WEBVTT - Jeff Gordon Part 2 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.600 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.879 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:12.200 Steve Smith Senior and I'm John and this is cut 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:16.600 to It. Good do it, Good do it. Let's getting 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.919 down to do it. Good do it. We asked the 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.880 questions you always want to know, but no one ever asked, 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.600 let's cut to it. You ain't heard him about it, 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:39.720 then we're about to let you know it's all. This 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:42.680 is part two of our podcast with Jeff Gordon. You 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.000 heard part one. You heard Jeff talk about being a DJ. 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:53.240 How about break dancer. He's from Vallejo, California, and he's 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:58.360 a smurf d J smurf and he started dripping the 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.560 call when he was like four years old. That's crazy. Um, 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:05.880 when you're driving a car four years old, do you 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:10.440 get diaper brakes? My mind is blown. I have no 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.840 idea because you you know, he's tinkling on himself for 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:18.560 four years you're driving. But I gotta have partty breaks. Yeah. 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:23.039 So hey, well Part two is pretty awesome. You love 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.800 to hear Jeff Gordon go in depth about his career, 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.960 eighty one pole positions and just what he's learned about 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.160 himself as he's gotten older. Let's cut to with Jeff 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:46.160 Gordon Part two. How long of your career did you 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:52.880 observe this was maybe a sport that wasn't for everyone. Well, 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.800 I can the very first second year I was in 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.680 quarter midgets, there was a black family that that raced, 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.880 and but they were one of the few. I mean 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.480 they were one of the very few, and so you 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.040 knew that it was rare, right, It was really primarily 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.080 there was a few female drivers out there, and there 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.239 are a few, you know, black families that were out there, 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.440 but but it was very rare. And that was in California, 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:20.520 so it would probably have more in California that it 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.680 than it happened in other areas. Um. But you know, 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:29.200 I didn't think anything of it at the time because 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.880 you were always used to being around so many different cultures. Yeah, 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:35.240 and so I was. And then I looked at it 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:39.440 as as more female start trying, and I had. There 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.880 was a girl that I raced, girl named Kara Hendrick, 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.519 very talented race car driver from southern California. Unfortunately she 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:48.720 was killed in a race car, but I thought she 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.160 was she was going to be the next Janet Guthrie. Um, 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.959 your or real major female to to go a long way, 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.440 and and it was such a huge loss because it 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:00.600 didn't it wasn't just what her it was going to do, 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:04.760 but how she was going to influence others. Um. But 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.120 I looked even at at the female pool of drivers, 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.280 and I said, the only way that we're going to 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.800 find the best to excel at the top level is 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.919 we've got to have more of them competing, just like 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.040 I did and others did before me, start at a 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.960 young age. You know, you've got to get the experience, 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:26.880 you've got to have the talent, and and you know, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:28.080 the only way you do that is to have a 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.960 large pool. So we've got to have more people engaged 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:35.280 in the sport of all different types of ethnicities and genders, 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:37.320 and and that's the only way we're really going to 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.880 have somebody get to the top level and actually be 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:45.520 able to, um, you know, excel at it. And um 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:48.360 you know, I mean, I certainly hope that we can 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.440 find better pass as you mentioned, to to do that 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.760 at a young age, because right now, yeah, it's it's 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.600 usually not happening. If it does happen, it happens when 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:01.720 they're older. So what was the race called utuer? You 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:08.760 go from California, Indiana, now you're here in Charlotte. What 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:15.840 was that race culture from the Midwest West to now 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:21.080 the South? Um? Yeah, you know the South was all 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:25.320 about stock cars, right. It was full fender stock car racing, 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.480 and and that was new to me. I was an 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:30.800 outsider when I came to North Carolina. People looked at 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.599 me as an outsider, you know. And what do you 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:38.160 mean an outsider? Because because because I'm from California. Number One, 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.160 I was racing sprint cars, in opal wheel, dirt cars, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:45.840 not not anything that most of the guys are racing 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.120 to excel at NASCAR. You know, you look at I 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.360 mean Dale Earnhard. I think he you started racing some 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:54.520 kind of stock car and probably dirt tracks when you're 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.080 sixteen seventeen years old. You got a later start in 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:02.000 racing and and then was introduced right into stock car 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.200 some kind of street stalk or some some kind of 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:08.040 full fingered vehicle, where for me it was very early 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:12.200 age open wheel racing and all, you know, just oval stuff. 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:16.720 So um so yeah, there's no doubt there there was 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.280 a difference. But you have to understand, I looked at 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.440 it as, man, do you mean to tell me I 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.479 could race every day of the week in Indiana? You know, 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:30.040 I could go to Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and there 0:05:30.080 --> 0:05:32.560 was a race happening somewhere in California. They wouldn't even 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.200 let me race. And then, and this is the one 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.040 thing I was you were you were talking about racing 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:38.880 a car at five and six years old. I'm gonna 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.279 tell you what. That was nothing compared to driving a 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:47.480 full blown sprint car six hundred fifty horsepower at that 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:50.960 That that one scared. Yeah, that scared the crap. I mean, 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.200 this is when I actually looked back on this, especially 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.000 when I as a parent, I'd say to my step down, 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:58.360 like you were either crazy or you didn't care whether 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:04.840 I died. Thank you. Look look where you are now. 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:11.000 It was nuts, man, it was nuts, but it worked 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.640 because here I am today, you know, talking about this 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.440 crazy journey that that that that was created because of 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.600 those two significant moments. Getting introduced a quartermadge it's at 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.760 a young age. Getting introduced that sprint car at third team. 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.320 That's crazy. How did you deal with not? I mean, 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.080 even as you talked about coming in from the West Coast. 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:31.960 How did you deal with not being accepted early on 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.280 as as a driver? I just wanted to prove myself, 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.800 you know, and and and I wanted I just wanted 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.839 to fit in, right, I wanted to do everything I could. 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:45.880 I I I probably didn't take advantage of my uniqueness 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.839 at that time. He was in me and I and 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.920 I had my own path, and but I wanted so 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.719 badly to fit in because I wanted to be there. 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.760 I wanted to race against them, and I wanted to 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.599 do more of it, and I wanted to excel at it. 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:01.279 And I felt like the only way I could do 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.000 that is is to you know, say the right things, 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:09.359 do the right things, not get in trouble um, you know, 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.960 and and go perform on the racetrack. And and yeah, 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:17.200 it wasn't until I got more confidence that okay, I'm here, 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.640 I'm established. Now, Now I can start to be more 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:27.960 me and and shoot, that probably didn't happen until almost 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.320 till I retired, to be honest. And just because you know, 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:34.440 you're representing sponsors, a fan base and you know a 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.840 team of people, and and to me, I didn't want 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.600 to rock the boat. I just wanted to uh, you know, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.320 put my head down to do my job and represent 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:44.920 all those entities the best I could, because I wanted 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:46.840 to keep doing it, and I was getting paid really 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:48.640 well to do it, so I didn't want that to stop. 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.520 I mean, you lay right into it. NASCAR's heavily depending 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:58.760 on sponsorships. And you know, obviously more than anyone at 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:02.640 this table, you how much sponsorships, Like you said, how 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:07.040 much sponsors play a role in your the food on 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.880 the table, how you travel, just everything is depending on 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:17.760 on sponsorships. Why has that always been the case? Like what? 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:23.080 Why is? Why is NASCAR always heavily depending on basically 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:28.600 other people in investing, sponsor driven other people investing and 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.160 you doing a sport and a skill that you love 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:36.440 to do. And it's if you think, I mean you 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.040 could you could isolate NASCAR or Formula one and and 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.640 kind of have that story because you know that there there, 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.400 that's the pinnacle, right that that's that's where the money 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:52.120 is at. Every other form of racing is really hobby racing. Um, 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:54.839 I shouldn't say everyone. I mean, there's there's guys making 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.880 a living doing it, but the owners that provide the cars, 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.000 if they don't have that sponsorship. They're just doing it 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.240 out of their pocket. And as I mentioned, it's not cheap, 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:06.520 you know, and and and so it doesn't matter what 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.160 level you're doing to that you're always and money does 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.880 buy speed, you know, it's that that's you know term 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:16.640 that we use. The more money that you can spend 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.440 on either the best people, the best components in the car, 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.120 maybe freshest component like like if if you can, if 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.080 they would allow you to have the freshest engine and 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.520 in the latest greatest technology. I mean you're talking about 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:37.000 titanium components, and you know it gets expensive, right, and 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:38.840 it makes and you so you want more horse bier, 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:40.600 you want you want more speed under the hood. But 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.760 then you need more down force, more grip, new tires, 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:48.720 new so the budget can just go through the roof. 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:53.040 So you're you're always dependent on on some kind of 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.280 of income that goes beyond if you just took a 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.520 race car, built the race car, and I'm talking about 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.000 grassroots racing, right, you built a late model or a 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.440 sprint car and you go to the racetrack and you 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.800 just went off the winnings. You're not gonna make money. 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:11.520 You're gonna you know, the winnings, the purse money that 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:16.160 you're competing for is not enough. Now if you get 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.400 to NASCAR and Formula One, this this gets you know, 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.600 deep into the business side of things because, um, you know, 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.960 you've got a great TV contract for for racing, right, 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.199 it's not great compared to NFL and being it is 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:34.840 for the content it is great, and and it's you know, 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:39.240 has great viewership, very you know, a very solid average viewership, 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.600 very loyal fan base. Um. And and so then you 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:46.720 know you take that and and what's in the purse 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.160 through the TV money to do it at the highest level, 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.880 to win, you still don't make money. So you've got 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.920 to have those sponsors and and you know you hope 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.439 that you're given the sponsors enough value of what you're 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.120 asking for or but you know, this day and age, 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:05.760 with different media outlets, um, you know, companies are are 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.040 are finding ways to spend their money in so many 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:12.880 different areas that that just isolating it. Now, live sports 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.679 is still good, right, that's that's still a great way 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.440 to advertise. So we still have solid sponsors. But you know, 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:23.000 the sports got more expensive and and sports marketing and 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:27.000 some of the money they're spending on on race cars 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.920 has been kind of going down. That's why you see 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:33.160 us have more sponsors. Used to be you know, stp was, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.240 Richard Petty, DuPont was was you you you are, Pepsi 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:40.520 Lows and Jimmy Johnson. Those days are you know, a 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.000 few and far between now to to have one company 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.040 that can do the full So does it take more 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.760 work to keep multiple sponsors happy? Oh yeah, yeah, you gotta, 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.640 you gotta, you know, you gotta do a lot um, 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:54.800 you know, for them. But that's that's part of the deal. 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.800 I mean, ever since I came into racing, my understanding 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:03.800 was the it took money to race, and and you 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.600 either had somebody that had the money they wanted to spend, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.160 or they had a connection with the company, maybe a 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.680 B two B type sponsor, or somebody just came in 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.720 and um, you know, you're you're you're meeting people constantly 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.280 and connecting and and saying, hey, would you like to 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:19.920 I mean I can remember making phone calls it, you know, 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.400 sixteen years old, Hey would you like to sponsor my 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:26.240 sprint car? To me? My parents couldn't afford to do 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.080 all of it, but they could afford, you know, to 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:31.040 introduce me to it. And along the way you meet 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.480 people that want to help. They just like racing, maybe 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:35.679 they like you whatever it is, and they're like, yeah. 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.800 I would call people and he's like, I met you, 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.080 you know, at this track, and you said you you'd 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:43.680 be interested in maybe helping us South with every Yeah, 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:45.520 what do you need? Well, we're trying to put this 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.439 program together and we need a new engine. What's that cost? 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.880 Thirty thousand? Yeah, man, send me the bill. I'm like, 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.760 he said, yes, you know, and You're like, wow, you 0:12:55.840 --> 0:13:00.079 know that's yeah, So well yeah, I mean you said that. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:06.160 So there's such a heavy business aspect of NASCAR. What 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.520 were the factors if you, if we so may ask, 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.880 what led you to move from four family to drive 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:18.640 for the UM for Rick Hendrick and Chevrolet. Yeah. So 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.679 when I came into NASCAR, my first opportunity was just random. 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.800 A guy that I I came across at a driving 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.000 school was a NASCAR Buck Baker driving school in Rockingham, 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:35.679 and and somehow they knew, you know, what my background 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.520 was the racing I was doing, UM because the race 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.199 I was doing at that time was these live races 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.400 on ESPN, So I was I kind of had built 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.280 up a name for myself in that in that world, 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.439 but I was really wanting to get into NASCAR and 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.880 stock cars um and and so he gave you know, 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:53.959 he's like, hey man, you know you want to take 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.959 a few laps in my car. I'm doing this more 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:58.840 just as a hobby for fun. I might do a 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.400 couple of races. He's a busy. This guy wasn't a 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.760 real pure racer. He just like cars and and so anyway, 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.960 I got in there and and I went really fast, 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.920 and so he's like, I realized when I saw you 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:13.840 making those last maybe I shouldn't be in this thing. 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.240 Maybe you should be. I was like, that sounds like 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.680 a good idea. And so I would drove three races 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.640 for for him that year. Got named Hugh Connerdy and 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.880 and we sat on the outside front row at Rocking him. 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.440 In my second race, we qualified second, and all of 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.720 a sudden, you know, phone start ringing back in Indiana 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:35.720 when I got back from that race, and one of 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:37.760 them was forward, and I said, hey, you know, we 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.360 saw what you did at Rockingham. We'd like to talk 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.080 to you about an opportunity. And so they really did 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:45.840 give me my first real opportunity, and and it was 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:48.960 a great relationship, you know, Bill Davis and drove for 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:50.800 Ford and Bill Davis for two years and the next 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:56.400 Afinity back in the Bushground National Series, and so all 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.720 of a sudden things were going really well, star winning races, 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:04.160 star getting a lot of attention, and next thing I know, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.280 I'm getting offers from a few different owners, which I 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.640 was flattered by, but but you know, I wanted to 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.360 stay loyal to build, and we started searching for sponsors 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:21.080 and like it was okay, you've got Jack Rausch, and 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.040 you've got Rick Hendrick and and you know, even kayle 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:25.840 Yarborough had a team at the time and that was 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.640 talking to me, and I started looking at their organizations 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.680 and they're already established. This team was trying to get 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.960 from Vixfinity to cut It was a big mountain to 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:40.160 climb and a lot of money to do it, and 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.040 so you know, and just just kind of came to 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.480 this place where Rick Hendrick made me, you know, like 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.120 a real offer. I didn't have a contract with four 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.240 past that year, but we're trying to make it work. 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.000 And I just realized that, you know, this is this 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:57.200 is a long road, and this is man, I get 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.240 to go right into the best stuff. So, you know, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.080 I wish I could say it was a harder decision 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:07.160 than it was, because it was a pretty easy one, 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.320 to be honest. So it wasn't hard at all. It 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.720 wasn't It was hard after the decision was made because 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:17.600 I got criticized and judged because everybody looked at me 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.840 as a Ford guy, you know, Ford to Seviest polarized. 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:22.720 I was with Ford for for a year and a half. 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.040 You know, my whole career, I drove Chevrolet engine cars 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:32.240 and nondescriptive cars of of of a make. But NASCAR 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.840 is a different deal man that and you get with 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:38.880 that manufacturer and that that those fans are a lot 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:43.400 of supposed to be brandy and but so you's the 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.040 best decision I've ever made. So you were basically disliked 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.720 because you switched to brand. Yeah, and it was from 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:55.320 Callie any Young. Well you you know, honestly, you know 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:57.560 who makes me think. It makes me think about Kobe Bryant, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:00.560 seriously think about it, Like he got drafted really early, 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.200 had success, first ever guard out of high school, like 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:09.360 non traditional background, came from Italy, smoke Italian. I think 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.880 about it like early on success that that ruffles people's feathers. 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.560 So I definitely get the Kobe Bryant compared it. You know, 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.720 I would say there there was a probably a five 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.840 year period where just man, everything I did just turned 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.520 out good. Right, it's just the timing of who I've met, 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.600 the car I got in, and then you don't track 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.000 performances success bam bam, bam bam bam, and next thing 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.359 I know, I went from you know, graduating high school 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.800 to win in a Cup championship like three or four 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.760 years later. Uh yeah, it was nuts. Yeah, all right, 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.840 So let's let's switch gears. Let's we usually call this 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:55.680 let's talk ball, but um no football, So let's let's 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.560 talk gears. There you go, son in talking these gears. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:05.639 We're gonna be okay with showing the lack of understanding. 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:09.680 We haven't. And for the listeners that may be dumb questions, 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.440 but there's never a dumb question. You gotta you gotta, 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.240 you gotta school me and Smith. But there are some 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:21.960 dumb questions. Yeah, they're really I just imagine imagine NASCAR 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.040 one oh one and you're the professor. Okay, here we go. 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.439 I'll try. I'm not a professor, but I told you 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.080 how that I was in school for us. You are 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:38.400 opppe since ye did you have a routine while driving? 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.639 If so, what was that routine? Yeah? I mean I 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.640 think a routine is so important, but we're talking about 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.920 driving a car though, well, I'm probably talking about routine 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.240 of prepping in the car. That's what I Yeah, see, 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.720 that's what I wanted to know. Yeah, I mean to me, 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:59.680 and you have to understand and and I'm ignorant to 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.280 to you know what your day would have looked like 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:07.200 on on game day, but on race day it's you. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.399 You're with sponsors and fans, and you know, you're interacting 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:13.640 with all these different people from the time you get 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:15.960 up in the morning on race day. That's just part 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:20.080 of it, man, I mean it's I would be well, 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:21.600 I mean, I don't know if it was hours, but 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.960 you're you would go to three to four different hospitalities, 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:30.640 suites or or you know, at the at the race 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.840 haller meeting five ten people that were somehow connected to 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.720 one of the sponsors on your so you every morning 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.960 that so so at first, it was like, man, I 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.040 can't believe I got to do all this stuff before 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:44.960 I go get in the race car, but then becomes 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:46.920 part of your routine. You just got to get into 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:49.800 the mental place of I'm gonna talk to these people, 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:56.280 but like i'm talking, they're talking through me. Whatever it was, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:58.720 I mean, it was hard for it to actually penetrate 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.280 because I'm thinking, okay, but what you gotta do. What 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.040 that car is gonna feel like, you know, turn one? Okay, 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.440 we made these adjustments from practice. So the whole time 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:09.320 I'm thinking about that, but I'm interacting and I'm putting 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.480 on a smile and I'm shaking hands and taking that 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:14.320 takes skill by itself. It took it took a long 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.040 time to really get comfortable with with doing that. And 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.159 then and then you go to what they call the 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.280 you know, the driver's meeting, which is basically a bunch 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:26.480 of sponsors and your dignitaries or whatever that are there. 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.240 You're really not they're learning. It's not like they're saying, hey, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:31.159 here's how you're gonna drive the race today. I mean, 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.680 you already had that out all figured out, so we 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:39.600 kind of figuring race. You know, where the clutches. But 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:42.199 it was a big left turn But but what I 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.240 what really became part of my routine later was was 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.840 would from that moment, from the time you finally got 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:54.240 away from all of the distractions, was I would I 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.359 would go do a warm up just you know. And 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.520 this is more. When I got older, my body started 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.160 failing on me in my back issues and things like that. 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:03.880 But just I get on a bike, I'd warm up, 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:07.200 do a few stretches, exercises, have somebody you know, kind 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.480 of pushed me a little bit, and and then I 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:13.639 would go get into my ratio form. But it was 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:19.840 left leg, right leg, left sock right, superstitious, you know. 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:21.760 I mean you could look at it that way. I 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:23.960 think you could look at it that way. I didn't 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:25.439 look at that way. But I'm gonna tell you what 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:27.800 right now, if I have somebody, like if my crew 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:29.920 chief walked in, he's like, hey man, what about I'd 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:35.840 put my hang on one second back. So I did 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:38.400 not want to mess up the routine. You know. I 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:43.400 wasn't about like lucky pennies and like a baseball player almost. 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:47.080 I mean some like like eat like like eat all 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:51.199 your fries. No matter what if you were like if 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:54.760 you were a former picture like like backstage Joe backstage 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:59.040 is a former picture who they knew he would eat 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:02.960 fries and it would do various things with those figs. 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:08.399 He still hadn't had it because you know, you know, 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:14.720 had more to do than his actual velocity of arm strength. 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:20.000 It was of course skill, no, no skill. And now 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.240 he has so much you know, like post draumatic that 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:25.040 it carries over and like we can't we have to 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:27.439 have certain meetings and we have to have certain post games, 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:33.840 and because the backstage, so that so that that became 0:22:34.880 --> 0:22:37.120 a place for me to just kind of get relaxed. 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:42.320 So that routine, in that superstitition actually was a time 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:44.960 for you to kind of reset to it. Okay, we're 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:49.359 done with the sponsorships. Now we're in race mode. You 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:52.000 still gotta gout and driver. Yeah, but I'm just saying 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:58.600 that after driving introductions, it's the best thing that would 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:02.159 happen was and my wife would even tell you, like 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:04.879 when her and my kids were there, because you know NASCAR, 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:06.960 that's a cool thing about Nascars. You get to interact 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:08.960 with him right right until the time you get in 0:23:09.000 --> 0:23:12.280 the car. It's cool, and it's not cool because you 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:16.800 know you're you are in this game mode. Yeah, man, 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:19.240 I'm I'm wound up. Whether the day before went good 0:23:19.320 --> 0:23:22.280 or whatever our situation is. I could not wait to 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:24.720 get in that car. I mean like, like it could 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:27.480 be a hundred degrees outside. I'm sweating my butt off, 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:29.280 but I'm like, get me in the car because i 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:31.800 just want to get in there and get the helmet on, 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:35.639 get strapped in and just truly get into that place. 0:23:35.720 --> 0:23:38.879 And and that was if I miss anything now that 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:41.600 I'm not racing, it's those moments like you get in 0:23:41.640 --> 0:23:44.520 there and the anticipation of getting the green flag and 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:47.879 going racing and competing against uh, you know, some of 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:50.040 the best out there. That and and with a great 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:52.240 team and the great car that was. That was a 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:55.919 cool thing to experience. We have to take a break 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:05.399 and we gotta pay some bills that I love cut 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:08.000 to It and I love it even more when you 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:12.199 download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on 0:24:12.200 --> 0:24:15.400 social media too, Smithie where where at that's at? Cut 0:24:15.440 --> 0:24:20.600 to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At cut to It? Facebook? 0:24:21.320 --> 0:24:24.720 Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr. What about online? 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:27.600 And you can follow us at cut to It podcast 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:30.840 dot com where you can buy merch and you can 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:34.320 subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:37.879 all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got all my 0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:41.480 questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother cut 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:45.359 to a podcast dot com. I've always wanted to ask 0:24:45.400 --> 0:24:48.640 a guy, especially because I know you've had some rivals. 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:54.720 Now I've watched you drivers sometimes y'all hold me back, 0:24:54.800 --> 0:24:59.480 hold me back, man. I see you guys go after it. 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:03.920 But I gotta ask you too, though, Like, have you 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:09.479 like gotten to that fight modem? And then you you 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:16.760 forget to unbuckle, I'm gonna I'm on my seat belt 0:25:20.560 --> 0:25:24.560 or you still got the harness. Harness We get made 0:25:24.560 --> 0:25:26.800 fun of because we leave our helmets on. Like you 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:30.760 get out of the car so fast that if you 0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:32.159 got to get in a fight, you gotta take your 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:35.679 helmet off. It's like, yeah, I probably should, but I 0:25:35.720 --> 0:25:39.879 mean a one time I did, I flipped over. H 0:25:40.160 --> 0:25:43.440 car was upside down, and especially in a stock car 0:25:43.480 --> 0:25:45.960 win it's upside down. Do you have an oil tank 0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:49.600 behind you and and there's hot oil pouring out that thing, 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:51.439 and you're going, I need to get hell out of here, 0:25:52.600 --> 0:25:55.399 and and so you're laying upside down and you're like, Okay, 0:25:55.440 --> 0:25:57.080 I know I shouldn't be taking my belts up. I 0:25:57.080 --> 0:25:58.280 really want to get out of I bet I can 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:00.880 get out of here. And you do it. Bad mistake 0:26:01.960 --> 0:26:05.919 because as soon as you unbuckled, you go, you go 0:26:06.040 --> 0:26:08.680 straight to the roof your whole body. You don't wait, 0:26:09.119 --> 0:26:13.200 and the belts have enough straps and things where usually 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:16.720 it's gonna catch on something. So now not only are 0:26:16.720 --> 0:26:21.199 you hanging, but you can't get undone. And oh it's scary, 0:26:21.480 --> 0:26:23.720 you know, it's it's like God, that wasn't very smart, 0:26:23.920 --> 0:26:28.280 and so I tipped over. Um it was a slow 0:26:28.400 --> 0:26:30.600 roll at Dayton, wasn't a bad accent, but it did 0:26:30.600 --> 0:26:33.080 go upside down. But I ended up upside down and 0:26:33.160 --> 0:26:35.560 so undid the belts. I was like, that was stupid. 0:26:36.000 --> 0:26:39.119 They finally got the car right side up and I 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:41.080 got the belts off of me, but I've taken my 0:26:41.119 --> 0:26:45.040 gloves off and that was the really big mistake because 0:26:45.080 --> 0:26:47.440 as I climbed out, I didn't realize the sheet metal 0:26:47.480 --> 0:26:50.719 had been all torn up and it just sliced my 0:26:50.760 --> 0:26:53.080 fing So I get out of the car and they're like, 0:26:53.119 --> 0:26:57.040 oh blood. You know immediately they're calling, you know, people over. 0:26:57.240 --> 0:26:59.160 I'm like, no, no, no, it's just my finger, man. 0:26:59.200 --> 0:27:01.000 I just I just cut my finger. It's not a 0:27:02.560 --> 0:27:05.639 kind of great thing. It was embarrassing, but it's like, 0:27:05.680 --> 0:27:09.600 oh yeah, leave the gloves on. So what does what 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:16.760 does uh a NASCAR rival mean to Jeff Gordon? Um, well, 0:27:17.119 --> 0:27:19.120 it's funny. It means something different to me now right 0:27:19.119 --> 0:27:24.600 now that I do TV, man, we need rivals. Yes, 0:27:24.880 --> 0:27:27.720 it's like I totally when I was in it. When 0:27:27.760 --> 0:27:30.880 I was you know, like I had arrival with Dale 0:27:30.920 --> 0:27:34.120 Earnhardt and and he played it up good. I mean 0:27:34.200 --> 0:27:36.359 he he was a master of that, and me, I 0:27:36.440 --> 0:27:38.639 was just like, I don't want to have anything to 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:40.440 do with that. I just I just want to go 0:27:40.480 --> 0:27:42.800 out and do my job. I don't want to get distracted. 0:27:42.840 --> 0:27:44.840 He's just trying to mess with me and getting my head, 0:27:45.240 --> 0:27:47.920 get an advantage or you know, the media is gonna 0:27:48.080 --> 0:27:50.919 gonna take something and then I'm gonna have to answer 0:27:51.000 --> 0:27:52.600 those questions and deal. I don't want to do that. 0:27:52.600 --> 0:27:55.560 I just want to race. And I probably I wish 0:27:55.600 --> 0:27:57.240 I would have played into a little bit more because 0:27:57.240 --> 0:28:00.440 I realized, you know that the fans what they love 0:28:00.520 --> 0:28:03.760 so much is like you mentioned earlier, they love to 0:28:03.840 --> 0:28:07.280 love somebody, that love to hate somebody, and they love 0:28:07.320 --> 0:28:09.959 it when there's a rivalry. It just it just builds 0:28:10.000 --> 0:28:14.879 more interest and gives people way more. The personal aspect 0:28:14.960 --> 0:28:18.280 of it, the human aspect of it, is sometimes more 0:28:18.400 --> 0:28:21.600 entertaining than the actual race. And we had, I mean 0:28:21.640 --> 0:28:24.000 we had to fight this past weekend on on Saturday, 0:28:24.000 --> 0:28:26.399 not in the Sunday race. Saturday race, man that's always 0:28:26.440 --> 0:28:29.800 showed on Sunday. Was these two guys swinging, going at it. 0:28:30.760 --> 0:28:37.080 Anything they swing, the questions wasn't intentionally amiss? You know, 0:28:37.560 --> 0:28:40.000 I mean, you you connect to somebody, you getting suspend 0:28:40.080 --> 0:28:42.720 your you know, you get you probably won't be the 0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:46.080 next the next week. Yeah, if if they see you 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:50.360 make make contact by throwing a fist, you're you're gonna 0:28:50.640 --> 0:28:54.840 you can you can wreck a guy like I've done. Unfortunately. Uh, 0:28:55.200 --> 0:28:56.760 you can do a lot of things, but man, you 0:28:56.760 --> 0:28:59.360 can't swing and hit again. So what about would you 0:28:59.400 --> 0:29:03.400 get to spend it for open palm slap since you can't, 0:29:04.160 --> 0:29:07.040 Since you can't punch, that's a good smart that's a 0:29:07.040 --> 0:29:09.320 smart way to get around. And you still keep the 0:29:09.360 --> 0:29:12.440 helmet on like you can still smack somebody hard enough 0:29:12.480 --> 0:29:16.160 and then well there's like a right slapping competitions. But 0:29:16.400 --> 0:29:21.160 you can shove and you can talk smack, but I 0:29:21.160 --> 0:29:23.240 don't think you could hit him in any No, open, 0:29:23.600 --> 0:29:30.600 open palm is disrespectful. Of course you'd say that. Dudes 0:29:30.600 --> 0:29:32.920 in the locker room, you know, you backhand somebody in 0:29:32.960 --> 0:29:37.920 the locker room, it's intentionally disrespect you in the locker room. 0:29:38.120 --> 0:29:39.720 In the locker room, you can do all you want. 0:29:39.880 --> 0:29:42.520 So is it fighting in all? Well, you gotta understand 0:29:42.600 --> 0:29:46.160 the locker room. That's that's usually just like the locker 0:29:46.280 --> 0:29:48.400 room to us would be like at the airport getting 0:29:48.400 --> 0:29:50.640 ready to leave. They don't really have a locker room. Yeah, 0:29:50.680 --> 0:29:53.480 it's it's you know, you eat have your own individual trailer. 0:29:53.480 --> 0:29:56.400 But if somebody walked up into your trailer and punch you, 0:29:56.680 --> 0:30:00.080 are you that's that's so I want to revisit you 0:30:00.160 --> 0:30:03.680 backhanding people in your locker Why would you backhand somebody? 0:30:03.720 --> 0:30:05.680 I mean, you're getting you're getting a little tussle with 0:30:05.760 --> 0:30:10.040 someone and um, not gonna punch because if first of all, 0:30:10.080 --> 0:30:12.480 if I'm punching, then as you know, we're really into it. 0:30:12.520 --> 0:30:16.760 But open for me why I was right, open palm 0:30:17.160 --> 0:30:21.000 is all disrespectful, but a backhand and that's like some 0:30:21.280 --> 0:30:26.400 old school like backhand. And so you wanted to show 0:30:26.440 --> 0:30:29.600 your disrespect, but you don't want to actually get into 0:30:29.640 --> 0:30:32.560 a real No. Let me see. This is where you 0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:36.080 explain you're missing. If I back hand you, I'm going 0:30:36.120 --> 0:30:40.240 back handed, right. So what comes next is when I 0:30:40.400 --> 0:30:42.800 back here, you're gonna come back, and that's what you're 0:30:42.800 --> 0:30:49.840 gonna catch that two piece. This is how you orchestrate 0:30:49.920 --> 0:30:56.080 nasal fights. Everybody, did he just back hand you? Yes? 0:30:56.120 --> 0:30:58.320 I did? Is that like a player? And then here's 0:30:58.360 --> 0:31:00.880 the problem. When he realizes he our back hand, he's 0:31:00.880 --> 0:31:04.240 gonna say he hit me, like oh, and then he's 0:31:04.240 --> 0:31:07.720 going to approach and then it's on. Then it goes 0:31:07.800 --> 0:31:12.400 very quickly. Yeah, I'm this is this is smoke one 0:31:12.400 --> 0:31:16.000 on one. First of all, if I back here, I 0:31:16.040 --> 0:31:21.080 have no respect for you, clearly clearly No, I mean 0:31:22.360 --> 0:31:25.200 I don't really think that's a respectable type. If your 0:31:25.240 --> 0:31:27.800 back hand someone, you respect the hell out of him. 0:31:28.680 --> 0:31:31.920 I've that's good point. I never thought of it that way. 0:31:32.640 --> 0:31:35.400 I never once thought it was like a warm greeting 0:31:36.680 --> 0:31:38.400 some man. I might just be mad at him. It 0:31:38.440 --> 0:31:40.840 doesn't mean I disrespect him. But if I backhand you 0:31:41.120 --> 0:31:43.960 anytime you're about to fight somebody and an open palm 0:31:44.120 --> 0:31:50.440 is done, it's not gonna go. Well. So all right, um, 0:31:50.480 --> 0:31:54.160 so we've digressed, but um, I really want to talk about, 0:31:54.160 --> 0:31:59.800 which I think is really cool. You've had poles, which 0:31:59.840 --> 0:32:07.120 is unbelievable. Um, what what's the key to getting a pole? 0:32:08.600 --> 0:32:13.840 And when is the pole captured? Again? I know some 0:32:13.920 --> 0:32:15.400 of this stuff, but then I'm kind of like, I 0:32:15.440 --> 0:32:17.960 get I get the opportunity to talk to you, great, 0:32:18.760 --> 0:32:24.080 and you are you have done and doing commentary analysts work, 0:32:24.760 --> 0:32:28.600 but you also know exactly what these individuals are trying 0:32:28.640 --> 0:32:33.360 to accomplish. Yeah, well, first let's established there's no actual 0:32:33.520 --> 0:32:38.440 physical polly. We may even start from the beginning. Someone 0:32:38.520 --> 0:32:41.720 may not even know what the what it so and 0:32:41.720 --> 0:32:45.560 and I think pole position goes back to like horse racing, 0:32:46.360 --> 0:32:48.840 where where there's like, you know, the pole is the 0:32:49.240 --> 0:32:54.040 other side some other um jobs that require I appreciate 0:32:54.080 --> 0:32:58.160 you clarified. You said like that goes back to I 0:32:58.240 --> 0:33:02.760 was like, yeah, okay, okay, cool. Well I think it 0:33:02.840 --> 0:33:08.280 may all come full circle in some forms, but I 0:33:08.440 --> 0:33:11.720 see what you did. I see what you did. Is 0:33:11.760 --> 0:33:18.760 it that very thorough bread is? But h But but 0:33:18.920 --> 0:33:24.680 winning the pole position or being the fastest qualifier, Um, yeah, 0:33:24.720 --> 0:33:28.160 I think obviously you know. The need thing about racing 0:33:29.160 --> 0:33:32.680 is it's a team sport. But but it's it's machine. 0:33:32.800 --> 0:33:35.360 The machine is the athlete is the way I look 0:33:35.400 --> 0:33:39.200 at it, right, Like like people debate whether race car 0:33:39.280 --> 0:33:41.480 drivers are athletes. And and don't get me wrong, you 0:33:41.560 --> 0:33:45.200 gotta be in in in very good physical shape, a 0:33:45.280 --> 0:33:47.160 different type of shape than to say, like you had 0:33:47.200 --> 0:33:48.840 to be for for football, But you gotta be in 0:33:48.840 --> 0:33:52.800 good shape. But the race car, that's what I want 0:33:52.880 --> 0:33:55.800 to be the thorough bread. I want that race car, 0:33:56.080 --> 0:33:58.000 you know, to have just a little more down force, 0:33:58.320 --> 0:34:00.680 a little less drag, a little more horror power, just 0:34:00.720 --> 0:34:03.960 a little more grip than anybody else out there. Now, 0:34:04.360 --> 0:34:07.800 if if you know, if all things were equal, which 0:34:07.840 --> 0:34:10.239 they're not, I'm sorry, it's just not the case. It's 0:34:10.320 --> 0:34:13.080 just racing one oh one, the way it's been forever. 0:34:13.680 --> 0:34:16.480 Somebody is going to engineer something to make one car 0:34:16.560 --> 0:34:19.600 a little bit better than the next. And NASCAR does 0:34:19.640 --> 0:34:24.640 an excellent job at at at trying to create parody 0:34:24.800 --> 0:34:28.759 and all the different ways that they measure the car 0:34:28.960 --> 0:34:33.279 and and and you know, inspect the car, great job, 0:34:33.360 --> 0:34:35.640 but still there's always going to be a way to 0:34:36.040 --> 0:34:39.520 try to get around that. And so you know, on 0:34:39.560 --> 0:34:42.520 that day where you go to qualify, it's it's that 0:34:42.560 --> 0:34:45.279 machine and it's you, and you're just pushing it to 0:34:45.360 --> 0:34:47.839 the absolute limit of what that car is capable of doing. 0:34:48.400 --> 0:34:51.440 And you know, if you do it right, then you're 0:34:51.480 --> 0:34:53.080 gonna be the fastest one and you're gonna win the 0:34:53.080 --> 0:34:56.080 pole position. And and if you if you mess it up, 0:34:56.120 --> 0:34:59.759 you're either gonna say, Okay, I didn't get all of 0:34:59.800 --> 0:35:02.839 it or the car wasn't capable of more than I got. 0:35:03.560 --> 0:35:05.960 And so I would you know, I I like to qualify. 0:35:06.040 --> 0:35:08.440 I love being out there on that single lap just 0:35:08.560 --> 0:35:11.120 pushing it. I was I was always known to be 0:35:11.160 --> 0:35:13.799 a driver that drove, you know what we say, deep 0:35:13.840 --> 0:35:16.600 into the corner. So there's a lift point that every 0:35:16.680 --> 0:35:19.440 race track is not Daytona or Talladega, but on all 0:35:19.480 --> 0:35:21.279 the other tracks is this lift point of where you 0:35:21.320 --> 0:35:23.200 get in there. You might use break not use break, 0:35:23.239 --> 0:35:26.120 depend on the track and corner size and everything, and 0:35:26.640 --> 0:35:28.239 you just want to carry as much speed in there, 0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:30.320 but you really want to get back to the throttle 0:35:30.320 --> 0:35:32.520 and carry all the speed through the center and all 0:35:32.920 --> 0:35:35.480 back onto the next straight away. So you know, I 0:35:35.520 --> 0:35:37.560 love that challenge, man, I mean I just did. To me, 0:35:37.680 --> 0:35:39.719 that's that's the purity of being a race car driver. 0:35:39.840 --> 0:35:42.799 So why why is the pole position so important? Well 0:35:42.840 --> 0:35:45.120 because a couple of things. One is, it gives you 0:35:45.160 --> 0:35:47.840 the starting position to lead the field. You should be 0:35:47.880 --> 0:35:50.040 able to lead the field, um you know your side 0:35:50.040 --> 0:35:51.840 by side, so there's a chance that you might not, 0:35:51.920 --> 0:35:54.879 but gives you the best opportunity. Plus it allows you 0:35:55.000 --> 0:35:58.040 to get a better pit stall, so so where your 0:35:58.040 --> 0:36:00.560 picker is going to do their work. If you're the 0:36:00.560 --> 0:36:02.960 pole position, if you're you know, if you're number one 0:36:03.239 --> 0:36:05.719 on the grid, you get to pick where you want 0:36:05.719 --> 0:36:08.719 to be first. So it gives it has an advantage 0:36:08.719 --> 0:36:10.640 throughout the entire race. And as as soon as I 0:36:10.680 --> 0:36:14.080 ask was all about is what tiny advantage can you 0:36:14.120 --> 0:36:17.719 get every single time? My starting position? Where my where 0:36:17.760 --> 0:36:20.399 my pit is? The modifications you make on your car 0:36:20.960 --> 0:36:23.439 is Nascar is almost like a game of interest. And 0:36:23.440 --> 0:36:26.240 and you know, we talked about clean air in racing 0:36:26.320 --> 0:36:28.319 and what that means is if you're the first car. 0:36:28.520 --> 0:36:31.839 All the air that's seeing your car. You know, it's 0:36:32.080 --> 0:36:36.640 there's nothing disrupting, it's seeing your car first. Okay, so 0:36:36.960 --> 0:36:41.000 it's attaching itself giving you the best performance. As soon 0:36:41.000 --> 0:36:43.560 as you're the next one back. That air is doing 0:36:43.600 --> 0:36:46.120 all this. It's just dancing all of the place. Yeah. 0:36:46.440 --> 0:36:48.239 So it's like getting in a jet wash of an 0:36:48.280 --> 0:36:52.239 airplane and and you know they're just it's not going 0:36:52.280 --> 0:36:54.960 to attach itself to your car. And so you are 0:36:55.040 --> 0:36:58.800 already at a disadvantage. Now if you're five ten cars 0:36:58.800 --> 0:37:02.279 back home like you got nothing. You got no air 0:37:02.320 --> 0:37:05.560 getting to your car. Um. Just random now just made 0:37:05.560 --> 0:37:09.080 me think, do you believe NASCAR will transform talking about 0:37:09.120 --> 0:37:11.960 clean their act, talking my climate change? Just my thoughts 0:37:11.960 --> 0:37:14.560 when you said that, do you believe NASCAR would transform 0:37:14.600 --> 0:37:18.960 itself into electric vehicle racing? One day? They'll have to? 0:37:19.120 --> 0:37:22.600 I mean, you know, you know, I think NASCAR plans 0:37:22.600 --> 0:37:23.960 to be around for a long time. A lot of 0:37:24.000 --> 0:37:26.080 the race teams planning to be around for a long time. 0:37:26.560 --> 0:37:30.680 And you see where the future is going in in automobiles. Um, 0:37:30.719 --> 0:37:35.120 so it's happen. It's happening now. Um you know is 0:37:35.160 --> 0:37:39.000 it electric? Is it is it. It's just charge though, 0:37:39.400 --> 0:37:42.600 just something something that is even a supercharge station. With 0:37:42.719 --> 0:37:46.840 asking something that's more sustainable though, But and no I wasn't. 0:37:46.880 --> 0:37:49.839 I wasn't asking like higher level. I was asking bare bones. Yeah, 0:37:49.880 --> 0:37:53.000 you believe, well, elect your cars because a lot of 0:37:53.040 --> 0:37:55.239 what we do is driven by the O, E. M. S. Right. 0:37:55.320 --> 0:37:59.560 And so if they're oh that, I said, yeah, but 0:37:59.600 --> 0:38:04.160 I really like basically the manufacturer of the vehicle, so 0:38:04.280 --> 0:38:08.399 so Chevallet and Ford and Toyota, um or any other 0:38:08.840 --> 0:38:12.080 manufacturer that wants to come to NASCAR. If they say, listen, 0:38:12.719 --> 0:38:16.080 electric vehicles is our future. That's what we're gonna be building. 0:38:16.120 --> 0:38:19.360 We need to find a path to introduce that to NASCAR, 0:38:19.680 --> 0:38:22.960 then it's gonna happen. You know. I I think there's 0:38:23.000 --> 0:38:26.480 already discussions about it. But I think that what you're 0:38:26.520 --> 0:38:30.120 gonna see is similar to what we've seen in Formula One. Yeah. 0:38:30.160 --> 0:38:33.839 Now there's an all electric Formula Series out there right now, 0:38:34.160 --> 0:38:36.520 and what they do is they swap cars. It's crazy. 0:38:36.800 --> 0:38:39.120 So they start in one car and run that thing 0:38:39.160 --> 0:38:43.239 to the batteries out, come in and get into another car. 0:38:43.480 --> 0:38:45.960 And then now I heard that this year they're gonna 0:38:46.120 --> 0:38:48.680 have one car with one battery, but it's all about 0:38:49.000 --> 0:38:52.279 managing the power throughout the whole race. So like you 0:38:52.360 --> 0:38:55.480 might say, hey, right now, I'm gonna use of my 0:38:55.520 --> 0:38:58.719 battery to pass these two cars ahead of me, but 0:38:58.800 --> 0:39:03.359 then I'm going to have less later and right now 0:39:03.360 --> 0:39:06.040 I'm just talking about the one car. But yeah, this series, 0:39:06.080 --> 0:39:09.000 it's called Formulaly. When they started, you had two cars 0:39:09.160 --> 0:39:11.799 because they couldn't run long enough because it took so 0:39:11.920 --> 0:39:17.200 much because you speed exactly, I have electric car, So 0:39:17.280 --> 0:39:19.680 that's why I was asking, Yeah, so what, But what's 0:39:19.680 --> 0:39:22.240 gonna happen? I think what we've seen in Formula one 0:39:22.280 --> 0:39:25.440 is they introduce electric motor just for boost, right, just 0:39:25.480 --> 0:39:28.040 for extra power, just to help the car accelerate off 0:39:28.080 --> 0:39:31.440 the corner. And now you're starting to see Ferraris and 0:39:31.560 --> 0:39:35.480 other cars that have purce. Ferrari has this in it 0:39:35.520 --> 0:39:38.040 that makes the car actually perform better. So you take 0:39:38.040 --> 0:39:42.080 a gas powered engine and the electric power. I think 0:39:42.120 --> 0:39:45.520 that's what you're gonna see NASCAR do initially. Whenever that 0:39:45.560 --> 0:39:48.480 time comes, they'll probably just have some kind of electric 0:39:48.520 --> 0:39:52.520 motor and it might be a boost to pass right 0:39:52.560 --> 0:39:54.960 too that you get to use. So much of it 0:39:55.000 --> 0:40:00.319 throughout the race. Maybe it regeneralizes the extra you earn 0:40:00.400 --> 0:40:04.480 it like yeah, oh yeah, yeah not fan vote, or 0:40:04.800 --> 0:40:09.680 or you're like, hey, you gotta win two replays. Yeah, 0:40:09.719 --> 0:40:12.399 I mean there there's some of that. So I think 0:40:12.480 --> 0:40:14.480 it's gonna now I will tell you this, if we 0:40:14.560 --> 0:40:16.960 ever go all electric, the thing I'm gonna push the 0:40:17.080 --> 0:40:20.560 hardest for is that it's got to make some kind 0:40:20.560 --> 0:40:23.319 of sound, right Like, like I don't want to hear 0:40:23.360 --> 0:40:27.520 the hissing and whistling of of the drive train or 0:40:27.520 --> 0:40:31.719 the electric motor winding up. Uh. There's there's technology out 0:40:31.760 --> 0:40:35.160 there right now for electric vehicles, um, you know that 0:40:35.239 --> 0:40:38.720 make their own amplified sound. Just make it sound cool 0:40:38.920 --> 0:40:42.000 whatever it is. You know, if Chevrolet or Ford or 0:40:42.040 --> 0:40:45.120 Toyota says, okay we're going on electric, no problem. But man, 0:40:45.200 --> 0:40:48.040 give me some cool sounding thing that that when that 0:40:48.080 --> 0:40:50.799 car goes by, I'm like, I'm not gonna say that's 0:40:50.800 --> 0:40:53.480 a v A. I'm gonna say that's a kick ass 0:40:53.480 --> 0:40:57.120 sounding car. It just happens to be electric. I think 0:40:57.120 --> 0:40:59.279 it's about that time, just so I'll take a little breather, 0:41:00.280 --> 0:41:07.080 do it good doing. It's getting down to do it good, Hey, Gerard, 0:41:07.200 --> 0:41:10.440 Why did you get that T shirt? Oh? Yes, I 0:41:10.480 --> 0:41:12.560 got it from cut to a podcast dot com where 0:41:12.600 --> 0:41:15.560 we have exclusive merchandise shout out to our guys at 0:41:15.560 --> 0:41:17.279 seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, 0:41:17.640 --> 0:41:19.960 buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you 0:41:20.000 --> 0:41:24.560 listen to podcasts. In you found you found it the 0:41:25.040 --> 0:41:32.200 Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation. Why was that important for you 0:41:32.239 --> 0:41:34.239 to do? You had you already had so much, so 0:41:34.320 --> 0:41:39.400 many things going on, raising a family, traveling around the world, racing, 0:41:40.200 --> 0:41:45.480 and to try to, you know, establish a foundation, Um 0:41:45.600 --> 0:41:47.880 take take us through that? Why was that important for you? 0:41:48.080 --> 0:41:50.000 I mean, I think at that time of my life, 0:41:50.000 --> 0:41:53.239 I was I always go back, you know, to to 0:41:53.560 --> 0:41:57.239 the beginning and who my parents are when they taught me, 0:41:57.360 --> 0:42:00.160 and my parents always loved helping other people, didn't or 0:42:00.239 --> 0:42:03.040 what was going on in our lives. Somebody needed help, 0:42:03.080 --> 0:42:05.919 boom they were. They were there to lend a helping 0:42:06.000 --> 0:42:07.880 hand or do what they could for them, And so 0:42:07.920 --> 0:42:09.400 I think I kind of go back to that. But 0:42:09.520 --> 0:42:12.320 I you know, I looked at my own career, my success, 0:42:12.320 --> 0:42:14.879 and I said, you know, there's got to be more 0:42:14.920 --> 0:42:19.600 than just collecting trophies and winning races, uh and and 0:42:20.000 --> 0:42:23.440 what what can I do uh to to get back? 0:42:24.040 --> 0:42:27.360 And along the way, one of my crew chiefs Ray Evernham, 0:42:27.400 --> 0:42:30.319 and his son was diagnosed with leukemia. So I had 0:42:30.440 --> 0:42:34.600 never I didn't know a lot about uh pediatric cancer 0:42:34.840 --> 0:42:38.840 and and you know how it affected children families until 0:42:38.880 --> 0:42:41.840 that happened and when it hit close to home then 0:42:41.920 --> 0:42:43.319 and I had met a lot of kids to Make 0:42:43.360 --> 0:42:46.680 a Wish, and so I think, you know, the combination 0:42:46.719 --> 0:42:48.799 of meeting kids from Make a Wish, what Ray had 0:42:48.840 --> 0:42:53.000 gone through with his son, Um, you know, I wanted 0:42:53.040 --> 0:42:56.279 to do something that I thought I could get back, 0:42:56.320 --> 0:42:58.360 and because I met so many kids that had this, 0:42:58.440 --> 0:43:01.319 I realized there's a real need out there. So so 0:43:01.520 --> 0:43:03.719 I wanted to do things for pediatric cancer. So that 0:43:03.800 --> 0:43:06.120 that's where it all started. Are you guys are an 0:43:06.120 --> 0:43:09.120 amazing job being able to work on somebody's foundation. Um, 0:43:09.160 --> 0:43:12.160 you know, we've definitely have paid attention and you guys 0:43:12.280 --> 0:43:15.720 do just an incredible and impactful work. So it definitely 0:43:15.760 --> 0:43:18.720 hats off to you, and we definitely see that from before. 0:43:18.840 --> 0:43:21.680 But then just being here within the Charlotte community, greater 0:43:21.760 --> 0:43:24.920 Greater North Carolina, South Carolina community, you have an incredible 0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:27.319 impact on a lot of people. I appreciate. I'm really 0:43:27.320 --> 0:43:29.600 proud of what we've done. I thought when I retired, 0:43:29.680 --> 0:43:32.239 you know, that that would be something that, um, I 0:43:32.239 --> 0:43:34.640 could spend more time with. But also I didn't know 0:43:34.719 --> 0:43:37.040 what the future would hold for it, you know, not 0:43:37.040 --> 0:43:39.800 not being in the race car, being able to promote 0:43:39.840 --> 0:43:42.200 it wasn't you know, not making the kind of money 0:43:42.239 --> 0:43:46.759 I was driving. And uh yet it's just continued to 0:43:46.920 --> 0:43:50.759 rise and take off. So uh, I've always had great 0:43:50.800 --> 0:43:52.839 people surrounding me on a race team, and I've got 0:43:52.840 --> 0:43:56.600 great people on our foundation team, and and they they 0:43:56.719 --> 0:43:59.640 they've they've just surpassed anything I could have ever hoped for. 0:44:00.080 --> 0:44:03.280 Thank you. Our last segment is called Deep three, and basically, 0:44:03.280 --> 0:44:05.400 these are three questions that takes us to a deeper 0:44:05.480 --> 0:44:08.720 level outside of who you are as a race car driver, 0:44:08.800 --> 0:44:10.799 as an analyst, and all the different hats that you wear. 0:44:10.920 --> 0:44:13.280 We want to know about you. I get my deeper. 0:44:14.239 --> 0:44:17.640 I mean, we opened this thing up with some antastro 0:44:17.760 --> 0:44:20.279 DJ skills. So some medi go ahead and ask them 0:44:20.320 --> 0:44:22.560 the first one. You've done a ton of interviews now 0:44:22.640 --> 0:44:27.360 doing uh your TV work, what is something you've never 0:44:27.480 --> 0:44:32.480 been asked in an interview about yourself that you know 0:44:32.920 --> 0:44:36.879 it gets overlooked. I mean I did a I did 0:44:36.880 --> 0:44:40.160 a book when I uh in my final year in retirement, 0:44:40.200 --> 0:44:45.440 so I got I feel like I got everything. Um. 0:44:45.560 --> 0:44:48.840 You know, I think most people probably stay away from 0:44:49.320 --> 0:44:53.280 you know, my my biological father and that that side 0:44:53.280 --> 0:44:56.600 of my my my life and upbringing, um and and 0:44:56.640 --> 0:44:59.239 really don't dive very deep into the Valleos stuff either. 0:44:59.400 --> 0:45:01.160 You know of of what that was like, but I 0:45:01.160 --> 0:45:02.840 don't know. I feel like we kind of touched on 0:45:03.200 --> 0:45:05.759 on some of that. So God, you know, when you've 0:45:05.760 --> 0:45:07.399 been doing this as long as I have, I feel 0:45:07.440 --> 0:45:09.800 like I've been asked everything. I can't think of anything 0:45:09.800 --> 0:45:13.560 I haven't been asked. I'm not uh yeah that that 0:45:13.560 --> 0:45:16.080 that that one might might keep me speechless. I'm not 0:45:16.120 --> 0:45:20.400 sure you've mentioned NASCAR has diehard fans. How did your 0:45:20.440 --> 0:45:23.040 relationship to your fans changed from the beginning of your 0:45:23.080 --> 0:45:26.200 career not to the end. Yeah, I think it's gone 0:45:26.239 --> 0:45:30.360 through a wave of interactions because I think it was. 0:45:30.480 --> 0:45:34.120 It started out as and and and you you brought 0:45:34.160 --> 0:45:37.239 this up early on when we started this about I 0:45:37.239 --> 0:45:41.200 started getting cheers, you know, new guy on on the 0:45:41.239 --> 0:45:43.960 track and and all you know, he's doing good. Oh 0:45:44.120 --> 0:45:45.840 you know, I might have a new guy to cheer for, 0:45:46.160 --> 0:45:48.000 or maybe they like the way my car looked whatever 0:45:48.040 --> 0:45:50.160 it was. And I was like, I'm starting to hear 0:45:50.200 --> 0:45:53.080 some cheers. That's awesome, that feels good. And then I 0:45:53.080 --> 0:45:57.560 started winning more and I was racing with Dale Earnhardt Sr. 0:45:57.719 --> 0:46:00.399 Right became rivalries, and all of a sudden, those those 0:46:00.520 --> 0:46:04.200 cheers quickly turned into booze that we're definitely louder than 0:46:04.200 --> 0:46:06.839 than the cheers. And so then I was at this 0:46:06.880 --> 0:46:09.799 place where I was like, I don't like them. You know, 0:46:09.800 --> 0:46:11.520 I don't like them for you know, why why do 0:46:11.560 --> 0:46:14.439 they not? They don't even know me, And so then 0:46:14.800 --> 0:46:19.040 then you know, you get experienced with it and you go, Okay. 0:46:19.080 --> 0:46:22.719 I realized that has nothing to do with me personally. 0:46:23.280 --> 0:46:25.920 It's it's what they're passionate about, and I respect that. 0:46:26.000 --> 0:46:28.239 And so I think I went through and also with 0:46:28.320 --> 0:46:32.200 my own fans, I went through this place of you know, hey, 0:46:32.200 --> 0:46:34.360 don't bother me while I'm eating, don't bother me in 0:46:34.400 --> 0:46:37.200 the bathroom. Don't you know, like give me my personal time. 0:46:37.239 --> 0:46:40.400 If I'm with my family, you should know not but 0:46:40.400 --> 0:46:43.600 but I'm actually, you know, I think now that I'm 0:46:43.600 --> 0:46:47.799 removed from it and not in it is entrenched from 0:46:47.800 --> 0:46:52.680 a race car driver standpoint. Now, I'm like, man, anybody 0:46:52.719 --> 0:46:57.160 that followed me, fan of mine, that that that wants 0:46:57.200 --> 0:47:01.279 to to you know, get that picture. I'm all for it. 0:47:01.280 --> 0:47:07.920 And okay, there's still limits. But but but I just 0:47:08.000 --> 0:47:11.480 I think I have a greater respect and appreciation for 0:47:12.040 --> 0:47:15.439 their giddiness there. You know, their their excitement or or 0:47:15.480 --> 0:47:19.279 you know that you know, take I don't know if 0:47:19.640 --> 0:47:21.839 if I've ever been that big of a fan of 0:47:21.880 --> 0:47:27.080 anybody's or or any one thing to fully relate, but 0:47:27.160 --> 0:47:29.000 I do know that some of the times I've met 0:47:29.040 --> 0:47:31.880 some cool people, I was like, you know, okay, I'm 0:47:32.000 --> 0:47:34.440 I might. I might at this moment, go this is 0:47:34.480 --> 0:47:36.960 my one opportunity. I'm going to take advantage of it. 0:47:37.360 --> 0:47:40.319 I've done that before, and and so I get it now, 0:47:40.400 --> 0:47:42.719 you know, And and so I think I've just the 0:47:42.840 --> 0:47:44.759 things kind of come full certain from Oh man, I 0:47:44.800 --> 0:47:47.520 love this too. Oh man. I I don't know if 0:47:47.520 --> 0:47:51.120 I like all this and and then then didn't think 0:47:51.120 --> 0:47:54.120 I like the ones that were against me. Now I'm like, man, 0:47:54.239 --> 0:47:57.480 the more the merrier, make all the noise, like I 0:47:57.560 --> 0:48:00.799 love now seeing fans. We we had a kid on 0:48:00.840 --> 0:48:03.399 TV that this past weekend had a big sign Sam. 0:48:03.600 --> 0:48:06.160 You know, I hope anybody wins, but but Kyle Busch, 0:48:06.239 --> 0:48:09.960 you know, and and uh, you know, Kyle Busch kind 0:48:09.960 --> 0:48:12.480 of gets gets some heat for some of that set. 0:48:12.760 --> 0:48:15.759 But man, people are listening, people watching what he's doing, 0:48:16.360 --> 0:48:19.319 and I think it's about embracing it. That's the That's 0:48:19.360 --> 0:48:22.600 the one thing you know, I was I was always 0:48:22.600 --> 0:48:26.920 afraid of, Okay, what are people gonna think? Or how 0:48:27.000 --> 0:48:29.279 is this going to affect our sponsors, our career. I 0:48:29.360 --> 0:48:31.760 wish that you could just go out there and NASCAR, 0:48:32.840 --> 0:48:36.919 no sponsors, number on the car, your team, your race car, 0:48:37.360 --> 0:48:40.560 and just go race and be you, like completely be you. 0:48:40.840 --> 0:48:46.120 That would be that would be one entertaining form of racing. 0:48:46.200 --> 0:48:48.759 But uh, you know, I think we're we're all sort 0:48:48.800 --> 0:48:51.880 of held to some some sort of of of standard 0:48:51.920 --> 0:48:54.120 that we've got to got to live up to to 0:48:54.200 --> 0:48:56.600 keep us in check or might get out of control. 0:48:57.040 --> 0:49:01.839 So that that leads me to the final question here 0:49:01.880 --> 0:49:04.799 and Jeff Gordon of Today, if you go back in 0:49:04.880 --> 0:49:09.200 time and talk to Jeff Gordon, years old, what would 0:49:09.200 --> 0:49:12.759 you tell oh my gosh, well, would I be able 0:49:12.760 --> 0:49:15.440 to tell him how how much, how good things are 0:49:15.440 --> 0:49:21.480 gonna go? Yeah? Um, you know, I think that it's crazy. 0:49:21.520 --> 0:49:25.319 I'm almost fifty now and and I feel like, you know, 0:49:25.480 --> 0:49:29.279 I'm still learning things about me that that it's so 0:49:29.360 --> 0:49:31.279 cool to be in that place where you're just like, 0:49:31.320 --> 0:49:34.719 you know what, I've lived a great life and I'm 0:49:34.840 --> 0:49:36.960 very comfortable with who I am, and I'm sure that 0:49:37.000 --> 0:49:39.840 will even get greater as I as I go along. 0:49:40.520 --> 0:49:42.719 I I wish that even though I had a lot 0:49:42.719 --> 0:49:45.040 of confidence on the race track, off the racetrack, you know, 0:49:45.120 --> 0:49:47.879 you have those insecurities, you have those those things where 0:49:47.880 --> 0:49:52.279 you're just not so sure. And I see now, um, 0:49:52.360 --> 0:49:55.480 you know, just being able to to to what I 0:49:55.480 --> 0:49:58.960 see people relating to the most is people that are 0:49:59.120 --> 0:50:02.440 just genuinely being them and not holding back. And I 0:50:02.480 --> 0:50:05.120 always always just held back a little bit. Was it 0:50:05.200 --> 0:50:07.520 because I was from California? Was it because I raced 0:50:07.560 --> 0:50:10.800 open Wheel? Was it you know, the type of sponsors 0:50:10.800 --> 0:50:13.239 that had I'm not sure, but I always held back, 0:50:13.360 --> 0:50:16.840 always held back just a little bit, um not necessarily 0:50:16.840 --> 0:50:21.439 on the track, but but off the track, and Uh, 0:50:21.520 --> 0:50:24.360 you know, I don't haven't many regrets, but but you know, 0:50:24.400 --> 0:50:28.480 I would probably just would have wanted people to to 0:50:28.600 --> 0:50:34.920 see a little more of me along the way media, friends, fans, 0:50:35.920 --> 0:50:38.600 because you know, at home, I mean they get to 0:50:38.600 --> 0:50:43.200 see that. But you know, just wasn't always there when 0:50:43.239 --> 0:50:46.200 I was when I was racing or at the track 0:50:46.760 --> 0:50:50.760 that when I came to NASCAR a lot and again 0:50:50.800 --> 0:50:53.360 this is just people not really even knowing me, just 0:50:53.440 --> 0:50:55.759 assumed that I got handed everything on a on a 0:50:55.920 --> 0:50:58.919 silver platter and that I had the easy street. And 0:50:59.200 --> 0:51:01.680 don't get me wrong, I mean it went well, but 0:51:01.880 --> 0:51:04.600 I had to work my ass off, you know, and 0:51:04.600 --> 0:51:07.839 and a lot of things you lined up, but I 0:51:07.880 --> 0:51:09.719 felt like I had to earn it. Maybe I didn't 0:51:09.760 --> 0:51:12.040 have to earn it like Earnhardt had to earn it, 0:51:12.120 --> 0:51:14.120 but but I had to do it in my own way. 0:51:14.200 --> 0:51:16.919 But in your own way is but it lined up 0:51:19.040 --> 0:51:22.640 based off the fruits of your labor, like it lined 0:51:22.719 --> 0:51:27.280 up because you you raced and met someone, they gave 0:51:27.400 --> 0:51:31.040 you their number. Then after your race or a couple 0:51:31.080 --> 0:51:33.560 of days or weeks later, you had to keep that 0:51:33.600 --> 0:51:36.960 piece of paper. Then you had to call them. They 0:51:36.960 --> 0:51:40.120 had to pick it up and then you had to speak. 0:51:40.520 --> 0:51:43.800 They had to accept it like it's not you were 0:51:43.840 --> 0:51:47.520 given everything. You had to do it. You have some 0:51:48.200 --> 0:51:51.000 you have some some sweat equity into it. And the 0:51:51.080 --> 0:51:53.040 thing I can relate, you know, with you about it 0:51:53.080 --> 0:51:55.560 is that there were certain people out there and that 0:51:55.640 --> 0:51:58.239 it didn't matter what I said, what I could sit 0:51:58.280 --> 0:52:00.400 there and have an hour long conversation show with them 0:52:00.400 --> 0:52:02.200 and they were gonna walk away with that going. Yeah, 0:52:02.320 --> 0:52:05.640 Jeff Gordon, he you know, he had it easy, or 0:52:05.800 --> 0:52:08.160 or you know, man, he got so lucky. They were 0:52:08.160 --> 0:52:11.960 going to judge. And so you know, I learned along 0:52:11.960 --> 0:52:15.120 the way. Okay, I gotta stopped trying to convince everybody 0:52:15.160 --> 0:52:17.719 of of how I got here, why, and just go 0:52:17.880 --> 0:52:21.319 do do my thing. And you know, luckily that that 0:52:21.360 --> 0:52:25.000 thing worked out pretty good. The mistake, the mistake I made, 0:52:26.360 --> 0:52:33.840 was I would I knew the reporters and what they wanted. 0:52:34.760 --> 0:52:40.400 I knew some reporters had a preconceived notion of me, 0:52:41.160 --> 0:52:47.160 So I gave them the lazy cursing smithy, you gave 0:52:47.200 --> 0:52:49.640 me exactly what there. I gave him exactly what they wanted. 0:52:49.680 --> 0:52:53.719 Because if I spent an hour with them and then 0:52:53.800 --> 0:52:55.880 after that hour. A couple of days later, the article 0:52:55.920 --> 0:52:59.360 was written. I was the son of a like I gave. 0:52:59.400 --> 0:53:02.960 I gave them so much of who I am and 0:53:03.000 --> 0:53:07.080 they took that and just wrote this. And I kind 0:53:07.120 --> 0:53:10.920 of like, it doesn't matter what I say, Like everybody 0:53:10.920 --> 0:53:14.719 always says that, like Steve had a chip on their 0:53:14.760 --> 0:53:17.920 shoulder if I break down. When I was in college. 0:53:18.160 --> 0:53:21.760 Coming out of college, I broke my C four vertebrate. 0:53:23.880 --> 0:53:26.400 I went to the University of Utah. It was not 0:53:26.520 --> 0:53:30.759 considered a good school. I was five nine. A guy 0:53:30.880 --> 0:53:36.400 drafted by the New York Jets from the University of 0:53:36.480 --> 0:53:41.759 Miami named Santana Moss was drafted in the first round. 0:53:42.640 --> 0:53:45.280 Had the same height as me, but he wasn't too small. 0:53:45.880 --> 0:53:50.440 H And the reason I'm saying that is obviously I'm 0:53:50.480 --> 0:53:53.360 not jealous at Santana Moss, but I'm when you compare, 0:53:53.440 --> 0:53:57.200 it's like, well, he's an apple. I'm an apple right now. Yeah, 0:53:57.239 --> 0:54:00.320 he maybe he's from Florida, so his apple maybe tastes weeder, 0:54:00.360 --> 0:54:04.040 but he's still an apple, right He had a better 0:54:04.080 --> 0:54:07.960 product he was, you know, honey, Cris, I was an apples. 0:54:09.200 --> 0:54:11.480 I can still be used to press with your knowledge 0:54:11.480 --> 0:54:16.960 of apples, right, and so I always felt this like 0:54:17.120 --> 0:54:19.520 I didn't have a chip. It was I never got 0:54:19.520 --> 0:54:22.319 a I never got the benefit of the doubt. Like 0:54:22.400 --> 0:54:24.200 I broke my neck in college. You know why they 0:54:24.280 --> 0:54:28.279 infused my neck because I was told if you got 0:54:28.320 --> 0:54:32.160 your neck fused, you automatically were not a draft eligible. 0:54:33.120 --> 0:54:37.600 Fourth round draft pick Chris Winky, he broke his neck 0:54:37.600 --> 0:54:39.600 in Florida State one Heisman. You know what they did. 0:54:39.719 --> 0:54:46.160 They fused his neck. He actually signed two days before 0:54:47.160 --> 0:54:50.480 listen this. He signed two days before training camp as 0:54:50.520 --> 0:54:53.040 a fourth round draft pick and got more signing bonus 0:54:53.120 --> 0:54:57.200 money than me. Well All and Steve All, I can 0:54:57.200 --> 0:54:59.000 tell I don't know a lot about sent Tony Moss. 0:54:59.040 --> 0:55:01.879 I know the name, but I've watched a lot more 0:55:02.600 --> 0:55:06.880 uh you know, Panther games than than then. I watched 0:55:06.920 --> 0:55:10.440 whatever team he played for, And what I saw in 0:55:10.480 --> 0:55:13.120 the field was a guy that was just a fighter, 0:55:13.200 --> 0:55:17.040 man like like you, just digging, just getting after every 0:55:17.120 --> 0:55:20.360 single play. And maybe it was exactly that meant. You 0:55:20.360 --> 0:55:24.520 know what I like about my side of view and you, right, 0:55:24.680 --> 0:55:27.120 is that now as I've gotten to know you better, 0:55:27.200 --> 0:55:31.040 especially sitting down here, is all those things that happened 0:55:31.080 --> 0:55:34.719 in your life, like that was in you on that 0:55:34.800 --> 0:55:38.080 field right, that that was making you do things that 0:55:38.120 --> 0:55:42.080 were pretty extraordinary and and it might have been something 0:55:42.080 --> 0:55:45.960 you were you're battling with, you know, emotionally and internally, 0:55:46.440 --> 0:55:48.759 but I think there were a lot of positives that 0:55:48.800 --> 0:55:53.520 came out on how you played the game. I'll be honest, 0:55:53.800 --> 0:55:56.279 just after talking to you, I'm like, you know, we've 0:55:56.280 --> 0:56:00.000 been here twenty years. We met each other here and there, 0:56:00.080 --> 0:56:04.960 but man, never really I've met one or two other drivers, 0:56:05.000 --> 0:56:08.360 And I'll be honest, I I just don't see and 0:56:08.520 --> 0:56:11.799 identify and kind of see the relationship just because there's 0:56:11.800 --> 0:56:14.319 just two different sports. You Also, I felt like at 0:56:14.360 --> 0:56:18.920 times I'm getting that best version of them. And when 0:56:18.920 --> 0:56:22.239 I get the best version, I'm like, man, I'm still 0:56:22.239 --> 0:56:25.560 figuring out my version of me. So uh man, after 0:56:26.120 --> 0:56:29.080 hearing you talk and just man, it's like, man, I 0:56:29.120 --> 0:56:31.120 love the you know, grab a bite to him, to 0:56:31.200 --> 0:56:33.520 grab a bite with you, just kind of chomp it 0:56:33.600 --> 0:56:38.040 up and talking and here the more parts of Jeff 0:56:38.080 --> 0:56:41.840 Gordon that that makes you you. I appreciate Listen. I 0:56:41.880 --> 0:56:44.640 love opportunities like this that you've given me to to 0:56:44.800 --> 0:56:47.279 kind of pull back the layers and open up a 0:56:47.280 --> 0:56:49.640 little bit more and and hit me with some different 0:56:49.680 --> 0:56:52.759 things that you know, I don't normally get hit up with. 0:56:52.960 --> 0:56:55.960 So that's cool and uh and just mad respect to 0:56:56.280 --> 0:56:58.160 you know. Definitely I love being able to sit down 0:56:58.200 --> 0:57:01.640 and hear other people's journey. Yeah, so we gotta we 0:57:01.640 --> 0:57:05.359 gotta get that bite if IF, IF I'm coming is 0:57:05.400 --> 0:57:08.520 probably gonna be mixed with some kind of a beverage. 0:57:10.719 --> 0:57:15.279 I feel you, but but I would love I'd love 0:57:15.360 --> 0:57:18.000 to uh listen to hear more about your journey. We're 0:57:18.000 --> 0:57:21.120 gonna do something different. I'm Steve Smith Singer, I'm a 0:57:21.160 --> 0:57:23.520 Little John, and I'm Jeff Gordon and this is cut 0:57:23.560 --> 0:57:28.240 to It. You are a unique person. You are well 0:57:28.280 --> 0:57:34.160 worth it, you are competent and most of all, your lovable. 0:57:36.480 --> 0:57:39.240 Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me 0:57:40.160 --> 0:57:45.240 is a production of Cut to It LLC, Baltoe Creative Media, 0:57:45.560 --> 0:57:49.160 The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcast 0:57:49.320 --> 0:57:52.360 from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 0:57:52.520 --> 0:57:56.440 Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows 0:57:57.320 --> 0:58:01.520 from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, Singer, co 0:58:01.720 --> 0:58:05.920 host Gerard Little John, Talent and booking manager Joe Fusci, 0:58:06.400 --> 0:58:10.760 Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto 0:58:10.880 --> 0:58:14.840 Creative Media. Cut To It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic 0:58:15.240 --> 0:58:19.320 and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrec. Production 0:58:19.400 --> 0:58:23.480 Coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and 0:58:23.560 --> 0:58:28.360 vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it, then 0:58:28.400 --> 0:58:33.520 we're about to let you know. It's all