Indianapolis talk to teams because I have any teams to talk to right but I mean it was just an excuse for me to get on the phone to say hey I’m driving by and so sure enough I drove down there
And they said yeah we like you a lot definitely come to the test we we’ll pay for your hotels come to test and all sort of stuff so the end result I go down there do the test goes well and I get a couple of rides with them and um
And and and spending time with jackville if the brother is a whole different story I could fill up five podcasts with one for for a long period of time from going out to eat with him being in a rental car with him and I I should not
Be alive but I’m here so yeah that would could fill up whole day with that one uh and I’d never met the guy before until I jumped in the rental car with him and I thought if I get to the racetrack alive I’m happy it was so bad I actually got
There and I said to them I go I know that um I I can’t afford a rental car and pay for a rental car but I can’t drive for him so one of the mechanics I was like it was Insanity to the highest level okay and uh thinking in Florida
Thinking okay we’ll just all end up in jail but um it was yeah I uh but I you know the the way that changed so much is that you got these calls and I said to my son um you know and I felt bad to a
Point because I was telling them all the stuff and I was giving the reality not the hype of the whole thing and uh he’s a smart kid and he was doing two majors in school accounting and insurance for his management degrees and um you know he’s trying to decide whether you want
To try and go Motor Racing or what you’s going to go to business and this is the one that’s now a commercial pilot and uh I guess I said so much and I don’t want to say in negative tone Gary but it wasn’t you know go ahead go try and go
Try I had to give him the reality of it because as a parent you have to do that right he said to me one time we’re driving along and he goes uh Dad I need to ask you something yeah he goes um with all the stuff that we’re talking
About over all this time he goes do you think that I don’t have the talent to make it I stopped and I went Michael I I don’t understand that he goes well you say this you say that and you say I went oh I go no son man son no I’m that’s not
What I’m saying whatsoever I’m just giving the reality of everything right now because I’ve seen it either driving or I’ve seen it because I was doing 17 years of television with ABC and ESPN and I watched all the kids come in in the undercard stuff and go all the way
Up and then not finally get there you know getting to Atlanta I had this conversation with Tony kanam one time you know because he was helping a lot of the Brazilian Kids come out of Brazil you know Ra was very strong to the dollar and they had a lot of those kids
Coming and uh they had just run out of talent or else they run out of money because the business is so hard I mean if you look at indie car today um you know in our era basically everybody got paid drive a race car back then everybody you know it’s not like that
Today you know it’s not like that today and that’s the unfortunate side of it I mean this there’s a couple people couple of top people on every team that are getting paid for the other ones are bringing packages together you know Nascar has changed here as you’ve seen
It’s changed decade decade ago when you know uh I always say to people that you know gez that rap business that’s a real smart business people rapping stuff well that became a necessity because they couldn’t take the paint schemes off of a car one week and go NASCAR racing the
Next weekend because they had different sponsors they didn’t have the same sponsor all the time anymore so they had to come up with some damn theme to make all this work um the business has changed dramatically and you know if you uh if you call a team now because I’m
Not calling you you call a team oh yeah I’ve heard of you and okay great yeah we know a little bit about you the first question is going to be what’s your budget yeah it’s not going to be what did you win last it’s going to be what’s
Your budget you know so I was saying out stuff for my son and um now I told him I’d help him in anything he wanted to do you know it was I was having dinner with Chris faf one night and he asked me about Michael and he said oh you guys
Should come up and do this race we have that three-hour race and we just went up and did it for fun and Steve borot ran the car and Michael went up the next weekend uh next year in 18 I wasn’t able to go I couldn’t get there till like
Sunday or something like that and uh he ran with Sam fellow Ron’s Ron’s son they ran together and um which I couldn’t be part of that team at 5’7 it didn’t work my son’s 61 6’2 and Sam’s like 66 or something like that you know you only
Need two drivers anyways but uh you know so for me it was the fun of watching him go off and do that but uh he was um he loved it he was very very good at it um could he have had the ability absolutely probably could have but it that’s not
The determining Factor anymore you know and then he chose to to make a curve he got his degrees and then he chose to become a a commercial pilot um you know because it is so difficult today um you know and you look at guys um I just look
At lenus linquist that came through our series one F3 uh one Indie lights it took him still a couple years before he just got signed by gassie last fall to be a full-time paid indie car driver for the next couple of years because he set the world
On fire when he finally got a chance to get in there I mean it’s not like indie car is not a closed club like I’m going to call Formula 1 um sure you know indie car I mean got American drivers but you know it’s just like they take drivers
From anywhere in the world you know it’s you know I think we’ve seen now with when Michael Dre tried to go to Europe and people previously to that um it’s just very difficult um if you don’t start over there you’re born and raised over there I you’re not gonna be part of
That whole program I hate to say no for sure I mean it’s and it’s interesting and and it’s you know something I didn’t realize before um chatting with with Paul Tracy um and and now Junior on the podcast is how much you know cup and F1 we’re still look we’re really looking
At you guys and you know testing every once in a while did did that ever happen to you did you ever get a you know NASCAR test or an F1 test no I ran the irck series um I had a call from the F1 team uh years ago um you know but it
It’s um you know and I didn’t really get that far down the road because I knew the business and we went through some conversation you know and they they go up you know and and we’ve got a million dollars set aside for the driver’s budget but if we really know what’s
Going on you spend all that traveling number one anyways um you know the fees and what have you for FIA licenses and that sort of stuff you need a lot of money up there I have no idea what the insurance cost is there I know when I
Finished my last year of racing uh Indie Cars I was paying $55,000 a year Insurance because you need temporary disability permanent disability excess of medical you need life insurance I mean if you’re going to run it like a business and do it properly you need to
Be covered on all those areas and then you need obviously amount fair amount of that is covering your salary so if you don’t you know if you can’t drive so um you know and there’s you know and I feel bad because I know there’s people out there today probably in endurance cars
And Indie Cars and what have you are not insured and let’s hope in most cases you never need it but then again um you know it’s if you have temporary disability which I’ve had a couple of times because I had obviously uh Broken Backs twice and then other stuff that I crashed with
And what have you this is obviously I’ll be far safer barriers and and and all that sort of stuff um you know you need to do it uh and run it like a business and it’s it can be expensive but I mean yeah so the F1 tells you we got a
Million dollars set aside for you and it’s like it doesn’t mean a whole lot you know that’s and the thing is it’s not with a great team on the uh I never had an interest on uh the NASCAR stuff never even looked at that uh was invited
For the irck series which obviously I accepted one year and then I did Daytona in Talladega and then uh unfortunately um I had U crashed into indie car and broken my back at at Indianapolis that year and uh was my final year and then so Al junor came in and took over the
Last two races for me that year so um but I I got in the I got in the IR Rock car in at Daytona and you know you come out of the pit Lane Dayton is a long run all the way up until turn one you know
On the front stretch there and it’s big it’s loud and you know the gear shifters like from here back to the next room and all that sort of stuff compared to what we’re used to right and and uh and they had a great group of guys teaching you
And it was it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time with that stuff it was really really fun and then I’m getting up there you know that track starts to move and like that you’re Banking and stuff like that and so I’m going with it
Going with it I remember this like it was yesterday and then I’m going and like I’m moving the steering wheel it’s just like if I move that steering wheel that much in my Indie Car I’d be over in the infield right and I’m moving the steering wheel like nothing’s happen
And I’m thinking the steering box has broken on this and I’m going along and then finally you know it’s oh there it is and then the banking comes and then you start okay so it’s like this much movement on it you know and the shifters like from here to here four
Speed and all those sort of stuff I was just forign and that thing as you know as yeah it was like being in different countes so I got the hang of it a little bit and then um you know got to feel not too bad with it at Daytona and had some
Fun and but I a couple times I got L was it was um got left out and stuck behind and got way back and actually ended up being Dale Jarrett was behind me and I look in the mirror and I don’t know all the codes and all this hand signals
Stuff like that he’s bumping like this and we’re now catching back up to the pack right and so I’m thinking oh yeah I know what I’m doing let’s this hand signal let whatever we get up to the pack and I’m thinking and I I go I’m
Pointing this way I’m going to go this way evidently I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing because I don’t know if there was hand signal on this I just looked at and I thought this would be the place to go and I go like that I
Do this and I move and I go up like that and I look in my mirror and he’s down this way he’s left me okay he used me to get back up to the Thing Tone like this two by two and then uh yeah and then we
Got up there and so I ended up finishing seventh or whatever it was and then uh I looked at him afterwards and I go like that he goes oh sorry man I I had to go a different way she like yeah okay I see how this works it was hilarious yeah and
Then went to Talladega which was an eye opening experience with uh the things just walking and moving and what what have you it’s a whole different world I think you need to you need to grow up doing that if you’re going to go do that it’s like those guys trying to come and
Do what we do over here you know and trust the car and not lift it turn one to Indie at 240 so um yeah it was it was uh we got to go do that sort of stuff but I I mean I’m fascinated by those things fascinated by the event um I’m
Just not sure that driving that was really it wasn’t my thing you know I guess if I grew up doing it maybe I would have thought that but uh yeah when you go drive a single seater car and you can do it you can do with it at Indie
And make it move and then qualify and just have the things skimming and sliding a little bit and just doing what you’re doing and and how it changes and four laps of qualifying and you get to read it and understand it and walk it I
Mean that to me is you’re all in one with a car I mean that’s so cool and I guess they do that with those things but it wouldn’t be me I’m afraid to say yeah no way no fair enough fair enough was it um I’m curious about about the well the
956 I guess and the the GT1 uh how big an adjustment was that and you know obviously coming from an indie car the the GT1 at least would feel a lot slower um but I mean I guess your first time at Lama was there they just had the one Kink there like that
That would have been a little bit hair raising yeah you know even yeah it was um in the you know in the Brun car um you know those things are supercars and you know they said we go over there you guys you can get on the
Track as early as Tuesday you get to run every day lots of testing all this sort of stuff you go okay well all sounds good right so off we go with Bill Adam and Mard Berard and myself and what have you and then Bill had been there before
But Bill wasn’t around Canada because he lives in Florida so you know we chat and talk and anyways you all meet up there and then bill goes uh well no we don’t run all day he said no they just because it’s public roads the roads are going
During the day and then they close them off at 5:00 and they do it very efficiently very quickly and then everybody has their driveways coming out of their property on these County Roads if the guard rails are sitting behind the guardrail but they come along and they put a piece of guardrail there
Bolted in and it becomes racetrack so you’re in your house and you haven’t made it there by whatever time is and at you know 11 o’clock at night they come and take it down open the roads again so um I mean yes there is testing every day
It’s a lot shorter than what they actually say it is and then the other side of it too is you know it does stayed light out for a long period of time but no so by the time we got to go racing that year um you know I’m not
Sure I mean if I had a dozen laps around that place I really don’t know and this is pre Sim obviously so um and I remember because it looked like had a little bit of rain so we got introduced to um you know some of the Porsche
Drivers and what have you one being Hans Stuck and I remember Hans and uh question was Hans uh the the the Kink flat out yeah yeah yeah okay in the rain flat out yeah of course yes yes okay fine my goodness and so then and I saw him later
On I said on really like that and he goes yes yes he goes but Scotty uh one thing you don’t do I said what’s that and he goes um you don’t uh you don’t look out the side window it’s so fast just keep looking forward you you so
Long and you go and you long straight away and you start thinking the Mind goes you look out the side windows and I you know I’ve been out for practice once and I’m thinking looking out the side windows are you freaking joking me are you kidding 235 or 230 miles an hour
And like this and I’m going seriously but obv enough once you get going after a while then it all starts to slow down it’s like anything you ever get into like being in Indie I tell people you know it feels like you’re going 100 miles an hour on the highway at Indie
Because that’s what it felt like right obviously not and then but this was the same thing and then you sort of get to that point where it’s like that it only had the one Kink at that time when I went back for uh the GT1 program with uh
The Porsche Factory team which stook was on that team and I’m sure he was the one that got me an invite to go do it it was stook and then Bob Wallock and Terry botson in the 25 car and then I was with yanic Damas Damas and Carl veninger and
Myself in the 26 car and um so we finished second and third overall first and second in class we were second in class but third overall and um yeah that that car uh we had the Kink both The Kinks in at that point in time and or
Chicanes rather along with the Kink I can only tell you that thing is like a single seater car that thing was absolutely amazing and you got as much speed again uh in between the two Kinks one obviously one way one the other way and um you hammered on those brakes as
Hard as you could on the ABS you came up to the point and just hammered them bum bum like that through there and then you got back in the gas it was like driving a single cedra car one of the nicest things I’ve ever driven yeah absolutely uh absolutely just tremendous
And um I had a teammate uh crash in practice in the evening and the thing came back in the back of a flatbed I looked at it I thought well it’s never going to be fixed we’re done and um and then uh the next day came back and it
Was ready uh for practice uh got into it you know in the back of your mind you’re always wondering okay got rebuilt is it going to make it all the way through never a problem I mean and that was a year in 96 where I was scheduled to be
With them and do testing uh and I was supposed to be in Spain and I ended up having the rear wing failure in real diger with the indie car and I broke my back and so I was there until Thursday because DR traml had to make a class for
Me they measure it and then have it made in Indianapolis it got flown there to clam shell you together to bring you back to Methodist hospital because he doesn’t do anything anywhere else in the world right all down a Methodist so I got there I got flown back on Thursday
Ended up going and landing in the Methodist and what have you and then um and I ended up um we always call it the driver’s suite at Methodist Hospital I’ve been there twice it’s top floor in the corner nice window view Sunset and all that sort of stuff not that you want
To go there but that’s nice area there for your family and um it’s uh you know so I got back and I thought okay I probably hopefully I can still run this Dr traml uh would not allow me to do the IND 500 because it was a too close to
The the the crash number one number two he said um you can’t hit a wall CU you know you’re going to have an issue obviously uh so I may let you go and run uh lar but well you know it’s going to be a close call and I’m going I go Terry
You don’t understand this I mean you can count on two hands how many people have driven for the Porsche Factory I go if if I don’t do this now I’m probably never doing it so you need to understand I’m going if you like that and previously conversation was weeks before
That um I said to him and he’s a good friend so we were having a banter back and forth and um I said to him uh he said well I’m not sure you’re going to be ready for the n500 and I said uh well
Yeah I’m gonna run I’m G to run he go okay we went through this conversation every day he’d come in and check in you in the room and then one day he said to me um said okay I’m running so and he goes oh you are and I said yeah and he
Goes oh um how are you getting your license I said uh well I have a license and he goes oh well how are you getting your insurance I said well I have insurance I I don’t understand what you’re asking me about it he goes and
Terry looks and me goes yeah you do have both of those but until I sign off on both of those you don’t have either one so you don’t have a license to go back to racing and the insurance carrier is not going to cover you in the car if you
Get back in the car until I tell them that you are healed and I’m going Terry my good friend how are you like so he still didn’t allow me to do Indie because obviously the speeds and hitting a concrete wall but he did allow me to go to Lama um I missed the
Testing that was going on you know at all the places in Europe and in Spain and what have you so I never got to drive the car until I got over there I got over there early and went to stut guard and did some testing at their test
Track and then uh when I first got in the car for the first day it was actually just breaking in uh break rotors and pads and all that sort of stuff which you know had to be done anyways because they like to do it that
Way and so that was neat I got to know all the car everything like that and then then then I got some testing in the car the track and all that sort of stuff so I really didn’t get a chance to go run it uh you know like a proper huge
Circuit until I got to Lama which was a bit of a disappointment but it turned out to be fine yeah but I almost didn’t get there because I really thought and the um I remember the guy Herbert outfire who was the head of Porsche worldwide racing um I was back home
Actually out of the hospital and so he calls me a time was all set up his office called so I up in the phone he said hey I’m just checking in um glad that you are okay I’ve had some assessments given to me by by Indie Car
Everything is and he goes um I just have a question I need to know if you will be available and you will be healthy being obviously fit and ready to go and um and do the 24hour um and I said oh yeah it’s fine
Like that and he let me say what I was going to say and he goes but you need to really understand what I’m asking you um we do not run programs where they’re not successful type thing and uh if you are not able to compete then we would have to find another
Driver to take your spot because we canot have you not be able to fulfill your obligations because everybody’s responsible for eight hours and um I said to him um I remember this distinctively and I said oh yeah I’ll be ready I said uh could you find somebody
To um fill my spot if I couldn’t do it he goes oh yes Scott he goes uh we’ve had 20 calls the day after after you crashed oh yeah and he says some of them are your your your fellows in indie car so because back then there was only a
Few times that indie car didn’t have a conflict with Lamar you know now it’s separate but I mean we ended up there was no conflict for a while then there was conflicts for whatever reason and then uh you know that’s how that ends up working they’ve tried to not do that
Obviously in the last longest time but yeah and I just knew that if you didn’t end up being on the team so I’d be in deep trouble but um because I’d never get back there again so I assured him of that and I was training once I got uh I
Still have my brace on and I was still training and working with um with the trainer here and everything of that nature so we were fine we were good and what have you it was yeah but all my all my buddies and colleagues you didn’t tell me names but I’m sure probably
Everybody else that’s on the GED with me in the car going he’s not gonna make it we can don’t worry wow was that was that the I don’t really know how to how to put it but was that the big biggest most professional team effort and was that the highlight of your
Career that with the GT one and you’ve hit on two things there number one that was probably the highlight of standing on a Podium because um you walk out you know like to do and f one you’re walking out at Lal and they introduce you and
Then all the Sea of people is rushing up pit Lane it’s just a whole sea of people and everything like that and so you know I haven’t seen it for a long time but I was digging stuff out a couple of years ago for somebody that won some stuff and
Came across the pitcher with u you know all three teams standing up there with the you know obviously strucken guys in one side we’re over here in the winners are in the middle and you know it’s just a sea of people and Lal and the towers just like yeah that was the coolest
Podium I would say that I got an opportunity to stand on because um you don’t stand a Podium for finishing second at Indie and then um and then the one where we cross the line first they threw us out anyways at Indian 95 so never got that anyhow but all that being
Said probably the podium that meant the most to me and I didn’t realize until it actually happened during the day and on the drive home was standing on the podium with my son Michael at mport winning uh GT2 the class that we were running in that three-hour race when we
Drove for Chris faf in the in the touring car BMW touring car and I thought about it afterwards or they called us up we’re standing there I’m standing there I’m standing there going I’m standing beside my son how cool is this you know and um yeah
Because he had gone up and test with Steve borot a couple of times and what have you I was had way too much going on never and I knew the track obviously anyways most sport so yeah I um yeah that was probably the the the neatest
Podium for sure um you know but I um you know and I think that uh when you look at it um neat moment certainly that if we think about Daytona Lama Indianapolis I mean three places that you want to stand the podium there’s no real Podium obviously in Indie but uh certainly the
Coolest thing team wise um I think I realized when I got to the Audi Factory team when I went to their Factory in English lad that um I walked in there and saw all the cars all the engines in the Eng shop the amount of technicians and mechanics and white Cokes and stuff
Like that I’m just going okay wow I I you know I couldn’t even understand how that was um stooky and I did a test for Audi uh later that year uh in the fall because they were looking at running full-time in imps starting in 1990 so I
Went over to Europe and we went to the south of France and did a week of testing to just run engines and gear boxes and stuff like that we started in the morning at 9ine and then uh they had a big sliding seat because he’s 66 and
I’m 5’7 and um and then um so it was him and I and every day we’d start and then come in it wasn’t a p stop they go and check the tires and all the stuff the next guy would get in it wasn’t a big delay but we ran up until lunchtime and
We did that on the fourth day we actually had a gearbox failure and it was in two o’clockish in the afternoon so he said oh we’re going to be done for the day you guys can go back to the hotel so I went back to the hotel and
Then talk about driving along with somebody in the rental car where you want to hold on to what’s going on that was another story and um I uh and then we went back and we did five days of testing there and so I really thought
That um you know I was going to run for the out Factory in uh in 1990 and um because that was offer we were in discussions about that starting at Daytona and uh and then you know we had those discussions late in the year about going and running with McKenzie
Full-time and then obviously I want to do the indie car thing so that’s why that ended up happening at that point in time but um you know just there doing the uh testing with um at Hawking k then doing the stuff with uh at the racetrack
With um Audi Germany uh those guys there and then um you know it just look made me think about how do you compete against opensky you know that’s that was the thing that was my mind and then when I went to uh the the Porsche Factory
Team uh being at stutgart and then being at Lal um it just gave me a real understanding about if you were able to be competitive in indicar back in that era when Pensky had his own chassis he did all the development on the Goodyear Tires because it was the only tire at
That point in time so when you got your Lola or March uh and you started the season you got tires that were tuned around the Pensky chassis and it took you races you know months before you could figure out what in the world you need out of your car to hopefully be
Even competitive so if you were competitive back in that era and you were able to stand the podium or win races I mean that was I look back on it now it’s probably more special than I thought it was at the time quite frankly um but that you know you just think
About the level of the pensy team and since then when I was doing television I’ve actually been to um uh Pensky shop in uh North Carolina that he has a 430,000 squ foot old cabota Factory uh tractor Factory or whatever it was and uh the reason I was there is that um uh
Rusty Wallace was doing TV with us for one year in single seater stuff in indie car and because he was going to be on the NASCAR program the following year so they had to get ingrained in in television so I could understand what’s going on so it came and and spent a year
With and after the Walkins Glenn race we went back and we jumped on Rusty’s Jet and we went back to North Carolina we’re going to hang out for a couple of days and then um uh we went over to uh we saw Rusty shop and what have you it’s funny
The guys all of their airplanes all in the Concord airport uh they don’t drive from the Concord airport back to their shop or something like that all the all the shops have these big teport sitting out front it’s only 25 minute drive G I mean it’s really not a bad thing okay
It’s country side is beautiful right but you wouldn’t want to drive it right so then you get out of the jet you get in the helicopter like that over there you land right there very shop and everything like that and then your car is sitting there waiting for you to go
And you know whatever the whole deal is had I got a big Chuck out of that and uh but anyways we went over to Pensky shop and then I walked in there I was just like my God oh my God you know that was they have the NASCAR stuff on one side
They’re running a Porsche team at that side that time way back then if you can recall and then they had the indie car stuff and they had electric cars for every class for every series to practice pit stops and pit stops in the back of the building at that time and I think
It’s probably pretty common for the height of walls at road courses today but back then you used to have you know a wall height that um Detroit might be different than Long Beach or what have you by a couple inches what have you they’d have different height walls
Because you had to jump over at that point time there’s nothing unthought about with that team and then the cameras and all that sort of stuff are all pit stops and uh the workout room the fitness room and all that sort of stuff I mean and so that’s I sort of got
A feeling about what you were competing against and then I was retired obviously because I was doing television and then I got to see pinsky’s outfit and yeah I mean now all the other ones around it and drey’s down the street and chips down the street and I mean everybody’s
Raised to that level today but uh you know gone are the days of uh and that’s why it’s probably impressive for your Dale coins of the world to have such great events that they have or great runs that they have but um yeah I mean it’s it’s you know it’s one of those
Things if you had have seen all that sort of stuff when you’re trying to get into it you probably just worries TR go it ain’t going to work you know so I guess to be naive is probably a good thing still when you’re doing this business for 10 15 years just as you
Were when you’re beginning of it quite frankly yeah right was tremendous yeah right um I mean I guess before I let you go you know you’re so you’re so immersed um in the the F3 stuff and and you haven’t left Motorsports your entire career so you’ve seen you’ve seen so
Many decades and from you know so many different angles what advice do you have for you know and I’m sure you give it out every weekend at the track what advice do you have for young guys who who want to make a living racing you know um whether it
Be guys who have family money or guys who are weekend to weekend but their goal is you know to be a professional race car driver and you just hit the term right there um if you want to make a living out of this you need to be a
Professional and professional is an easy word to say sometimes very difficult to follow in the footsteps of being professional when I say that you know we have three races per weekend for each class and I tell them beginning the season that you know your qualifying may
Go or it may not go as you want to go you will sit down and come up with some form of a strategy it doesn’t matter if it’s our F4 or F3 andr before uh more so probably more on the F3 and ffr sides uh
But I said you know you’re going to come up with a strategy and just be prepared would the lights go out because we do standing starts it probably won’t be as discussed the key thing is that you can’t get frustrated and the biggest thing I say to them all the time is that
You are now in a car that weighs 1450 LBS or 1480 lbs and um you know you’re now doing a 30 race and with a heavy car you’re not driving a 300 lb or 325b go-kart for 12 minutes okay right that’s uh you know it’s not that physical and
You know when you turn into a turn in a go-kart if you’re not where you want to be you just give it some English move it around or what have you and by the time you get the Apex you’re all good and you know you can make the thing change on a
Dime as I always say uh with the race car what happens to the Apex is really depicted from turnning and if if you don’t have it right then chances are you’re missing the Apex you’re doing something correct you’re going to drive off the road the exit I will tell you
That when uh you know all these drivers start the biggest thing is that they drive off the exit constantly because they just you know turn in too soon not understanding exactly what the uh car is uh going to do them so it’s actually interesting to to continue watching them
I love to see the progression from race one weekend One race one all the way through races race two race three when we get to the weekend three when they’re now their ninth race um it’s really fun to see and I just had uh in town last
Night a father and son that they have their own team and they’re running he ran F4 he’s now running uh F3 and they’re in here getting some work done at Carbon shop and um you know I told this Young Lad last night his name is Hayden bsby great family I said man I
I’m still a fan because I’m standing upstairs and I’ve got all my monitors and what have you but we get to a track like vir you know Virginia International Raceway where you know you’ve got the S upper S’s and all L and the race track
Is great and we’ve got a drone for our for our streaming and I stand there you know watching the races and all the monitors and our drones going and I’m seeing you guys all go through it like this and move and I go I’ve been there
I’ve done that I mean I know what that feels like and I feel so cool for you guys to know what you’re experiencing so I said you know it’s it’s fun but the other side of it too is that you when I say professional as I said to you a
While ago that you breath and Sleepless on the track and then you need to be professional off the track because if you’re not at some point in time in today’s word you’re going to get captured and it’s going to be on a video and you lose your sponsorship and you’re
Done with because there’s lots of other people ready to take your position right and and it’s self-inflicting from the same side the other side of it too is that when you’re driving off the track like I said like they invariably do and I watch it all the time it’s usually the
Same Corner that somebody has a problem with and they drop one wheel off then they drop two wheels off and then maybe a couple laps later they try to fix so they don’t do a good job they drop all four wheels off now they’re passed by by
Three people and my message to them all the time is like great take a deep breath it’s not go-karts you’re not going to go up to the next turn and pass those three guys back again because if you try that then I’m generally coming to pick you up because you’re usually in
A a gravel trap somewhere so the whole thing is like let’s slow it down and then I’ve now when I arrived here a couple of years ago had to change the culture with the teams also I told the teams you are just as responsible for
What’s going on as a track as a drivers you guys have all been doing this for a long time just like I have I’m I’m in there when I joined this program and started running it I’m looking around there and there’s guys been doing this as long as I’ve been there’s been guys
That used to work on teams that I’m at and I go you need to be on the radio telling them just sit back there just wait how’s your tires what’s going on let’s go back and look at the video and say well that’s not a corner you should
Be trying this on you know today you’re going to be seventh because that’s where your fastest don’t try to be third and I tell them this all the time I always mention if I had dollar every time I mention Scott Dixon’s names throughout the year I’d be wealthy simply from the
Fact I go you hear Dixon say it all the time if um the third place car today and I was happy with third okay he’s not trying to take a third place car and get fourth he’s not trying to take a 10th Place car and get second and I now um
You know and even teams are coming to me told me this last year which is a big shout out to Patrick woodo all the other teams are telling me they’re taking racing videos and putting it together to show their drivers to go watch Patrick and I’m on board I can’t share uh
Sometimes you see Patrick’s on board video but I have all the video cards because all cars have video cards on them I take them back and look at them if I have to or we have our stewards go through them there’s races where um uh Patrick comes up to cars couple of cars
There he probably could have drafted and shot out and got one guy but it’s going to be confrontational going into the turn you hear him audibly take his foot off the gas he sits back there and idols and follows in through the next turn and
Then he’ll wait a half a lap or a lap that’s the hardest thing to teach people is to be patient to be Scott Dixon patient and that is the thing that I try to I show videos at all our drivers meetings I do 10 or 12 pages of driver’s
Notes I send out for every event written by me first person like you’re sitting in the seat for all these new tracks that kids go to because especially have four 75% of the kids every year are fresh to car racing com out of cars right so I tell them Ro America uh come
Out of pit Lane here’s how you merge through your pit box and out into tra transfer Lane to high-speed Lane onto the racetrack this is what you do this is why you do it all the stuff away it’s it’s a big document I send out to everybody at the beginning of it and
Then I have PowerPoint presentations and the drivers meetings it’s all about teaching them some people catch on to it very quickly uh some people go through a bit of a learning curve where they’ll end up against the guard rail and parents will be uh fixing the cars you
Know I mean you can get away with a couple thousand in a corner something like that depending on what’s going on uh some stuff can be five or seven and I tell them that um you know you guys need to be respectful of everybody else that’s around you number one respectful
Of uh you being here because you’re sponsor your parents are paying for this you need to say thank you to your parents all the time for making you do this no matter how your budget is within the family and then if you go out and
You crash a car you need to be getting your parents because a lot of them are 15 years of age or if they’re older you can go drive it you need to go get get your mechanics a bunch of pizzas come back give them pizzas at night and feed
Them and clean all the parts that they’re putting back together because that’s what race car drivers do and I tell them the story about you know Scott Dixon uh you know even at Indie and you know the big story about Dixon and Frank key going through the Taco Bell
Drive-thru years ago you did you hear that story no they got well my point is oh yeah yeah my point is even Scott Dixon gets in his car goes down the road in six Street at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to buy a ton of food for all
His mechanics and then and he was for his mechanics because I’m sure Scott Dixon doesn’t eat Taco Bell and then and then he was getting it to take it back him and Frank heiti and uh yeah so they’re waiting in line and at the Taco Bell about a half a mile from
Indianapolis Motor Speedway sunroof open and everybody knows the story it wasn’t well publicized but it’s out there and they’re sitting there and then some kids come along with a revolver put it in the top of their head and just say money wallet watches and all that sort of
Stuff you know and uh yeah so I mean but my point is is that he’s going out to buy them food I’m sure that that Taco Bell has now been closed by the way so right but uh yeah but I mean the point is is that you need to be respectful and
You’re respectful whether you are just starting out in the four or be respectful like Scott Dixon is who’s won Indie multiple championships and respects everything that his guys do for him you don’t do it yourself you know message right yeah um you know you’ve you’ve clearly been and and I haven’t
Seen anything to the contrary you’ve been such professional your entire career and you know no one no one’s a professional when they’re you know a kid or a teenager and a lot of that you know a a lot of the reaction potential negative reaction you know for for racing is is huge when
Something doesn’t go your way um you know and racing Iowa say is is one of the biggest character Builders there is because it you know it’s stripped from you in in a in a moment or in a second was the was passing the the pace car or you know was there another bigger
Moment that was that was a a you know a big character building moment where you just had to suck it up and and just again be a professional probably uh I’m sure there’s more um you know probably um although I didn’t throw cars away all that often I mean crashed when things
Broke you know like the rear wing at uh at um Brazil and then when I got taken out at uh Indie uh in 01 which IID retired in 2000 in 01 I went back because I did all the development on the Nissan Infinity engine all throughout
The winter and I knew that we had a good piece and I thought you know we were gonna have a really good shot at this um but you know that was a bit of a disbelief and even though you you I knew when I crashed that one it was like
Brazil I couldn’t feel waste down and the crash in India I couldn’t feel waste down I knew something was going on absolutely for sure um but you know you want to scream you’re just you’re so damn mad um but you know then something else comes involved like okay we got
More a bit of a further problem that’s not the car running it’s like you know something else with your body with Indie uh with a pace car scenario you know we’re we’re geared what 62 miles an hour I think it is for first gear on those cars or something like that you know
When you have to when you got to clutch it because you’re chugging along the guy’s supposed to be doing you know 6080 supposed to then get up to 100 miles an hour I mean that it was just irritating how the issue went through that whole whole event uh because it wasn’t a
Professional pace car driver now after that they turned around put Professionals in it because of that scenario so you know maybe it was good that you know it changed the way pace car drivers were selected but not great from our standpoint um no I guess for me
Um you know we were very calm because um you know I got down there because he had Pace carard had gone but he wasn’t obviously doing 100 miles hour so when I got accelerating and you know we are paid to put our foot in the gas I mean you’re
Paid to go fast that’s why they hire you don’t hire you because you’re going slow and um you know so he’s up and gone around like that and then you you wait you do your thing you go through your procedure and then I got down to four
It’s like oh must be having a problem which invariably he did have a problem but because he was you know from all the stuff that you you hear but anyways P him never thought about it okay he’s gone what have you certainly you’re not going to go take your foot off the gas
Because you collect everybody behind you oh yeah it’s just like you race you know you’re you’re as responsible knowing for yourself as I tell the drivers today you’re responsible for everybody else that’s around you you know um and then yeah so we got going and I don’t even
Know how many laps that was from the end and then Steve horn came on the radio and said uh Scott getting report they’re going to um penalize you for passing the safety car and I said Steve I go he had a problem you I’m not in so anyways he
Comes back on like later he goes uh uh they’re saying you have to pit uh for passing the safety car they’re giving you a penalty and I went along there and very calmly I just pushed the button the steering wheel and I said um Steve I’m
Not coming in and then he very calmly got on there and pushed the button he said uh okay I’ll see you at the end because it doesn’t make sense to come in because if you had an argument or if you had a fight and I learned this early
Days in cing is that um they’re not going to go put you from 14th where they finally put me and move you up to first but if first and then you stand there with an argument then um you know in the end result now in the end result they
Have uh the steuart’s decision is non-protestant a very good evening it wasn’t a very good week because the very next week we went on to uh Milwaukee but in all that time frame and I had so many people call and go uh we’ll pay for the attorneys we’ll do this we’ll do that
You need to sue them and all what have you and I’m thinking you know made you wonder about at that point in time I thought okay well okay I know how to get around this place I know what I need to make a car work around here and uh I’ll
Come back I’ll come back know and I it’s fine it’s just you know and I I wasn’t the team owner I guess in the point if I was a team owner I guess maybe I would have thought about it differently I’m a higher driver if the team decide to go
Ahead and Lodge a pro test then I’m going to do whatever the team does at that point in time like I said so really was it my decision no because it’s the team’s decision was I happy with it absolutely not I mean it was Furious but
You know you’re not going to stand there and and and throw a temper tantrum or do whatever the whole scenario is because you’re representing your sport and um you know at that point I feel like I’m representing Canada it’s obviously what jacqu vill if that was second so then
You sit there and you go okay if I do this then you know the two Canadians are against each other and this goes to court as they’ve been back in the Mario and Dre uner day as it was back in the court thing you know and then ultimately
Years later couple years later in all three between the scenario with Paul Paul Tracy and then with Elli that one ended up going to court you know it took a long time as it know it wasn’t it wasn’t overturned so um yeah probably disbelief and and a couple of things
Like number one um telling you that you know and it sounds strange but you’re going along at 235 miles an hour and you’re having this conf ation you know still having to turn your laps in at the high speed that you’re doing right 235 high speed and obviously whatever ad
You’re doing at that point in time to 24 28 or something like that I can’t remember and then so you’re having this conversation and you can’t let it play in your mind because you’ve got like six or8 inch window going to turn one that you need to get right every time to get
Through the turn it ain’t working any other way okay so it’s not like you’re you can dwell on a whole lot and uh so then the thing that probably two things that actually probably really came forward with me is around the last turn last lap and not getting the checker
Flag I that okay this is real this is happening and then you come in and then you know we always say that in the last lap at Indie the driver wants to make five leftand turns because you want to come down the pit Lane and make a last
The leftand turn at the victory Circle so fifth left right so that’s what you want okay and then uh and maybe it was me but maybe it was probably just the way they always do it uh the guy that was actually in and I guess I’m sure he
Probably thought I was going to try and make him turn left and go into Victory Circle but he was pretty much animated when I came down there and the yellow shirts you know they’re standing in pit Lane and they go to direct you on and all that sort of stuff he made the
Biggest motion like make sure that you are going straight he had all the you know the hands flaing and all that sort of stuff he was going to let me turn left from the victory Circle which I wasn’t doing anyways but yeah so those were the two uh instances where I sort
Of looked at that and I thought okay this is this is a problem let’s go see what we got so and then I pulled in and had the conversation with the team and it was really up to the team obviously you went to the interview room and went
Through all that but uh yeah huge disappointment but you know you you get on and you just go to the next event that’s all you can really do you know crazy as it is right no and I think that’s a great lesson because you know you can see that scenario happening with
You know name and name a guy who might have reacted differently right you know someone who would have pulled into Victory Lane someone who would have thrown their helmet and you know I think it’s a great lesson that you just you know you suck it up and you move on to
The next one I guess I I use that a little bit as a teaching example but I tell all our drivers now male female and youngest are 15 coming in and there are you know we’ve probably got 20 uh you know discounting the uh master’s class
Which is you know we got guys 35 and over in the F3 car um you know they are 21 to 23 oldest generally you know and that’s more so in F3 but you know and I use that and I tell them all the time is that um you know the thing that you
Realize is that you probably won’t have three perfect races in the weekend you might have a great first race you could be in the podium you could win you could go from 15th to 7th uh the second race you might not get past turn one the
Motor could stop you could get a flat you can get hit from behind something that has nothing to do with you um and then uh you know you can make your way back up and have a good third race or you can have three races where you have
Three podiums each weekend pretty darn good um you know and if you got a win and um then podiums is pretty good I mean there will be weekends where it’s going to go really well weekends where it’s not going to go very well at all and you need to understand that and I
Tell them all the time it’s not only a lesson for you driving your race car I used to say this to all our kids who all played High Level Sports um you know whether it was hockey and and um golf with my son at a high level and then
Michael with his caring and then car racing and then uh our daughter riding horses all her life um you know it’s really you can be prepared as well as you can be prepared you have no control what the event is going to give you and I tell the drivers the same thing all
The time but what you are responsible for is doing a good professional job and making sure that you are not putting any bells at harm and you know because I’ve taken licenses away um I’ve actually taken licenses away for the whole year we’ve suspended people for the remainder
Of that week weekend and following weekends um I’ve thrown fathers out um and not not allowed in the property um there’s no place for what I call as we talked about earlier for that I found when I got involved with hockey and other stuff with my kids with sports
You’re you’re you know you’re driving in F4 125 miles an hour in F3 1605 miles an hour they we’re not doing that we are absolutely not doing that and and and I tell them all the time that um you know you can tell me about how disappoined we
There I get it I’ve lived it I understand it whether it’s events like this or whether it’s uh Indianapolis you know and I explain to them what’s going on I explain to the parents I go I’m compassion to what you’re telling me because I understand fully but how you
React is how you’re going to be graded not standing here and thr your hel because if you’re going to do that then you are out of control and it’s easy for us to turn around and say you’re done you’re not this yeah yeah no absolutely Scott I really appreciate you making the
Time for this um this was great people are going to love it it’s been fun takes you back down um a little bit to uh really gives me a retrospective how long I’ve actually been doing this but yeah it’s still fun I mean you still enjoy
Going to racetracks and um um yeah and just seeing you know there’s a lot of it’s all about relationships um it’s neat that there’s a lot of people that um I’ve worked with in the past or been in the paddocks and what have you and other teams that are now slowing down a
Little bit don’t want to be on the circuit you know because India car is pretty crazy right now and um you know they’ come involved in the series that we do because you’ve got seven event weekends um you know although sometime we have 18 or 20 races in the series
Total obviously um and then I’ve got a um a guy that worked on uh my brumos prototype car brumos portion protype car when I drove with herley Haywood and uh and JC French J French son uh at Daytona um that worked on that team that’s actually on our staff so yeah it’s fun
It’s it’s just it’s an industry that um I wasn’t built to be an office nine to-5 I pretty much know that and that that became truthful with my son Michael who was brilliant minded in in business and accounting he used to along with the accounting and insurance for his
Management degrees and uh when he came home the fourth year of University at Christmas and said uh you know I’m yeah I’m not could chase a driving career but I pretty much know I don’t think I want to be doing accounting I love this stuff
But I don’t want to be in an office and we said to him okay you need to decide what you’re going to do he said well I’ve already decided I’m going to become a pilot so that’s that was his thing so maybe everybody in the family sort of
Not cut to be sitting there in office I mean it’s different things for different people I guess so um yeah we keep doing it I’m excited about coming to mport on later weekend with our F4 and our f3f and then obviously TransAm part of our um our ownership group so we’re up there
With the transm cars uh anxious to bring transm up there because it’s been a while obviously close to Ron fellow’s heart because uh TransAm champion and Ron’s at a lot of our races because he’s been helping Patrick woodst so I do get a chance to uh see
Ron and obviously Ron was sponsored by McKenzie when I was sponsored by McKenzie we traveled with the company a fair amount with his wife Linda and my wife Lesley so uh yeah it’s fun you know you get to now hang out again and and uh you friendships keep going so it’s fun yeah
No very good I’m gonna work I’m going to work hard all uh the next couple months to try and try and do that ta2 race I think that’s uh that’s a rare opportunity to race a TransAm car at most part those things are uh that class
Is grown and you know our transm series now honestly is almost almost become like a junior NASCAR series you know with Brent Cruz who won the championship all these guys are getting involved in there now that are sponsored by Toyota Chevrolet or what have you and they’re
Being put over there in TransAm to learn those cars because they’re very similar to NASCARs and they get to learn their Road cross craft because they’ve been growing up on ovals and uh it’s interesting because I’ve been doing the MAF TV television shows over there and it’s interesting to watch um you know
You’re starting to see a lot of NASCAR influence there they’re sending their engineers and um yeah it’s it’s it’s grown a lot so when you’re getting field of 40 or 45 ta2 cars pretty tough company it’s uh oh yeah but the biggest thing for you is home track Advantage um
You know I just I was talking with Miles the other day uh getting prepared to get up there and um you know definitely getting a Thursday test program set for our guys both Transam and then obviously with F4 and then f3f FR because of um you know most ports it’s not an easy
Circuit you know so yeah you’ve got a huge Advantage knowing the place as it is yeah no that’ll be cool um before I let you go one uh one cool piece is Georgetown go-kart track is on the same road as the shop here oh no kidding yeah
It’s just up up up the way there so if you crawl through some guys backyard it’s you can still see the timing and scoring Hut oh no kidding yeah wow y wow yeah because that track he used to go through and then golly you um went down the Main Street
And the do chocolate start Finish Line you came in there and I think you did a left and a right and then you went into the forest in the back section I remember that because we used to run at night and it was so much colder going
Back there and then you’d come out of the forest and then there’d be some lights and what have you used to use a yellow visor at that point in time then you come over a bit of a brow and go down back around and what have you yeah
Because it was back down towards the main road but yeah that was deing no kidding still there Isn’t that cool if you guys enjoyed this podcast share it with some friends hit subscribe on the YouTube hit subscribe on Spotify and apple see you guys next Week
4 Comments
Canadian Racing Legend!
I will never forget sitting in turn 3 at Indy in 1995. On that final restart, Scott left 2 solid black stripes at the end of the back straight. You can barely see it in the broadcast as it's happening but on the following lap you can definitely see the marks. He had to have been in either 2nd or 3rd gear going 120 when he lit them up, the marks were like 150yards in length!! It was to date the most impressive thing I've ever seen!!
I know Scott and 1995 are forever linked to passing the pace car, but for me it was what happened just prior to that haha!
Awesome interview! Scott’s a great guy and not shy about talking!! He made your job easy! Lol thanks for having him on, loved this 😊🏁
A very enjoyable couple of hours. I couldn't stop watching. Thanks for sharing this with viewers. I've subscribed to see more.