The Couches That Made Us

"Rico".... It's one word that everyone in the sport of open wheel dirt track racing knows. Rico Abreu has led the way on track, in social media impact, shirt sales, and practically every other metric in sprint car racing. But he didn't get to where he is today without the help and guidance of some very special people. From karts in California, to fireworks wars in the Southern In...

In Part 2 of Justin Grant on The Couch, Justin explains some of the life lessons he picked up from fellow racers, car owners and his future father in law while carving out his own path in the sport he loves. Justin goes down memory lane and shares some of his best times living and racing with the people who helped him become who he is. Part 2 of Justin Grant on The Couch is one of the shining exam...

Justin Grant has stayed with lots of people, in lots of different places in order to race lots of different cars. From Ione (eye-own) to Indianapolis, Grant has lived the classic life of a big time dirt tracker's life if only it were 60 years earlier. Starting as a pre-teen, Grant began riding couches and guest beds to get to outlaw kart races. Today he's a long way from the guest rooms, and shop...

Clinton Boyles is in a truly great place both professionally and personally today. But he will be the first to tell you that he took the hard way to get there. Boyles has been a star of the Flo Racing broadcasts of the Tulsa Shootout and the Chili Bowl Nationals every winter for the last several years. He has raced, and worked on almost everything in dirt track open wheel racing that there is. And...

Racer turned broadcaster Dillon Welch left home in the Hoosier state to chase opportunity in the Tarheel state. Welch sits on the couch on a FREEZING day in December to tell the stories of the people and places that got him on to some of racing's biggest broadcasts in the last 10 years. This and all episodes of The Couches That Made Us are also available on Youtube and Apple podcasts. Manufact...

From The Couches That Made him... to HIS couch and guest room that helped make TLP. Chris Wheeler is a mover and a shaker in the world of big time IndyCar, dirt track and grass roots racing. He has been a crew guy, a spotter, an announcer, a promoter, a driver agent, and a whole lot more. By his own admission, Chris is an Indycar lifer who has not always taken the easiest route to get to a variety...

Conor Daly is one of the most popular names and faces in Indycar, and American motorsport today. He has been a true journeyman in a world where that isn't the norm it used to be. Simply put, Conor goes anywhere and everywhere to drive race cars. Today that means bouncing from team to team, but not so long ago, it meant surfing couches and guest rooms of friends and even competitors. This and a...

Artie Carpenter grew up racing go karts in the Pacific Northwest. But before he would graduate high school, the happy go lucky racer would suffer loss and heart break. Much more than a couch was afforded to the kid who just wanted to make things go fast and have fun with his friends, and he ended up becoming a member of a family that didn't share his last name. In this conversation Artie and h...

In the second half of Logan Seavey's time on the couch, he finishes up talking about racing with, and for one of his best friends who he stayed with intermittently. Logan explains what it's like to live inside of a house attached to a race shop, and what flying to the other side of the world to meet your new roommate and his family ON CHRISTMAS can involve. ### Logan Seavey has scratched, clawed a...

Logan Seavey has scratched, clawed and fought his way to the top of the USAC world. And he's done it all while being one of the nicest, most unassuming racers. Coming from being paid to race as a teenager at Red Bluff Outlaws, to criss crossing the globe to race midgets and sprint cars, Logan has slept and woken up in the homes of friends and employers as he has become one of the best on dirt...

Levi Jones has loved the sport of Sprint Car racing with his whole heart his whole life. He grew up near the heart of USAC Sprint Car racing and resigned himself very early in life to doing whatever it would take to race Sprint Cars as long as he could. From seven driving titles with the United States Auto Club, to working at IndyCar, to his current role of running the Eldora Speedway, Jones did t...

The Couches That Made Us is about exactly what it sounds like it's about. The Couches, Guest Rooms and more importantly, the people who offer them up to the racers trying to make their way. Christopher Bell is a star of the NASCAR Cup Series today. From leaving home as a teen to test the waters of 410 sprint car racing, to moving across state lines to live with stars of the sport of dirt track rac...