RACER Weekly Audio Podcast

When three-time NHRA Funny Car champ Ron Capps wanted to add a second dragster for 2026, there was only one driver on his radar: rising star Maddi Gordon. Gordon made her NHRA Top Fuel Dragster debut at the season-opening Gatornationals, putting in a sensational run of results that saw her beating two former Top Fuel champs before meeting reigning champ Doug Kalitta in her first ever TF semi-final...

It’s time for the speculation to end and the racing to get real. The 2026 Formula 1 World Championship begins March 8 with the Australian Grand Prix. With massive rules changes, shifts in the pecking order, new teams and combos and – a huge pre-season talking point – questions over how the 2026 cars will race and pass, RACER F1 expert Chris Medland joined the RACER Weekly to set the scene, run thr...

The 2026 NTT IndyCar Series roars into life on the streets of St. Petersburg this Sunday, March 1. Can lightning strike twice and Alex Palou dominate again for Chip Ganassi Racing? Will Arrow McLaren, Team Penske and Andretti Global take the fight to the champs? And who could be the surprise package in an 18-race campaign that’s primed to be more intense and unpredictable than ever. Meyer Shank Ra...

If you wanted late drama, the Sno*Drift Rally delivered it. Fast, frenetic and unpredictable, the opening round of the 2026 ARA National Championship played out in a Michigan deep freeze and showed why American rallying is heading for boom times. ARA series manager Preston Osborn joins the RACER Weekly podcast to talk Sno*Drift Rally plot twists, a breakout weekend for rising star Lia Block, a wav...

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series gets underway with its biggest, most unpredictable race, the Daytona 500. William Byron is aiming for something that’s never been achieved before – a third straight trip to victory lane in “The Great American Race.” But as RACER’s NASCAR expert Kelly Crandall explains, the odds are against him. Working the draft, dodging the wrecks, and being in exactly the right place f...

Formula 1 went behind closed doors to put shakedown miles on its new-for-2026 rules package. So how did one of the biggest shakeups in the history of grand prix racing shake out? Despite the veil of secrecy over five days of running in Barcelona, RACER’s F1 insider, Chris Medland, still got to the bottom of it all and tells us who’s looking hot and who’ll be playing catchup as we countdown to the...

It’s one of the biggest weeks in off-road racing – the King of the Hammers. It’s where the stars of desert racing and rock crawling come together to battle on the boulders, ravines and dry lake beds of California’s Johnson Valley. There are five four-wheeled races up for grabs, including the famed Race of Kings, and off-road Hall of Famer Cameron Steele is taking on every one of them – again. He j...

Jordan Taylor checks in with RACER Weekly to set the scene on one of sports car racing’s biggest weekend, the Rolex 24 At Daytona. As a two-time winner of the twice-around-the-clock classic, the Wayne Taylor Racing ace tells us what it takes to get it done, both physically and mentally, and what it’s like to race a high-tech, hybrid Cadillac V-Series. R GTP rocket ship. Plus, Jordan talks triathlo...

Tommy Milner joins RACER Weekly to set the scene on what will be the 17th Rolex 24 At Daytona start for one of America’s most successful sports car racers. The Corvette Racing ace talks teammates, tactics and endurance, and explains how the ruleset has made competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTD Pro class closer and more intense than ever. Plus, the two-time 24 Hours of Le...

RACER’s Formula 1 editor Chris Medland joins the Debrief to set the scene on 2026’s major rules reset. What’s changing? How does it work? Can it deliver better racing? And will it shake up the F1 order? Plus, with the dust settling on the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship, we look back on the three-way title shootout in Abu Dhabi. Why did eventual champion Lando Norris and McLaren make it so diffi...

Sara Price is one of America’s top off-road racers. Already a multiple stage winner on the grueling Dakar Rally, she’s taking on January’s 48th running of the desert marathon with the all-new Defender Dakar D7X-R. Competing alongside the Californian driver in a star-studded lineup chasing Stock class glory are 14-time winner Stephane Peterhansel and Rokas Baciuska, with Price setting her sights on...

The RACER Debrief takes a deep dive into the world of Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by Michelin. Joining us are 2025 champion Jeremy Fletcher and Mazda Motorsports Senior Manager Jonathan Applegate. How did Fletcher turn his season around and land a title? Who’s on the fast track thanks to Mazda’s wildly-successful MX-5 Cup Shootout? How does the MX-5 Cup keep on delivering some of the best raci...

Eleven-time Indianapolis 500 starter and Indy car race-winner Oriol Servia talks up the teams and drivers who can make Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou sweat for a fifth NTT IndyCar Series title in 2026. Plus, as a former Indy Lights champion and now a driver manager, Oriol explains his role in helping young wannabe IndyCar stars achieve “the best versions of themselves” and negotiate the thorny p...

The RACER Debrief caught up with not one, but two 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series nitro class champs – Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta and Funny Car’s Austin Prock. Both are now two-time NHRA champs and give us the lowdown on sealing the deal, getting hot when it counts, drag-racing dynasties, and the challenge of taming a 13,000hp, 330mph-plus racecars. NOTE: Interviews were recorded before Au...

Saturday night on the Las Vegas Strip will be crunch time in the battle for the 2025 Formula 1 World Championship drivers’ title. Lando Norris leads the points, but can his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri or resurgent Red Bull Racing ace Max Verstappen narrow the gap in Sin City? With just three grands prix and one sprint race remaining, the Las Vegas Grand Prix could make or break a season for the...

Rhys Millen has raced the Baja 1000 in the Pro UTV classes and no-holds barred Class 1 buggies, and he’s a class winner in the Class 7 truck class. For 2025, he’s back with a Rhys Millen Racing-built, Toyota-powered Class 7 entry and hoping to emulate his class win on this year’s Baja 500. Rhys joined the RACER Debrief to talk about the challenge of taking on the world’s greatest off-road race and...

Christopher Polvoorde is one of the rising stars of SCORE desert racing’s headlining Trophy Truck class. This year, the 25-year-old Californian once again teams up with Baja legend Bryce Menzies to take on the 58th Baja 1000. After an early exit from the race in 2024, the duo have unfinished business and, as Polvoorde tells the RACER Debrief, they’re going all-out for victory this time around. Wha...

Baja 1000 “Iron Woman” Kristen Matlock joins the RACER Debrief as we get set for the 58th SCORE Baja 1000. The Pro UTV Open class ace talks about driving solo for every grueling mile, her 2019 class win, her journey to off-road racing, and the continuing pull of Baja and the world’s most famous off-road race.   #baja1000 #score #offroad #KristenMatlock #RACERdebrief #motorsports #ironwoman

It’s the final race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series and a champion will be crowned Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway. Will it be Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Denny Hamlin or Kyle Larson lifting the trophy on Sunday?  Kelly Crandall joins the RACER Debrief to run the rule over the Championship 4 contenders and set the scene for a desert shootout. #NASCAR #Playoffs #FinalFour #Champion #racing #mot...

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are into crunch time with the Round of 8. Eight drivers are still in the hunt, with just three races to decide who makes it into the winner-takes-all Championship 4 finale.  RACER’s NASCAR expert, Kelly Crandall, joins the Debrief to rate the contenders, lay out the potential curveballs ahead (Talladega’s high-speed lottery included!), and mark your cards for th...

As a professional racecar driver and a life-long motorsports fan, JR Hildebrand sees racing from all sides. The 12-time Indy 500 starter joins the RACER Debrief to talk about bringing back the awesome to open-wheel racing – for drivers and for fans – and gives us his take on a potential solution for resetting the spectacle and the challenge: the Blackbird 66 Mk.1.    #JRHildebrand #IndyCar #indy50...

We get the lowdown from 11-time Indianapolis 500 starter Oriol Servia on what made Alex Palou a force of nature in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series. And as the Chip Ganassi Racing ace racked up the wins – eight in total, including the Indy 500 – and a fourth IndyCar title, why couldn’t a stacked field put up a fight against the rampant Spaniard? Plus, Oriol and the RACER editors give us their take on t...

Next stop for professional Fun-Haver Vaughn Gittin Jr. and off-road and rock-crawling master Loren Healy are the 56th annual Polaris Crandon World Championships. The duo are bringing their spectacular Ultra4 4400-class Ford Broncos to Wisconsin’s legendary Crandon International Raceway, and they’re giving the RACER Debrief a masterclass on how to chase wins and put on a show. Plus, we look back on...

Off-road racing Hall of Famer Johnny Greaves and his multi-title-winning son, C.J., set the scene for short-course off-road racing’s biggest weekend of the year, the 56th annual Polaris Crandon World Championships.  It’s the event everybody wants  to win, and while Pro 4 points leader C.J. is the man to beat in 2025, Johnny’s ready to pull out all the stops to add to his haul of Crandon wins, too....

Forty years ago, World Rally Championship legend Michѐle Mouton made history with her victory in the 1985 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The trailblazing win was the first for a woman at the “Race to the Clouds” and the first for a non-American driver. In 2025, Michѐle will be inducted in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb Hall of Fame. But before heading to Colorado, she took time out to talk with R...