Tony Quiroga is the editor-in-chief of Car and Driver. For the last 18 years, his magazine has rented Virginia International Raceway once a year. And each time, they’ve spent three days—normal people, not pro drivers—flogging the best new fast cars, lapping nonstop and chasing time.

Sound like a dream day? A pile of stress? Tony is an old friend of INTC, and he says C/D’s annual “Lightning Lap” test is… both!

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. Are we doing a run of guest episodes this fall because it sounded like fun? We are!

Related Trivia: Sam and Tony once worked together Car and Driver. Later, they worked together at Road & Track. Then it was C/D again. If time is a flat circle, then car magazines are a… flat skidpad, I guess?

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Who We Are + Spicy Merch:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.ItsNotTheCar.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

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

New episodes every Tuesday.

Once, humans set foot on the moon. Some steely eyed engineer types did some math and took some gambles, and then some steely eyed pilot types sat on a big firework and flew off.

Huge achievement, neat space candle. And that plan—the *strategy*—made it possible.

Related: A host of this show is a pro race engineer. Jeff Braun has won the 12 Hours of Sebring eight times and the 24 Hours of Daytona twice. His résumé includes a whopping ten IMSA / Grand-Am championships.

Race strategy makes Jeff’s job go ’round. So we had him explain it!

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Instant Expert.”

RELATED TRIVIA: Once, Sam found himself at the end of a grueling enduro. It was the last corner of the last lap; the win was make-or-break. In the heat of battle, he made a strategic choice—he took out two drivers at once. And hey, those little girls were really unhappy about that, but they were also Sam's nine- and eleven-year-old daughters, and that’s how the MarioKart cookie crumbles, rugrats! Boom goes the red-shell dynamite! Dad-strat champion forever!

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Who We Are + Spicy Merch:

⁠⁠⁠⁠www.ItsNotTheCar.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

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

New episodes every Tuesday.

In this episo… ah, screw it. Cut to the chase: Do you know what a Mazda R26B rotary sounds like?

Four rotors of fury! The littlest beer keg that could! The 700-horse shrieker from the first Japanese car to win Le Mans!

BEEOWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!

Except… louder. Nastier. You hear that noise even once, it makes a bee-line for the whoopy-monkey core of the human brain and lives there forever.

So we got ourselves here yep a story about that.

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 an underfunded Japanese carmaker and a strange little engine design went to France and slayed 200-mph giants.

RELATED TRIVIA: Sam once track-tested a real live Mazda 787. Ross used to own Mazda RX-7. And in 2014 and 2015, Jeff was competition director for the factory-backed Mazda SpeedSource diesel IMSA prototypes.

***

CORRECTION: Sam got the location of Hiroshima wrong here; it's actually quite far from Tokyo and a large city on its own. That was off-the-cuff brain fart and not from his notes, please forgive us. (What's more: Sam has been to Japan multiple times and knows better.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Who We Are + Spicy Merch:

⁠⁠⁠www.ItsNotTheCar.com⁠⁠⁠

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

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

New episodes every Tuesday.

Corner by corner, inch by inch, one of the greatest tracks in the world. We’ve got thousands of laps there. Walk the track with us!

What makes Laguna Seca so great? Is the answer . . . California? The mountains? Memories of Mario, getting loose in Turn 9, that cotton-candy morning fog, or how the rear axle just snap-crackle-pops into the Corkscrew on trailed brake?

Yes! And so much else, right?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this ep's format “Walking the Track.” In this installment, Sam and Ross destitch their love for a deeply American, deeply Californian, and deeply wonderful track.

You will learn where the apexes are, if you don’t already know. But that’s the least interesting part.

***YOUR RELATED TRIVIA STARTS NOW***

Ross has strolled Laguna’s pavement countless times while teaching people to go fast there. Sam once got yelled at by track security for daring to walk a lap at sunset, on a club-race weekend, after everyone had gone home.

(Not allowed, they said. Which is ridiculous, but also, in that case, why were the gates open? Boo hiss.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Who We Are + Spicy Merch:

⁠⁠www.ItsNotTheCar.com⁠⁠

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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

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

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

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, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

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

New episodes every Tuesday.

Jeff and Ross co-host this show. Jeff is a race engineer. Ross is a performance coach who’s worked with thousands of drivers—Indy winners, Le Mans winners, even the late Ken Block.

Thirty years ago, one kid stood out from the rest; he would become one of the most decorated drivers in American history. Oddly enough, that kid was Jeff's son.

Colin Braun is now 36. His resume holds three IMSA championships, four Daytona 24 wins, a Le Mans win, and a NASCAR rookie-of-the-year title. He’s raced in IndyCar, World Challenge, and Global Rallycross; he’s driven Le Mans prototypes and GTP cars, Porsches and Ferraris and Ford GTs.

The most successful drivers do one thing better than the rest. So we got Colin on the horn and asked about that—and about what it takes to go fast in everything.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. Are we doing a run of guest episodes this fall because it sounded like fun? We are!

Related Trivia: Colin recently signed to drive one of Meyer Shank Racing’s factory-backed Acura GTP prototypes for 2025. This is neat. We like this.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Who We Are + Spicy Merch:

⁠www.ItsNotTheCar.com⁠

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠

**

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

⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠

**

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, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

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

New episodes every Tuesday.

Chris Andrews was once a NASCAR Cup Series engineer and crew chief. He’s worked hand-in-hand with drivers like Robby Gordon, Bill Elliott, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, and Kasey Kahne. His resume holds names like Roush Fenway, Evernham Motorsports, and Richard Childress Racing.

What you have probably guessed already: Chris has some *excellent* stories.

Is this another of our “How the Pros Cheat” shows? You bet! And now with guest!

Related Trivia: After more than a decade at the top of NASCAR, Andrews switched to sports cars—he’s currently lead engineer for Vasser Sullivan’s championship-winning IMSA GTD Lexus coupes.

Related Trivia Part Two, Badass Two-Lane Camry Edition: This episode’s guest once made a NASCAR Cup-spec Toyota Camry street-legal and drove it around suburban North Carolina. Because he is a steely-eyed missile man. Or a hero. (Or—wait, no!—both. Definitely both.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Who We Are + Spicy Merch:

www.ItsNotTheCar.com

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠

**

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

⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠

**

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, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

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

New episodes every Tuesday.

How do you know when to let go of something you love? What if you know it’s time but still think about that something every minute of every day?

If you’re INTC co-host Ross Bentley, you back up but you don’t give up—and you lean into what you’re good at.

Ross was once a pro driver in IndyCar and IMSA. He is now a pro driver *coach*. And while he’s too modest to admit it, he’s one of the best in the world at what he does. He has coached Indy winners, Le Mans winners, even Ken Block, and he has made them all faster. Plus, he wrote bestselling books on how he thinks.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this ep's format “My Life With.” It’s where an INTC host tells the story of how they came to understand a complex racing topic over their working life. In this case, that means Ross and coaching!

Related Trivia: Sam just got home from being a keynote speaker at the Lotus Owners Group national gathering in Texas. He has wanted an S1 Lotus Elise since forever. (That’s really unrelated to this ep, but hey, Sam is a Lotus nerd and can’t let it go.)

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:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's 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.