It's Not the Car

Why do we push ourselves? What makes you put yourself out there and try? Why is that trying so easy for some and so hard for others? How much does belief matter with all this? How much is it relevant to driving around in circles, or human performance, or doing the best you can with anything, especially given the limited resources each of us has on tap, as a person?  Why do those resources rarely f...

What does a championship-winning IMSA engineer and team director want from a race car? What does he *need* from it? Should those qualities match up? How much race could a race car race if a race car could race cars? So many questions. We definitely answer the first two. Maybe also the last one. (Maybe.) A good race engineer blends the art of the possible with the science of the probable. INTC co-h...

They had a shot at winning, you know? You always have a shot! Even though sometimes you don’t. This is what happens when… well, when you try very hard and it doesn’t happen. Jeff was on the wall with Toronto’s AWA Racing, helping that spunky little team’s Corvettes go faster. (Fresh off their Daytona win!) Ross was focused on LMP2 and his driver there and coaching his heart out.  Everybody had hea...

The first answer? Money, of course. The second answer? Also money. The third answer, in case you’re wondering: also also money! But we don’t care about those answers! We care about how, if you work hard and maybe get lucky… you might not *need* the money. (Much.) Ross is a former IndyCar ’shoe and a pro driver coach who has trained thousands of racers. Jeff is a pro engineer who’s helped countless...

“A mythbusting episode,” Ross suggested. “Great idea!” Sam and Jeff said. Then we blinked, and we had gone off-topic again, taped an entire show about 19th-century American cultural hegemony. What a corker! More specifically, we had taped a show about the life and times of a long-dead American statesman who also happened to be a strong supporter of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitut...

You guys have emailed to ask what we talk about off-air: "Have you ever considered an off-topic show?" Hey, why not? Sam cracked a beer on an empty stomach. Jeff poured a large coffee. Ross continued his streak of amusingly clean and healthy living. With no plan, we ended up yapping on—among other things—racing, Lotuses, how Sam’s grandpa got out of mowing the lawn forever, and that time...

We’re back! And one of our hosts just won the 2025 24 Hours of Daytona! His name is Jeff Braun, he’s the competition director for the IMSA Corvettes of Toronto’s AWA Racing, and he’s won Daytona twice before. We’re dang proud of him. We asked him to break down this year's win—moment by moment, all the ups and all the downs. AWA’s win at Daytona this year marks the first 24-hour win anywhere fo...

How is speed on a bike different from speed in a car? Is chasing the limit different if you’re more likely to get hurt? And just why did your crazy old Uncle Eddie yardsale that ratty Ducati across a field, anyway? Complex questions. Except Uncle Eddie. Dude owns a Chevelle and loves Foreigner a little too much, you know? Probably got hot blooded one night, wanted to know what love is. Maybe it fe...

Fifteen years ago, a guy from Maryland took a camcorder and a bone-stock Ford Mustang GT to Japan and filmed a series of YouTube videos on drifting and local car culture. Back home in the States, a handful of people—including  INTC  producer Mike Perlman, then 15 years old—watched those videos and asked,  What the hell is going on here? By that point, Vaughn Gittin, Jr. was already an accomplished...

Have you ever been in the zone, or in flow, behind the wheel? Want to get back there again and again? This podcast is all about what’s driving the car, and in this episode, we dig deep into the minds of high-performing drivers. We talk with Dr. Sue Jackson, a psychologist who has specialized in sport and exercise psychology. She co-wrote the book "Flow in Sports" with the “father" of flow research...

This episode has everything: Punches. Pepsi. Snow! Plus, a guy named Cale crashes a 190-mph race car in sneakers and kicks somebody on national TV.  Naturally, save the snow, this all happens in Florida. 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, that means the 1979 Daytona 500 and the childish,...

Strap in, kids—it’s time for another story from Jeff’s past, and this one’s a doozy. In 1967, future pro racer and  INTC  host Jeff Braun won a contest to visit the United States F1 Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.  Jeff was nine years old. The trip blew his mind. Guaranteed in this ep: Our very own J.B. as a wee man! Quality hangs with Dan Gurney and Jack Brabham! Sam explaining why Sixties F1 was bon...

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 L...

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 tw...

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...

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? T...

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 champi...

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” s...

“You jerk,” they’ll shout, “that show title isn’t relatable! Only the die-hards will understand! For pete’s sake, man, think of the traffic analytics!” Who cares? I am Sam and I write these ep descriptions, and that title makes me happy. If you don’t like it, hey, you probably aren’t the kind of person to listen to a show about a “flap,” anyway. And: This is a show about a flap! It’s also about tw...

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...

OUR NEW WEBSITE IS WORSE THAN YOU HOPED:  ⁠⁠ ⁠www.itsnotthecar.com/⁠⁠⁠ Once, long ago, a German engineer looked at a VW Beetle and thought, “Ahh, my little streitzel, we should tango with the hot-rod physics of love!” The Porsche 911 is divisive. People love ’em. People hate ’em. People fire ’em backward into ditches and Armco and spit excuses for how it wasn’t their fault—widowmaker car,  Wreck-c...

AVERT YOUR EYES FROM OUR NEW MERCH STORE:  ⁠⁠ www.itsnotthecar.com/⁠⁠ ***Don’t ever go there! It will rot your brain! (These annoying store mentions will stop soon, we promise.)*** Once, in college, Sam studied under a dignified old journalism professor. “The thing about putting the word ‘sex’ in a headline,” this prof said, “is that it’s the easy way out. Like an exclamation point or a question m...

WE HAVE A MERCH STORE NOW:   ⁠https://www.itsnotthecar.com/⁠ You asked, we delivered! . . . is exactly what we will tell the authorities. *** 10% OFF ALL ORDERS FOR THE FIRST WEEK *** BRIEF SALES PITCH: Sam built a website. That site holds both useful info about  INTC  and driving-adjacent merchandise. Sam wrote every word there and designed all of our merch. Is he a seasoned design professional,...

Formula 1 can be so boring. The King Mother-Humper of dull TV, with so much unknown: Why is Danny Ric slow now? Are those cars battling, or does it just look that way? How many different hairstyles can Lando Norris possibly have, and why does every single one make him look like a dapper little cutie patootie? Here’s the catch: Every broadcast holds answers. And when you know how to find them, F1 g...

What happens when famous actors go fast? Not just Cool Hand Luke. Also Tom Cruise, Patrick Dempsey, and many others, including that guy I can’t remember from that one show. (You know—that dude with the hair and the face?) Spoiler: There is crashing! But that’s not the point. Ross has coached Hollywood celebrities. Jeff once worked with Paul Newman himself. Plus, we dip into the weird and wonderful...