RaceSchool.com Podcast hosted by Larry Mason

Santino Ferrucci drives the famed, number 14 Indy car, for AJ Foyt Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. At the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, we were fortunate to be invited into his race weekend inner sanctum – the transporter driver’s lounge, for an interesting interview where he fills us in on the Team Penske technical alliance, driving the new hybrid system, and a deep-dive into the Indiana...

Dennis Firestone went from humble beginnings racing in Formula Fords in the California Sports Car Club (Cal Club) region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) to climb the racing ladder and reach the pinnacle of American road racing making numerous starts at the Indianapolis 500. His first trip there had Roger Penske helping him. From the highs of highs of winning racing and championships, to e...

Rodney Klausmeyer drives the number 14 transporter for AJ Foyt Racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. He also has many other duties with the team throughout a race weekend. At the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, he was kind enough to take us on a tour of not only his rig, but also the two others connected to it in the paddock area. It’s one thing to see these gleaming rolling billboards in the pad...

Chuck Lessick is a chaplain with INDYCAR Ministry and travels with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES (and their support series) throughout the year to help support those in the paddock. He works with his wife Jacqui and chaplain Jason Holt in this endeavor. We caught up with him at the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach after the Sunday morning 5-Minute “Pit Stop Devotional” service where he fills us in on...

Tom Blomqvist has been one of the quickest drivers in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competing in the top level GTP category. We caught up with him just prior to the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where he filled us in on his transition from IMSA GTP to the NTT IndyCar Series with Meyer Shank Racing (MSR). It’s a fascinating conversation as he candidly talks about the challenges...

Roman De Angelis is one of the top drivers in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competing in the GTD and GTD Pro categories. We caught up with him just prior to the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where his teammate started from pole position the previous year. It was a good year for the “Heart of Racing” team as De Angelis and Marco Sorenson won three races. In this interview, he ta...

Parker Thompson and Ben Barnicoat race a Lexus RC F GT3/GTD car for Vasser/Sullivan in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. We caught up with Thompson twice during the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. We first talked to him immediately after his pole position press conference and then with him and his teammate right after their post-race victory press conference. The two were certainly...

Andy Lee is a professional race car driver and coach and competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as well as the SRO Americas GT Championship with his teammate Elias Sabo. During the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Andy took the time to give us a walkaround on the IMSA GT3/GTD Aston Martin Vantage race car and then gave us another walkaround on the SRO GT4 AM Vantage. During th...

Elias Sabo and Andy Lee are teammates in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in an Aston Martin GTD (GT3) car. Sabo also drives an Aston Martin GT4 car in the SRO Americas championship. At the press day luncheon for the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach we caught up with them to ask about their gorgeous race car and how they became teammates among other things. Sabo was pulling triple du...

Jason Holt is the director and a chaplain with IndyCar Ministry. We caught up with him right after his 5-Minute Pit Stop Devotional at the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. In this interview he tells us about the message he gave race morning and also talks about how the number of attendees has grown to take part in these early Sunday morning meetings during race weekends. He gives us insight in...

Romain Grosjean has raced in Formula One, Indy cars and much more. Coming to the NTT Indy Car Series after his horrific crash in the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix, he hasn’t slowed down at all. After enjoying a podium finish at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach for Andretti Autosport in 2023, we caught up with him just prior to the 2024 event where he talks about switching to the small Juncos Hollinger R...

Karmel Humphrey is the partnerships manager of Cooler Master. At this year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, he had space in the Expo for multiple simulator rigs. During the weekend, there would be a contest to see who would be the top-three fastest drivers on the simulated Long Beach street course. Cooler Master provides a variety of sim components and Humphrey talks about how they compare price-...

In this interview, JC talks about family, Pikes Peak, the Unsers and Andrettis, and how their paths have been intertwined for decades in motorsports. He also gives us some background into his dad “Aggie” and how he became a car owner. He talks about the Turkey Night Grand Prix (an Agajanian Production) which is coming up this Thanksgiving weekend at Ventura Raceway. If you haven’t bought tickets y...

In this interview, JC tells the story of how Evel Knievel and JC Agajanian (Sr.) came together to enjoy a long-lasting, positive, business and personal relationship. Some of Knievel’s jumps are remembered including the infamous Snake River Canyon jump. What was Knievel like in person? Listen in and let JC take you for a trip down Memory Lane. Enjoy! NOTE: For more information on Evel Knievel, plea...

In our last podcast, we met professional race car driver Paul Gerrard. He was preparing to take JC Agajanian Jr. and his wife Franci for a hot lap around the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach street circuit. JC Agajanian Jr. has been involved in motorsports for decades as a promoter including the legendary Turkey Night Grand Prix (now held at Ventura Raceway). In this installment, we get to hear from...

Paul Gerrard is the chief instructor for the AMG Experience which is a traveling road show both domestically and internationally. His racing career started when he won a Winfield scholarship in Europe where he went on to race formula cars. He parlayed that success and did the same here in America. He transitioned to sports cars and has raced at tracks all around the world. He’s earned national cha...

Tony Kanaan has enjoyed a long and successful career in motorsports. Indy 500 winner, and series champion, are just a couple of the titles to go along with his long career. Known for always being in great physical condition to race cars, he’s also parlayed that into multiple Ironman World Championship Triathlon finishes too! We caught up with TK at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach press day wher...

Pipo Derani has made a name for himself in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship by being a tremendously fast racer and especially so in qualifying. In fact, he earned pole position for the first three races of the year (Daytona, Sebring, and Long Beach). He’s a four-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring and he’s also won the 24 Hours of Daytona. We caught up with Derani at the Acura Grand...

James Nazarian Jr. is the Large Project Leader Commercial Motorsports for Honda Racing Corporation located in Santa Clarita, California. At last year’s 2023 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, he gave us a walkaround on “the Beast” Honda CR-V race car. This year, he did the same for their all-new Acura Integra Type S DE5 race car designed to be raced in the SRO TC America Championship in the TCX class...

Ricky Taylor has amassed championships and race wins in the top level of sports car racing. Currently driving for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti in the Acura ARX-06 GTP car, he scored a victory at the 2024 Detroit Grand Prix and a podium with his co-driver Felipe Albuquerque at Road America. We met up with Ricky at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Media Day where he was kind enough to give me...

Felipe Albuquerque is a multi-time championship winning driver and races the Acura ARX-06 GTP car in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti (with teammate Ricky Taylor). We caught up with Albuquerque at the media luncheon just prior to the race at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. In this podcast interview, he gives us a fascinating insight into simulat...

Samantha Tan is a Canadian race car driver in the GT America Powered by AWS professional sports car racing series. We caught up with her at the media luncheon for the 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where she was getting ready to race a BMW GT4 car and has a cool story to tell about how she got to where she is today. She came home from that event with two good results – a fifth in Race 1 and a...

Tina Patel is a TV reporter for KCAL 9 and CBS 2 here in Los Angeles. In the news business there is no typical day when you’re on assignment in different locations every day. At this year’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach media day, we got an opportunity to chat with Tina after she had ridden in the IndyCar 2-Seater and the Acura NSX pace car. She tells us what it was like, what impressed her the m...

Beth Paretta is the CEO and team principal of Paretta Autosport. She’s also a co-founder (along with Lyn St. James) of Women in Motorsports North America. She has an interesting background on how she got involved in auto racing and her story about how she met Roger Penske is a classic. She’s experienced success with SRT Motorsports and she talks about how she got there and the programs that she ra...

Jacqui Lessick is one of the nicest people you’ll meet in the NTT IndyCar Series paddock. She can also be found in the paddock of all of the support series to IndyCar. Typically, she’s there as a support to her husband, Chuck (who is a chaplain with IndyCar Ministry), however lately she’s been reaching out to the women in racing who vary from drivers, engineers, wives, and more. Sometimes it takes...