It’s Not the Car

If someone offered you a chance to drive one of the fastest race cars on earth, would you do it? 

The catch: If you screw up, your boss will shut down your office and fire you and everyone you work with.

Also, you have the entire Indianapolis Motor Speedway to yourself and McLaren-Mercedes people are watching and judging and SERIOUSLY JUST RELAX ALREADY.

Once, Sam belted into a 2007 McLaren MP4-22 Formula 1 car. With the tiny deafening V-8 and the anti-stall and the goofy hand clutch. The car blew his mind, but quietly. He wrote about the day for Road & Track. And in this episode, he is peppered with questions about all of it.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this ep’s framework “Sam Tells a Story.”

Ross and Jeff couldn’t make this one, so Sam is joined here by INTC friend and former R&T staffer Kyle Kinard. Kyle is smart and funny, and he was at Indy for that test.

Related Trivia: Kinard’s nickname at R&T was “Kinardi,” after former IndyCar driver Alex Zanardi. The backstory is not ours to share, but it does involve—coincidence alert!—a McLaren and significant personal clenching.

Car magazines, y’all! It’s a weird gig.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

It’s another “No Dumb Questions!” You email us to ask, we sit down to answer. There are no dumb questions, but there might be some dumb answers.

Today’s focus is . . . Formula 1 drivers! What makes one better than another?

Mistakes, for one thing. No room for error in the big leagues. Unless you’re Lance Stroll, in which case, well . . . his pops owns the team, so . . .

UGH, DAD, I TOLD YOU, I CLEANED MY ROOM ALREADY BUT THEN DANNY RIC CAME IN AND MESSED IT UP IT’S ALL HIS FAULT.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. For this episode, we’re borrowing the No Dumb Questions framework from Ross’s old “Speed Secrets” podcast.

Related Trivia: This is our 25th episode! NDQ normally lives on this show’s Patreon (link below), but we felt like celebrating. 

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman. Jeff, Ross, and Sam are not his dads; that would be nepotism. Or the 1987 Touchstone Pictures film “Three Men and a Baby,” which starred Tom Selleck, Ted Danson, and Steve Guttenberg.

Jeff would definitely be the Danson character in that scenario. Or maybe that’s Ross? Sam is probably Selleck, but only because he’s dreaming now, Selleck had a rad mustache in that flick and Sam has never been able to grow a proper lip rug. The one time he tried, he ended up looking like a cross between Pablo Escobar and a child hobo.

(No one here is *ever* the Guttenberg.)

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Everything you always wanted to know about a sliding car but were too cool / afraid / busy paying for a chunk of Armco to ask.

Okay, maybe not *everything*.

Popular questions not addressed herein: Why is a slide? Who I win track day? Is them car better have more dinner-roll stiffness?

Have you ever really *looked* at your hands?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode’s format is called “Instant Expert.” Know squat about the topic? Pull up a chair, we’ll bring you up to speed. Expert already? Pull up a chair anyway, it’s chill, you’re among friends, we got stories.

And none of us have ever, ever made a mistake in a race car and we are all perfect and know everything why do you ask? 

Related Trivia: Sam usually says some stuff here, but he threw out his back two days ago while washing his wife’s VW and the prescription painkillers have him even more of a gibberbot than usual. Also please feel free to make jokes about the kind of person who might injure themselves while… washing a car. 

Scrippy drugs ain’t hurt his writes ability though, gsgflippa fruppo see if I don’t!

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Once, a long time ago, a brave man went to a beach and tried to drive faster than anyone ever had. He did not survive.

This is his story.

Perhaps you saw the date in this episode’s title and thought, “The 1920s? Prehistoric! Swipe left, bruh, yuck!” Which is definitely a take.

Some people think the past is a dull place. Nothing to do with who we are or where we’re going.

Those people are—if you’ll pardon my French—stupid.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history. In this case, the story of Welshman John Parry-Thomas and the 180-mph stack of steel and chains that killed him.

Related Trivia: A YouTube commenter asked how old Sam is. Sam is 43 years old. Everyone who hears that is surprised. (Insert joke here.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

https://www.instagram.com/intcpod

https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/

https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/

https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/

⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod

https://rossbentley.substack.com/

https://speedsecrets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Free bonus episode! To celebrate the release of Sam’s new book, “Smithology,” we’ve released one audio excerpt, read by him, every Monday for a month. This is the fourth and final installment.

The book’s full title is “Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003–2023.” It’s an anthology of Sam’s writing for car magazines over the last 20 years.

Today’s story originally ran as a column in Road & Track magazine in 2016. It’s called “Indoor Storage.”

“Smithology” is available on Amazon in print and as a Kindle e-book. (There’s a link further down in this episode description.)

Enjoy!

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Is this a free bonus episode where Ross and Jeff break down and analyze the 2024 Indy 500 and 2024 Monaco Grand Prix? Indeed!

Sam is on this episode, but he mostly just listens, because he didn't watch either race this year. Boo hiss, that guy, what a chump, right?

Wait, doesn’t Sam write these episode descriptions?

Isn’t he just talking to himself right now?

Also: Why are there so many free bonus episodes lately?

Also also: Is this the closest INTC has ever come to resembling a traditional friends-yap-without-direction podcast?

Answers, in order: Yes! Only sometimes! How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat any meat! And, well, perhaps! Forty-two!

Related Trivia: INTC’s producer, Mike Perlman, is on vacation this week, so this episode was edited and assembled by Sam. 

Trivia Related to the Above Trivia: Make no mistake, Mike is way better at that job. For his part, Sam has stared at some audio-editing software for too many hours today and he’s a little slap-happy from all the molecular analysis of WAV files and he was so engrossed that he kind of forgot to eat dinner, see, and it’s late, but you know what, the fridge is full of beer because Memorial Day and the kids are in bed so screw it beer dinner plus empty stomach—what could go wrong?

Also, you know what just occurred to me? I think we need to buy Mike a pony when he gets back. As thanks for putting up with us.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠

⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠

⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠

⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Secrets dished! Stories told! Firsthand accounts from an INTC host who works in the paddock! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll ponder the nature of human morality!

This episode’s title implies a question. For the long answer, press play. The short answer is, “very effectively.”

Sometimes.

Mostly.

(Insert push-to-Penske IndyCar joke here.)

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Jeff Shares a Secret.”

This episode is just Jeff and Sam. Ross couldn’t make it—he was busy [redacted] a [redacted] while [redacted] because the moose had [redacted]. But that’s okay, because the Dallara was [redacted] and you can really only eat so much [redacted] before you [redacted] anyway, right?

Related Trivia: We could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon www.patreon.com/notthecar

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod

https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/

https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/

https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/

⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod

https://rossbentley.substack.com/

https://speedsecrets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Free bonus episode! To celebrate the release of Sam’s new book, “Smithology,” we’re releasing one audio excerpt from it, read by him, every Monday for a month. This is the third installment.

The book’s full title is “Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003–2023.” It’s an anthology of Sam’s writing for car magazines over the last 20 years.

Today’s story originally ran in Road & Track magazine in 2018. It’s called, “Dajiban!”

There is a race track in Japan. A vehicle goes two-wheels-up over a curb. Taylor Swift makes an appearance. The rest . . . well, hey, strap in. It gets weird.

“Smithology” is available on Amazon in print and as a Kindle e-book.

Enjoy!

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

“You’re gonna get fired anyway, so you might as well start racing!"

Clay Millican was a forklift operator. He quit that job to chase a dream in drag racing, and now he's an NHRA Top Fuel legend. He's also our very first guest on It’s Not the Car!  

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Guest Teaches Us a Thing"—in this case, what it feels like to have 11,000 hp under your right foot. If you like it, don’t worry—there are plenty more to come whether you like it or not.

Related Trivia: Top Fuel racing can be absurdly violent. Clay's car once vibrated so much that it shook his dental crowns from his mouth. Mike, INTC's producer, wrote this episode description late at night with approximately four functional brain cells, and he will probably suffer the same fate simply by continuing to miss his dentist appointments.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/notthecar

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod

https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/

https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/

https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/

⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod

https://rossbentley.substack.com/

https://speedsecrets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Another free bonus episode! Why? Sam has a new book out! To celebrate, we’re releasing four excerpts, each read aloud by him, every Monday for a month. This is the second installment.

Sam’s book is called, “Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003–2023.” It’s an anthology of his writing for car magazines over the last 20 years. Like the man himself, it’s thoughtful, funny, and deeply human.

Today’s story originally ran as a column at Hagerty, the classic-car insurance and media company, in 2021. It’s called “Mears and My Feet.” It’s about racing, pain, and the things we need to do.

“Smithology” is available on Amazon in print ($29.95) and as a Kindle e-book ($12.99).

Enjoy!

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

“Driving a race car,” Sylvester Stallone once said, “is terrifying.”

Aw, Sly, buddy—that just makes me sad, you know? A big ol’ dollop of Guy Fieri bummer sauce. You’re missing out! It’s only terrifying if you’re doing it wrong!

Speaking of: What if you made a horrendously expensive movie about IndyCar while knowing almost nothing about the sport? What if, a quarter-century later, that film was widely held up as one of the worst in history?

Here now, the story of Stallone’s 2001 cinematic assterpiece, “Driven.” Little-known trivia! Joyous dissections of inaccuracy! Awful behind-the-scenes insights! And at the end, Sam makes Ross and Jeff act out lines from the film, because he is clearly a broadcasting nightmare and should never be allowed to run anything.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “INTC Movie Club.” If you like it, don’t worry, we’ll do it again. Probably with “Sharknado.”

Related Trivia: Ross, a former IndyCar driver, seems to loathe this film with every fiber of his being. As far as I can tell, Jeff simply finds it an amusing trainwreck, like watching a dog try to bake a cake.

Unrelated Trivia: Sam’s wife no longer lets him bake anything in the house.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Free bonus episode! Why? Sam has a new book out! To celebrate, we’re releasing four excerpts read aloud by him—one each Monday for the next four weeks.

Sam’s book is called “Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003–2023.” It’s an anthology of his writing for car magazines over the last 20 years. Like the man himself, it's thoughtful, funny, and deeply human.

Today’s story first ran as a column in Road & Track magazine in 2015. It’s called “Wall Drug”—it’s about visiting Indianapolis during qualifying for the Indy 500.

“Smithology” is available on Amazon in print ($29.95) and as a Kindle e-book ($12.99).

Enjoy!

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

To borrow a line from this episode, “this is a great story because it’s got Paul Tracy melting his feet off and a bunch of stuff blowing up and Mario Andretti sits on his porch giving the stink eye at one point.”

(The Mario in the headline is a different Mario. Headline Mario was Swiss.)

(Digression: Headline Mario sounds like the *worst* Nintendo game. “Hey, Timmy! Come by my house after school! We can play Headline Mario and eat Cheez-Its!”)

(Timmy: “Uh . . . I have to . . . wash my hair?”)

(What would that game even be, really? Like, Mario and Luigi save the world from a giant jerky turtle monster by doing… journalism? What would the spinoffs look like? “You guys! I got the red shell in Headline Mario Kart! Now I can murder another kart with a single split infinitive!”)

(I should probably be telling you what’s in this episode, right? Ah well, too late, we’ve used up too much space already. It’s a corker, though, I promise.)

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history—in this case, the top-secret, hyper-rad moonshot project that three very clever men built to absolutely destroy the 1994 Indianapolis 500.

The cool part: They actually got away with it!

Related Trivia: Did we mention that SAM HAS A NEW BOOK OUT? It’s called “Smithology.” Available now on Amazon in print and as a Kindle e-book. It is far better written than the episode descriptions for this show. Though that's admittedly not saying much.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!
[email protected]⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

They do! But first: SAM HAS A NEW BOOK OUT. It’s called “Smithology”—available now on Amazon in print and as a Kindle e-book. Check it out, if you have a sec?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Sam Tells a Story.” And in this case, that story is another dive into all the stuff you wanted to know about car magazines but never had a chance to ask.

Jeff and Ross have questions on the topic. Sam hates talking about himself and is convinced that these questions are simply data collection in prep for the day where Jeff and Ross build a robot to replace him. If we are lucky, they will program that robot to be significantly less annoying and also capable of remembering to start the dishwasher at night.

Related Trivia: This episode description was written by Sam’s wife, Adrienne, who is nothing at all like Sam, which is to say, she is very nice and generally coherent.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

The catch: We’re the fans. (Bet you didn’t see that coming.)

“If you have the chance to make something beautiful,” Dan Gurney once said, “and you don’t, well, what does that say about you?”

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode’s format is called "How I Got Here." It’s a free-form dive into the people, places, moments, and machines that made us care about racing when we were young.

In this case, that means the one and only Daniel Sexton Gurney—the legendary American driver and team owner who changed how we view optimism and the art of the possible. (Gurney's resume is a mile long, but among so much else, he remains the only American to win an F1 race in a car of his own construction.)

Also: This one is just Sam and Jeff. Ross was busy doing something at tape time but didn’t tell us what. Because Ross is Canadian, I now get to type the words, “He was obviously writing his poutine manifesto.”

***CORRECTION ALERT: In this episode, Sam commits a verbal typo and transposes Dan's Spa F1 win to 1968. It was, of course, 1967. Sam is a moron. He has a poster from that race on the wall in his house and has known that fact since he was eight. Feel free to shame him publicly.***

Related Trivia: No trivia this week. Sam writes these episode descriptions and his wife is currently in bed with strep throat, so he’s a bit brain-dead from simultaneously working, taking care of a sick lady, and solo parenting two kids in grade school hold on a sec I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU, STOP EATING BEANS AND THEN SITTING ON YOUR SISTER’S HEAD, OKAY?

Sorry, where were we?

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Once, in the 1990s, a fancy Italian carmaker hadn’t gone sports-car racing in 20 years. Maybe they were too busy figuring out new ways to make a 348 catch fire or something. Then some influential folks made a few particularly expressive hand gestures and the Italians agreed to do it—but just this once, and then you gotta vaffanculo, alright? The shrieking red funkbullet that resulted won much and made a noise to eat your brain.

Hold onto your butts: Today, we tell the story of the Ferrari 333 SP, the last purpose-built racing Ferrari before the Le Mans Hypercar they’re running now.

Ross raced one of these flying pasta-saucers in IMSA. Jeff engineered them in the same series. The 11,000-rpm V-12 sounded like a Formula 1 car because it came from—wait for it—a Formula 1 car. It’s a good story.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “It’s Not Not the Car.” 

Related Trivia: Ross’s 333 came with a factory man named Renzo. Renzo was there to mind the engine. Jeff later engineered the same chassis, with the same Renzo, but Ross had found another ride by then. Sam was once driving a Ferrari 488 in a track test when a wheel came off at 100 mph, but that’s unrelated. (Joke maybe three people will get: “It’s-a me! Gnar-io!”)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Step one: Know you might die trying.

In 1993, at the tender age of 36, a host of this show tried to qualify for one of the greatest races on earth. He didn’t make it in, but he did lap a 900-hp car at more than 220 mph, suffer third-degree burns on his face, and meet a hospital.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was your month of May?

(No, really: That’s what we asked Ross to talk about—the Indy 500 rookie experience. The flames that nearly killed him were just part of the story.)

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Ross Teaches Sam About a Thing.”

Related Trivia: Jeff calls himself a bus driver as a joke in this episode, but he really does own a bus. Ross occasionally calls himself a “bear of very little brain,” but he’s actually quite smart. Sam calls himself an adult, but then, he occasionally eats Haribo before breakfast as his kids cheer him on, so we all know how that one shakes out.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

“He was the craziest devil I ever came across in Formula 1.” —Niki Lauda

Gilles Villeneuve got his start racing snowmobiles, crashing on sheet ice at 100 mph. Enzo Ferrari loved him; Ronnie Peterson said he was a menace. And in upstate New York in the fall of 1979, in blinding rain, an entire F1 paddock stopped what it was doing to watch him do what no one else could.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history—in this case, Villeneuve’s absolutely epic qualifying session at the muddy, rain-drenched ’79 U.S. Grand Prix.

(Spoiler: He went nearly 10 seconds faster than his teammate—who had just locked the championship—in conditions so awful that most drivers never left the pits.)

Related Trivia: Like Gilles, Ross is Canadian. Like Enzo, Jeff looks great in sunglasses. Sam knows every word to the Canadian sea-shanty folk anthem “Barrett’s Privateers” and has loved that song since childhood but will only sing it in public on G.V.’s birthday—oh hell, who am I kidding, I sing that ridiculous thing any chance I get  OH THE YEAR WAS 1778 / HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOWWWWWWWWW 

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

What makes a special place special? Wonderful people? Beautiful scenery? How you keep going back for more in the face of terrible odds? Some tracks are more than just tracks, and Wisconsin's Elkhart Lake—Road America—is far more than meets the eye.

This show’s format rotates every episode, because squirrel. We call this format "Sam Rambles About a Thing."

Related Trivia: Ross has opinions about track limits. You might get to hear them, you might not. Jeff recalls a time when his uncle Boom Boom was in a police chase. Sam, despite terrible weather conditions and a myriad of cheese issues, has never had a bad weekend in Wisconsin.

INTC's producer, Mike, wrote this episode description because Sam fell asleep at his keyboard while dreaming about never-ending bratwurst and being 24 again.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

[email protected]

** 

Where to find us:

⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠ ⁠

facebook.com/INTCPod⁠⁠/ ⁠

rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠ 

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Answer: The blowy thing goes WHOOSH and the invisible gas that keeps us all alive goes WHEEE and the racey thing stays put. And later, if you have done the math right, you maybe drive around in circles better than everyone!

Alternate, more grown-up answer: physics and stuff.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This week's approach is called “Jeff Teaches Sam a Thing.” Jeff knows a lot about a subject—in this case, how race teams use indoor wind to develop aerodynamic downforce—and Sam asks questions.

Warning: We get lightly tech-nerdy here.

Related Trivia: Every host of this show is a father. And so I ask you fine people, in the name of Bernoulli and Pocahontas and all that is holy, tell me, what color is the wind?

Blew!

Get it?

DAD JOKE!

(If any of you actually read these episode descriptions, please email [email protected] and let Sam know. It gets lonely at this keyboard.)

Ross is off this week. We miss him. 

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon

⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

[email protected]

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠⁠/ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠ ⁠

facebook.com/INTCPod/⁠⁠ ⁠

 ⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠ 

** 

ABOUT THE SHOW: 

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

It’s another “No Dumb Questions!” You email us to ask, we sit down to answer. There are no dumb questions, but there might be some dumb answers.

Today’s focus is . . . going faster with data and friends!

Many race teams use data feeds to help their drivers improve. (Examples: brake pressure; speed over time; the four-dimensional thermocouple plot that lets Toto Wolff know just how far down to unbutton his shirt.) Can those data systems lie? Can friends at the track help you get faster? And what does any of this have to do with Sam’s mom?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. For this episode, we’re borrowing the NDQ framework from Ross’s old “Speed Secrets” podcast, from a popular Q&A show he and Jeff ran there for several years.

NEWS: This episode marks the last Q&A on the standard (i.e., free) INTC show feed. Going forward, new Q&A shows will appear as monthly bonus episodes for members of our Patreon. Link below!

Related Trivia: Ross and Jeff have known each other since the 1990s. They’ve traveled down the road and back again; their hearts are true, they are pals and confidants. Also—this is completely unrelated—if this podcast were a TV show, Sam would totally be played by the ghost of Estelle Getty.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman, who was born after “The Golden Girls” went off the air and won’t get that reference but we love him anyway.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car: 

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠ 

** 

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

 [email protected]

** 

Where to find us:

 ⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/rossbentley⁠/⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/thatsamsmith⁠/⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠ ⁠

facebook.com/INTCPod⁠⁠ ⁠

 ⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠ 

** 

ABOUT THE SHOW: 

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

“It will never have enough . . . until I can spin the wheels at the end of the straightaway in high gear.”

A man named Mark said that. Mark engineered and drove race cars. In the early 1970s, he was handed a barely drivable, 700-hp Porsche. Because Mark had a brain the size of a planet, he made the car a blisteringly fast, 1500-horse dollbaby. It was so good, in fact, that it killed a prestigious international racing series deader than hell. What happened in between is utterly bonkers.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history—in this case, Mark Donohue, Roger Penske, and the 230-mph Can-Am Porsche 917s of 1972–1973.

Related Trivia: Jeff met Mark once, long ago, when he was a little Jeff. When Sam was a younger Sam, he went to Sears Point to drive a factory-owned 917K (not the Can-Am car) but got rained out and was sad. Ross was never younger or older and has always been an ageless sage; he’s basically a Galápagos tortoise who really likes trail braking.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠[email protected]⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠

⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠

⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠

⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠

⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠

⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠

⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠

⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

There are so many answers to this: A favorite color. Human legs. An enjoyment of oxygen. But chiefly—this is the fun part—you can coach yourself to be better.

Great, you say: How?

We’re glad you asked! Ross is a professional performance coach—he helps race drivers get faster. And many of them, pro and amateur alike, have asked how they can improve when he’s not around. So we give you a primer!

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Ross Teaches Sam a Thing.”

Warning: This one has some deep thoughts in it. And at least one Vampire Weekend lyric.

Jeff is off this week because he is a grandparent and was needed for rad grandparent things.

Related Trivia: Jeff’s grandson Roczen is adorable. Ross has no grandchildren but does have an old Lotus, which is kind of the same thing. Sam has two small kids and he got in a war with them at bedtime last night where everyone threw stuffies at each other and then Sam lost and was dead on the floor no regrets the end.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

[email protected]

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠

instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠

instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠

instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠

facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠

⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠

speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠

facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

And other things! Step right up to hear about work life at one of the world’s strangest day jobs!

Do we share secrets on this episode? Do some of them involve Sam giggling at the wheel of a NASCAR Cup car at Road America, or Ross curb-jumping minivans at Thunderhill with Black Sabbath blasting from the speakers? Will this episode’s description be all questions, or will it actually have something to say?

I don’t know—what do you think?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this ep’s framework “Sam Tells a Story.” Or in this case, multiple stories, mostly from his eight years on staff at Road & Track magazine.

Related Trivia: Sam writes these episode descriptions. Ross and Jeff have not asked him to stop. Yet.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car: 

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠ 

** 

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

 [email protected]

** 

Where to find us:

 ⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/rossbentley⁠/⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/thatsamsmith⁠/⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠ ⁠

facebook.com/INTCPod⁠⁠ ⁠

 ⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠ 

** 

ABOUT THE SHOW: 

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

It’s the return of “No Dumb Questions!” You email us to ask, we sit down to answer. There are no dumb questions, but there might be some dumb answers.

Today’s focus is . . . rain driving! 

How do you adjust your mindset to be quick in the wet? What does Jeff do in the rain that many race engineers don’t? What does any of this have to do with the time Sam rode down a rally stage at speed with Ken Block?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. For this episode, we’re borrowing the NDQ framework from Ross’s old “Speed Secrets” podcast, from a popular Q&A show he and Jeff ran there for several years.

Related Trivia: Jeff lives in Texas, in a place of little rain. Ross lives in Seattle, where it rains often. Sam used to live in Seattle but is now in East Tennessee, where he once asked a restaurant waiter to “make it rain fried green tomatoes,” and from that point on the evening was extremely delicious.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car: 

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠ 

** 

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

[email protected]

** 

Where to find us:

⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/rossbentley⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/thatsamsmith⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠ ⁠

facebook.com/INTCPod⁠⁠ ⁠

⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠ 

** 

ABOUT THE SHOW: 

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Sixty-nine years ago, two Englishmen entered an open-road race known for killing people. Ten hours later, they had seen nearly 1000 miles of Italy, left fourth-gear jumps four wheels up, and spent heaps of time at 170 mph. All in a car with no safety belts, no roof, and an engine borrowed from Formula 1.

And they won.

What does that look like through a modern lens besides . . . absolutely bonkers?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing’s past—in this case, the 1955 Mille Miglia and Stirling Moss’s legendary, record-breaking win for Mercedes-Benz.

Related (Italian) Trivia: Ross drove Ferrari prototypes in IMSA in the 1990s. Jeff engineered those cars in the same era. Sam once got lost in Maranello while looking for a store that sold Haribo, but then he downed three espressos and everything turned out okay.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon

www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠

⁠instagram.com/rossbentley⁠

⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith⁠

⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠

facebook.com/INTCPod⁠

⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠

⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠

⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠[email protected]

What do Formula 1, NASCAR, IMSA, and countless moms of teenagers have in common? Answer: They all know *exactly* what’s going on in that dark room but have decided to stay out of it.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This week's approach is called “Jeff Teaches Sam a Thing.” Jeff knows a lot about a subject—in this case, the insanely expensive “driver in the loop” racing simulators used by pro teams—and Sam asks questions.

Warning: We get lightly tech-nerdy here.

Related Trivia: As an engineer, Jeff has won two Daytona 24s and eight Sebring 12-hours. Sam has also won those things on iRacing and he never crashes there and certainly not multiple laps in a row FOR PETE’S SAKE WHO WOULD DO THAT. (Do not fact-check that last sentence.)

Ross is off this week because he’s busy coaching someone. Who? It’s a secret! (Confession: He doesn’t tell us, either.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon

⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

**

Where to find us:

⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠

⁠instagram.com/rossbentley⁠

⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith⁠

⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠

⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠

⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠

⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠

⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠[email protected]

In the early 1990s, McLaren built the last great analog supercar. It wasn't supposed to be a race car, but they took it to Le Mans and won anyway. Why do we care?

Sam and Ross have each driven a McLaren F1 on track. The same one, in fact—a factory-backed GTR that finished eighth at Le Mans in 1996. They loved it, but who wouldn't? Why does a machine like that make such a dent on people?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this week's approach "It *is* the Car." Which is totally the opposite of what our logo says, but hey, surprises are fun.

Related Trivia: Ross got into that GTR because he was once a BMW factory driver. (The McLaren was powered by a BMW V-12.) Sam had the car melt his face off during a Road & Track test. The engine sound you hear—and the helmet cam in the YouTube version of this episode—is him at the wheel.

Jeff is still buried in Daytona prep and had to sit this one out. We miss his dulcet tones!

APOLOGIES: Tech gremlins had Sam's mic popping a little for the first 12 minutes. The problem is fixed and won't happen again.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon

www.patreon.com/notthecar/

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

**

Where to find us:

instagram.com/j.v.braun

instagram.com/rossbentley

instagram.com/thatsamsmith

instagram.com/intcpod/

facebook.com/INTCPod/

rossbentley.substack.com/

speedsecrets.com/

facebook.com/Drivercoach/

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

[email protected]

Like Lionel Richie, the French do it all night long—on public roads, at more than 200 mph, every June.

Why is the 24 Hours of Le Mans one of the greatest things on earth? The reasons are endless. And we’ve raced in it! (Well, Ross and Jeff have.)

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. Last week was our monthly centerpiece, where we dive into an epic moment from racing's past. This episode's format is called "Sam Rambles About a Thing." (Caveat: That he loves.)

Jeff is busy getting a pair of GT3 Corvettes ready for the 24 Hours of Daytona, so this one is just Sam and Ross.

Related Trivia: Ross has been to Le Mans more than he can remember. Sam went once, stayed up all night, and ate too many espresso-soaked gummy bears while watching Toyota lose the overall win with just three minutes to go.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, choices, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon

www.patreon.com/notthecar/

**

Where to find us:

instagram.com/j.v.braun

instagram.com/rossbentley

instagram.com/thatsamsmith

instagram.com/intcpod/

facebook.com/INTCPod

rossbentley.substack.com/

speedsecrets.com/

www.facebook.com/Drivercoach/

**

We want to know what you think!

[email protected]

Drama, science, and 200-mph dogfights: The world’s most famous race is so much more than three hours of left turns.

Sam, Ross, and Jeff use the story of Alexander Rossi’s landmark 2016 Indy 500 win—he coasted over the line with an empty tank—to highlight everything that makes the 500 great.

Related Trivia: Jeff has engineered cars at Indy. Ross nearly died there in 1993. Sam once stood inches from Turn 1 in qualifying and drank a Coke while losing his mind.

This episode of It's Not the Car is our once-a-month deep dive into an epic racing moment from the past. It was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

About the show: It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people, motorsport, choices, and how we all work under pressure. In other words, we tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

The show's format rotates, because squirrel. One show each month is a deep dive into an epic moment from racing's past—anywhere from a hundred years ago to last week. Sometimes we have guests!

New episodes every Tuesday.

**

Support It’s Not the Car: Contribute on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/notthecar/ Where to find us: instagram.com/j.v.braun instagram.com/rossbentley instagram.com/thatsamsmith https://www.facebook.com/INTCPod https://rossbentley.substack.com/ https://speedsecrets.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach/ We want to know what you think! [email protected]