To Pilot a Mercedes — (Le Mans CLR Crashes, 1999)

WE HAVE A MERCH STORE NOW: ⁠https://www.itsnotthecar.com/⁠

You asked, we delivered! . . . is exactly what we will tell the authorities.

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BRIEF SALES PITCH: Sam built a website. That site holds both useful info about INTC and driving-adjacent merchandise. Sam wrote every word there and designed all of our merch.

Is he a seasoned design professional, you ask? No.

Our advice: Visit ⁠ItsNotTheCar.com⁠ not to support this podshow or engage in the unparalleled joy of commerce, but to marvel at the garage-couture trainwreck therein. Or . . .  to read a lengthy excerpt from the lyrics of the 1957 Broadway musical “The Music Man.”

(Perhaps you think that last line is a joke. I assure you it is not.)

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 time in 1999 when three Mercedes-Benz Le Mans prototypes left the ground at nearly 200 mph and hurtled dozens of feet into the air.

(Our “normal” episode descriptions will return next week.) 

Related Trivia: ⁠ItsNotTheCar.com⁠ also contains trivia. Did you know that Ross has coached fighter pilots? Or that Jeff has won the 12 Hours of Sebring eight times?

Sam is writing these words and will share his own trivia here in a sec even though he absolutely loathes talking about himsel—OH LORD WHAT IS THAT LOOK OVER THERE oh whew nevermind it was nothing but hey gosh gee darn now wouldn’t you know it, we’re out of space!

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

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

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Check out Sam's book!

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

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Where to find us:

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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.