Conor Daly's Roller-Coaster Ride to IndyCar

Putting your life on the line. There's not a lot of sports where you can then go out there and die. It's like another world inside of an already crazy world If you know you can do it, continue to try to create an opportunity for yourself to prove that Formula 1 dream ends. Like how were you doing internally at that point? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get IN, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. Mark your calendar. We are headed down to Brown County on July 26th for a Hard Truth Bourbon & Barbecue Festival. Get ready for a smoky, savory, and spirited weekend at Hard Truth in Brown County. Join me at Hard Truth Distilling Co., the weekend of July 25th and 26th for an unforgettable celebration of bourbon, barbecue, and good times. We've got live music rocking from nine until noon with four different acts, bourbon and barbecue, tastings and pairings, bourbon blending and cocktail crafting classes, as well as a VIP bourbon and cigar lounge. They also have interactive competitions and outdoor activities, bourbon barrel roll races, barbecue tossing, cornhole tournaments, $10 entry for a $300 prize. If you're a good cornhole player, hit me up. Let's. Join up and they have Axe throwing as well. Me and my team are gonna be down there and I'll be releasing a full weekend itinerary for Nashville slash Brown County that is guaranteed to be a great time. Tickets for the hard truth, Bourbon & Barbecue Fest start at $10 for general admission that gets you entry into the festival, the live music, and pay as you go food and drink. For $35 you can get the barbecue sampler, fast tastings from all the barbecue competitors or for $75 you can get the VIP ticket where you get VIP lounge access, premium bourbon tastings, and a guided distillery tour by Master Distiller Bryan Smith. I'm in. I'll see y'all in Brown County the weekend of July 25th and 26th. Now let's get into the episode. Today I'm joined by Conor Daly, a second generation race car driver from Indiana, whose career has taken him from karting victories to the USF Pro 2000 title, to competing in the IndyCar Series and NASCAR as well. Son of former F1 and IndyCar competitor Derek Daly, and part of a family deeply connected to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Conor embodies the innovative, relentless spirit of Indiana. Today we're gonna be talking about the ignition of Conor's racing career, what life in the fast lane looks like, and the business of IndyCar and how that all works. Conor, welcome to Get IN. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me, dude. I am pumped for this one. So, all the listeners I know we had Doug on, a few months ago, and he talked about the, the one story that I was like, I have to reach out. He was talking about how. On race day, you like spend some time or go check out the Snake Pit as like a pre-game ritual sometimes. And I was just like, wow, this a man from my own heart. Right. That's fun. You know, Doug being my stepdad, you know, thankfully he's you know, he's, he's very aware of everything that goes on at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 'cause that's his, his, place of work. I love everything about. The race and one of my side things that I enjoy is music. Like, I love, like the EDM side. Like I love those festivals. That would be cool. I, I haven't got a chance to go to a ton of 'em 'cause I'm kind of busy in my life with racing. But yeah, I, I love everything about the Snake Pit. I've had a lot of, I've made a lot of friends in the music world too, so a lot of my friends have been able to come and play the Snake Pit and every time people come and play they're like, this is the craziest thing we've ever seen. Which it is. Like it, the Snake Pit's insane. Like you have 30,000 people inside of the biggest event in the world, which is, you know, the Indianapolis 500. so yeah, it's, it's been my tradition like nine 50 ish in the morning, to like 10 10, is, is kind of my window of, of operation over in the Snake Pit. And every year I've actually put all the Snake Pit artists on the back of my helmet that I use for the race. So I try to get all of 'em to sign it before the race. I've never been able to get all of them there to sign it because everyone kind of comes in at different times. Obviously famous people have schedules that are cooler than than ours. So, you know, people fly in, in helicopters close to when their set times are so. Yeah, I've tried to get all the artists to sign it. they seem to kind of enjoy the, the collaboration and it's kind of fun to see what their reaction is. But yeah, it's, I love the Snake Pit and I love the Indy 500, so why not go check it out? Who, who's been your favorite artist that's played there? Well, I only get to see about 20 minutes of, of the Snake Pit. So, and I try to just at least chat with some of the artists before. 'cause like our goal as a series in the Indy 500 is to like, make people more aware of IndyCar, like people. Everyone knows what the Indy 500 is. That's kind of like a general common knowledge in the United States of America, thankfully. But we needed to let people know that like we also have like 16 other races that you can watch too. And like our series needs just more general awareness. And a lot of these popular artists, they can, if they go and tell people like, Hey, I. I dunno if you guys have been to an IndyCar race before or know about IndyCar, but it's sweet. That's cool. So if I can kind of generate some sort of, you know, attraction for our series, that's, that's my goal. Like, it's just try to think marketing some of the performances, like it's hard to select one out, like some of the fire and the, the activities that are going on there. Like when Steve, like when I got up there with Steve Aoki, like Steve Aoki's energy. Titan, right? Like that guy is incredible. And I've known Steve for a little while now. That was some of the craziest thing ever last year. I got up there with Sullivan King and like that was one of the coolest things ever, like, with just some, some amazing photographs from that, event. But all of the people seem to appreciate the fact that. On that day, like they're actually there for our event, you know what I mean? Which is kind of crazy 'cause normally everyone is there for them, but realistically they're all there for us, which is the one day in the whole year that that's gonna happen. But, but it's pretty cool to, to kind of be there and, and just see how people react to it. But also just see how happy everyone is in the crowd. Oh dude. And it's like another world inside of an already crazy world. You're just like, and you're like, oh yeah, that person, they're here for the Snake Pit. Exactly. And that person's here for the race. And it just goes back and forth and I love it. And we're gonna get into more of like the business of IndyCar and just traditions of the Indy 500. What I wanna dive into first, how does someone, you know, get to that point? Hmm. I feel like a lot of other major sporting events, right? Let's say football for instance, you go from. You're a really good high school football player. You go to college, you get drafted, you know, maybe you're on the scout team, practice team, and you, you know, get to start on Sundays eventually. With racing, it's a little bit different. So where'd you get your start? Yeah, I mean, it's not really a school sport, that's the thing, but, but I always tell people it, it is very much the same as if you're gonna play in the NBA or the NFL. You're probably gonna start in elementary school. You're probably gonna do the little middle, middle school team, you know, high school. You gotta spend all those years. I was doing the same thing with racing, like when I was 10 years old, I started racing in go-karts and, and there are small go-karts, you know, little, you know, 10, 15 horsepower little engines. You know, Whiteland, Indiana is where I started, which is still there. It's a much, much nicer track. Now your first race was in Whiteland? Whiteland, Indiana. Yeah. And and then New Castle, the New Castle Motorsports Park that was created by Mark Dismore and all the folks out there that wasn't built yet when I started. But then when it was built, it was, I mean, that's one of the greatest tracks. In America for go-kart racing. So like thankfully we have it here in Indiana, which is really nice. One of the greatest go-kart tracks in the nation is in New Castle and maybe even the world. Yeah, yeah. No, way what makes it so great? It's just the high quality of the circuit, like the, the, facility, the track itself is super nice. everything about it for go-kart racing is, is, is massive and, and awesome. So I was very lucky to kind of have that and, and Josef Newgarden Obviously very successful driver. He grew up in Tennessee, so there was no real, the the, the best go-kart track for him was to come to New Castle. So that's, we, both of us started racing at the same spot. And obviously, you know, if, two people can come from the same go-kart track, that's probably a pretty good go-kart track to get started racing at. So for real, yeah, we learned a lot of, what we know now, starting at New Castle So, man, yeah. So, okay, you're on this track. You're racing go-karts at 10 years old, and how do you know? Like, I feel like with like I many we're gonna do keep pulling the thread of comparing it to like basketball or football, right? Yeah. So like if you can dunk when you're in eighth grade or whatever, you're like, okay, this guy is good, but like, like, hey, this, you have a professional career in this. Mm-hmm. Where do those decisions start to unfold that, like what age group? Well, I mean there's, so same with kind of like. Any other sport there? There's probably like a regional level. There's probably a national level, some sort of bigger competitions. Same thing with go-kart racing and, and go-kart racing. It sounds like a fun carnival game. It's not. It's actually very professional like that. That's where you start racing. You know? We're, me and my dad, we had a trailer. We had a little go-kart. We show up to the races regionally. you know, if you do well there, there's a national scene, right? There are people competing kind of from all around the country. And then there's a world level too, where people from all around the world come and compete in go-kart races too. And, and there are different levels, right? So you go from smaller go-karts, slightly faster go-karts, maybe more senior division. You go from juniors, which is like ages like 10 to 14, and then the senior division is like 15 and up. and so yeah, we kind of go through those levels. If you're following the trajectory to be like a professional racing driver, you really can't spend much more than age 10 to 15 in go-karts. Like when you're, when you're 15, you gotta be in cars. Now you gotta move up to the car level. So again, it's like any other sport. We go through the, the younger levels go-karting, you know, regionally. Nationally. and then it's like, okay, if you're winning at all those levels, it's probably time to try to figure out how you get into a race car. And where was like the notch on your belt where you're like, man, I have a future here. Like, was there a big win or an accolade that you received? I always say that I actually wasn't the best. Go-kart racer. I, I won a lot of races. I was very, very lucky to, you know, be in, you know, great competition, you know, racing against, I'd say Josef Newgarden all the time was at, at the time we didn't know, but turns out that was a good person to base yourself against, right. Josef Newgarden. You had, Ricky and Jordan Taylor, who are now professional sports car racers, like at the highest level. You've got guys that, you know, Gabby Chaves was, was a racer against us. He raced in the Indy 500 multiple times. There are guys that, we were in this small group of kids that didn't know where we were going. Turns out everyone ended up being a professional race car driver. So you, you didn't know at the time, but, but that you had to beat those folks. And thankfully I was able to win some, you know, regional championships, some national championships, stuff like that. And there wasn't much else you could win. So, but now I I, I wasn't the most dominated in go-kart racer, like for sure. I, I, I, I don't, and I would say Joseph would agree with this too, like we weren't. Probably the the highest level of go-kart racers, but sometimes that's how it works. If you get into a car and then when you get into a car, the field is maybe a little bit more contained to like, these are the guys or girls, like these are the drivers that kind of made it through go-karts. They got the chance to be in a car. You try to get a scholarship system going, like there are scholarship systems in racing too. Like if you win this scholarship, you know the. The level of car racing is funded for you by like a manufacturer or a series or something like that. So you try to get into those series. and once you're in that, if you can prove yourself at that level now, you're now, there is one trajectory now that there is like a road to Indy. Like there's four series where if you can win in those series, you can self scholarship your way to IndyCar. So if you win. That's the easiest way to do it. Now, not everyone can win, obviously, and there are still people who don't win those championships, who make it in our sport. But there is a roadmap and like NBA, NFL, there is a roadmap, but there's a lot more positions in that roadmap. Right? There's 64 college teams that make the NCAAA tournament, right? There's 53 players in an NFL roster. There's, you know, several players on an, on an NBA roster. For us there's 33 spots at the Indy 500. So like, that's it. There's no other division. It's a very small amount, small group to make it. Yeah. And where's like the most. Cutthroat, I won't say cutthroat, but like where's like the most selective level? Like, okay, let's say there's a hundred kids that come outta the cart series. They make it to get into a cart 15. Where's like the, they get drafted or like the, or like you go the un the other route, it's undrafted free agent and like work your way up. Like where's the most like. A selective level act. There's three kind of directions that you could go. Most of us that start, like on the road racing, go-kart stuff, you either go IndyCar, F1, well, you're trying to go to those two. Right? Those are the goal, and for my goal, it was originally IndyCar. Then I was like, okay, you have one chance to go to Formula 1. So I moved to Europe when I was 18 to race in like the F three series and the F two series to try to pursue Formula 1. And by yourself? Yeah. I'm in a, pretty much by myself. Yeah. You're 18 years old and you moved to Europe. Those are my college years. Yeah. So my college years were, were spent racing in Europe and trying to be a Formula 1 driver and, and and yeah, that, that's kind of how you have to do it. You only have one chance as a, as you're growing up to pursue that. And did, so you have to take it. Was that always the goal? Did you know like, Hey, I wanna graduate from Heritage Christian and I want to go to Europe? I, I think so, yeah. I mean, for me personally, there were no Americans in Formula 1 when I was that age. So. I really wanted to be that guy. That would've been awesome. Formula 1 is the highest level for sure. The NDY 500 is the biggest event in the world. But there, you know, the NBA, the N, the NFL, the MLB, like those are the three ball sports that are the, and, and in motor sport it's the same thing. They're all cars. Different cars. But those are the professional series where you can all make a living at, at the highest level of sport. Right? And all the athletes that are in the MLB, the NFL, the NBA, probably respect all the athletes that are at the highest level of their respective ball sports. Same with racing, right? We all respect what's in Formula 1. The Formula 1, drivers respect what we do and we respect everyone on NASCAR because that's, that's just motor sport. Oh, those kinda like the big three. Those are the big three. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you go over to Europe, you're racing F three. Yep. One. How do you end up getting a team to take a chance on an 18-year-old kid? To get behind what I'm assuming is a very expensive car. Thankfully, I had won all of the championships over here, so in, in, in America, the, the Road to Indy Championships, I won all of them on the way up. So thankfully, you know, when we made the step to Indy Lights, which is now INDY NXT, which is the, the step right below IndyCar, the scholarship system wasn't quite. I just like identified as like, Hey, you have to go to IndyCar now. It was kind of like, well, if you win, here's a scholarship, but we don't really, we can't really force you to go to Indy Lights or INDY NXT. So we were like, look, we want to go to Formula 1 and if we can try to do this, we've only got one shot at doing it. And so that was actually okay at the time. Now the scholarship is basically like if you're in America, you gotta stay in America. If you go to Europe, you have to try to go over there and we kind of jump ship. From America to Europe. And when you say we, what do you mean by we? I just always say we, 'cause it's a team effort. It's like me and my, you know, my, my family that was supporting me and, and the sponsors that we had at the time. Supporters that kind of get around us and help us. But so, so you're 18, you go to Europe, but family doesn't come with family stays in America. Yeah. And you're like hooked up with a team over there. Yep. And you're driving, are you like making broke college student money or are you like, oh, you're not making any money. There's no money to be made. Yeah. You don't really make money in this sport. Well, it's really hard to make money in general, but, and I think people don't really realize that everyone sees in 500 you're making 85 or you're probably rich. That's not true at all. Like that's the dumbest thing ever. Actually never assume, ever rich experience what people are making. I promise you that. That's. The one thing I've learned in sport and life, never assume that if you're in sport, you're like making money. That's crazy talk. And you, you never assume actually anything unless you actually know what's going on in the sport. Because it's, it's crazy to know. So, so you're over there, but it's like you're pursuing the passion. You're young, you're like, yeah, you're living the dream. You're trying to be a race car driver. You have to be successful. You know? And when I was in Europe. You know, I, I had won everything over here. Thankfully I was very lucky to do that and pursue kind of what I wanted to do. But when I got over to Europe, you got, you're racing against more of the best in the world, right? Guys, guys that I was racing against was the Carlos Sainz Jr., the Daniil Kvyat, the, not quite Max Verstappen. He was a little bit younger than we were, but the guys that are over there now. That are successful. Those are the people that we were racing against. Valtteri Bottas was the first year he obvious obviously was a very successful in Formula 1. Carlos Sainz Jr. Is still over there in Formula 1 driving for Williams. Now Daniel Ricciardo, those, that was the kind of the group we were racing with growing up and, you know, we were successful over there. So I was signed by a Formula 1 team, after my first year over there racing in Formula three as kind of like a test and reserve driver for the Sahara Force India Formula 1 team, which is now Aston Martin, which is where Fernando Alonso is now, and Lance Stroll. So we were doing what we needed to do. But you have to win everything. And I won enough to get to a certain point. And then my year of 2013 was if I, I had to win the F three championship to kind of continue and I got wrecked with one race to go, so I didn't win the championship. So these things happen, you know, we finished third in the championship 'cause we, we didn't score enough points. But we were leading the championship with one race to go. You get wrecked, your life changes, things alter. So we end up back in America, which is fine, man. I got How old were you at that time? In 2013? I was like 21. I I just 20, 21 I think. Yeah. You're 21 and you're like on the path. On the path. On the path and Yeah. You know, circumstances happened. Like, was that, is that devastating at the time? Yeah, it sucks. I mean, I actually knew and I told everyone around me. I was like, my career, my European career is over. That's it. Because you, you kind of know like if, if I win the championship. Things go a certain direction, you get a little bit more involved in the formula. Formula 1 team, you go to Formula two with a good team, good situation, you're still supported. There's only one person that wins and the person that won the championship went to Formula 1. So I, you know, and it's that, it's, it's that that cut throat, that's throat, yeah. There's only one person. So, and they're not just like the team's like, Hey man, you know, you could have. No, you know, they'll try again next year. Yeah. It's rough. Yeah. So do they boot you out and bring someone else new? Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, someone else gets a shot at it, someone, someone else wins the championship for sure. But it is what it is. I mean, that's how the sport works. I'm very proud to have won over there to have got, you know, we, we were on the podium fucking th 13 times in, in two years. Like definitely prove that we could win and be successful against the best in the world, which is awesome. And I learned a lot about it. Who was the first American that made it in F1? Well, I mean, way back in the day, you know, Mar you, there was, there was more Americans way back in the fifties, 60 Mario Andretti, you know, Scott Speed was a guy that I grew up knowing. His name, Scott Speed. Scott Speed, yeah. Name. So he was informed one with Red Bull name. Yeah, for sure. And then he went to NASCAR as well. And he. Still involved in kind of the Red Bull system over there. But, Alexander Rossi was an American in Formula 1. Obviously he's an IndyCar now. he didn't really get the fairest shift shots at all in Formula 1. He was at the worst team in the sport, but still an American that made it to Formula 1. And then obviously Logan Sargeant was a kid who was racing in Formula 1. Probably, again, not the fairest of shots, but he did score points as an American win in Formula 1, which is great. We never really get the fairest of shots. They hate Americans over in Formula 1, which is kind of a shame. That's a, a deeper and longer story, but we gave it a shot. We were successful over there. We won races. We have a lot of respect with a lot of those guys in the paddock now, and it's fun to kind of. Still be friends with a lot of the guys in Formula 1, because as you know, Formula 1 has exploded now, and a lot of those guys are still friends of mine because we, you know, we grew up elbowing each other and trying to be what we could be. Yeah. And that's a professional driver. Yeah. I mean, and it's like a, it's a career, right? It's like when one person makes it and then Yeah. You're 21, very small group, you're 21 and you're international. Formula 1 dreams are kind of over. Yep. Not kind of over, they are over very over. Yeah. And, and so you come back to the US and you're like. What do I do now? Yeah, I mean, everyone said, oh, you can always come back to America for sure. And, and that was not really the, the answer. It, it was tough to come back to America because there are still a lot of drivers that, you know, Josef Newgarden chose to stay in America, went to IndyCar, and there are not many seats in IndyCar too. And there are a lot of drivers from all over the world that are fighting for those positions. So it took me really a ye. Like two years, like 2014 and 15 doing, you know, 2014, I didn't do any IndyCar races. I was kind of on the outside looking in, doing a part-time season in Formula 2 racing in Europe, but kind of racing in America, but kind of trying to just do whatever I could do. Not making any money, just living on people's couches, just trying to get. Where I could be, go to all the IndyCar races, drive the two seater. I was driving the IndyCar two seater, trying to just be at all the races and be there if I could. What does driving the two seater, what does that mean? Oh, just like I, you know, there are drivers that are IndyCar drivers that drive the IndyCar two seater. That's that kind of take, you're just there, but you're driving guests of sponsors and people around, but it's still an Indy. It's like, it's like a, a tourist attraction type thing. Yeah. It's like the, it's, it's the, it's, it's our IndyCar version of a. Great rollercoaster ride, you know what I mean? But a lot of, but they have to have IndyCar drivers or professional drivers to drive it. Like Mario Andretti was driving it. There are special professional racing drivers that are driving it because it's still a race car. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's something that gives the fans an opportunity or, or partners in the series, an opportunity to experience a little bit about what IndyCar is. Yeah. And from like, an emotional, like internal perspective, like the foreign dream ends. Yeah, you're coming back over here. You're trying to find that like identity and get back to being a professional driver. Get to the highest level to make, get a job. Yeah. Like how were you doing internally at that point? It's hard. I mean, I still had this dream and everyone kept telling me, they're like, oh yeah, you can make it. You can make it. And it's like, well there's opportunities are still hard. You gotta fight for it. And I was kind of managing myself and had had people that were supporting me. But realistically, to be a professional, you have to be there. I was always at the track. I was doing whatever I could to be there, take advantage of an op. You know, I, I was, I got into an IndyCar to substitute, you know, for, for an injured driver, like in 20 14, 20 15, and that was like, oh, that was my first shot. And then kind of prove myself a little bit there. Like, okay, I got in. Made no mistakes was really quick in the race. We didn't have a great race like we finished, you know, we didn't finish well. But there are small things that you can do as a young driver to get the right attention. Don't make mistakes, don't put the thing in the wall. Be fast at a certain point like we did the second fastest lap of the race or something like that. And it doesn't, doesn't matter if you finished 20 if or 18, but it's like, oh, well everyone else was in the race and everyone else was doing that. You know, was also doing that and you were the second fastest LA Oh, that's kind of cool. That's interesting. And so you, you, you make certain appearances. You know, I substituted for James Hinchcliffe when he got injured in 2015, finish sixth in my like, second race ever. So like, you're okay now we're at the front. We're, we're figuring it out. And so getting in at the right time, making a difference with the right opportunities that you had, which is, you know, two or three races in 2015 got me a chance to be a rookie in 2016. So you do everything you can with the opportunities that you get. And that provides you an a chance to compete full time in 2016. So 2016 you get to be, an official rookie. Rookie. Yep. Yep. Right. And so what team were you with then? I was with the Dale Coyne Racing team then, which is obviously still a good team. A lot of young rookies have raced for Dale Coyne Racing. and yeah, it got to great work with a great engineer and a great team there. We finished on the podium very early on. We were very fast passed more cars than anyone else during that year. We got a. A watch for it. Thank you. TAG Heuer. That was cool. but yeah, it was, it was a great opportunity with a small team, low budget, you know, small operation, made no money. You know, my salary was $0, but I, I had a chance to race way. Yeah. You're racing the full IndyCar series as a rookie and you're making $0. Yep. Yeah, it's crazy. It's actually the dumbest thing ever, dude. See that's like, what, what I think people think like, oh, they're on tv or they're there. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's like millions are just coming in. Yeah, and it's like, I mean, it, I, I made some prize money, like, but it, I think I was, I fit in the tax bracket of like, I made less than $26,000. So I wasn't, you know, it was, it was, I made some money. Yeah. But. Realistically, all of your expenses are covered. And I, and I, thankfully James Hinchcliffe was letting me live with him for free, so I didn't have any living expenses and I, I got a car to drive around for by, from, you know, the whatever manufacturer you're driving. So like you, you can live like, it's fine to live, but you're definitely not like buying things and like living a lavish lifestyle. There's no retirement, 401k plan that getting funded. Okay. Wow. So 2016, you're a rookie. You're, you're rocking and rolling there and I mean, obviously there's adversity and things come up there like. Take us through. I mean, now you're back in the seat full time. Oh, yeah, yeah. But take us through like these last seven year, eight years. 20 16, 8 years, that's, oh, yeah, yeah. Now it's 2025. Yeah. Like kind of the ups and downs of this piece of like, accelerating in that career. You know, it's a long story and I, I'm not gonna bore anyone with it, you know, if, if you know my career, you know, my career and I've been through, you know, I've done over a hundred IndyCar races now, and I've been in the dumbest situations possible, but I've been in some great situations, but I've never really had. you know, I've never really been in the, the best position ever with the best team, a ton of funding behind us and the right stuff. But I've always tried to be there and I've always tried to give myself an opportunity to compete. I, I have a podcast as well, the Speed Street podcast that we talk a lot about, about my career. If you wanna check it out, please do. but, yeah, I've been through a lot. I've been very lucky to get opportunities that I have. I've also created a lot of opportunities for myself. You know, I, after my rookie year, I got paid to be a racing driver, but it wasn't the best team. And you have to be in the best team at the right opportunity with the right situation to get the results for yourself. So it's, again, it's it's right place, right time, right situation, and you have to do the best you can with what you have. But sometimes if you miss out on the. The right opportunity. You may never get it. So for me, I, I have had to create opportunities for myself with sponsorship, right. And, and gaining, you know, these partnerships that are, you know, we had the U.S. Air Force as a sponsor for a while that created an opportunity with the Andretti Autosport team. Andretti IndyCar now, and which is, you know, an amazing opportunity. But that was two races. But then that got me an opportunity to go, you know, generate a situation with the Ed Carpenter Racing team, which again. Wasn't the best situation overall as people know for me, but it was a situation that I could be in. It was the only situation that I could be in. But then that, you know, one opportunity creates another, but you have to continue to fight to be in this sport. If there's, and that's what I did. If there's a moment. From Yeah. That so far in the IndyCar career that you're like, I am really proud of that race finish. Yeah. Or this thing that you did. Like, what is that pinnacle moment for you thus far? I mean, I think it's, it's my very first podium in IndyCar, which was 2016, but then it's my last podium, which was a completely a different time in my life. And that was last year, you know, from 2016 to 2024. That's a long period of time, and a lot of people didn't like what I was doing because. There were a lot of not great results, but there were a lot of, you know, if you really paid attention, you're like, well, some situations we did lead the Indy 500. We could have won the Indy 500 in 2021. I think we should have won the Indy 500 in 2021. But again, things happen. Things, you know, we had a, we hit a tire that flew off another car and damaged our car. So, you know, there are small opportunities that our potential to be successful in this series never goes away because of these small things that are like, if you really paid attention, and if you really do. Look at what's going on. I can do this job and, and when I show up and, and you have no preparation for, for what the pro true professionals are doing. And we still finish on the podium in Milwaukee last year, that was the biggest thing I think for me. you know, my first podium, the, the podium was Sebastien Bourdais and Juan Pablo Montoya, two of the best drivers in our sport. And, you know, my, my next podium was Will Power and. Pato O'Ward, Pato O'Ward, who are two of the best drivers, I think, in our sport right now. So you're, you're up against the best. You're competing with the best. And now that has created an opportunity for me now to, at 33 years old, to have another full-time opportunity with, the Juncos Hollinger racing team, which is. A good team, a growing team. Now again, we're not the best team. We're, we're not right at the very top, but we're growing and, and I want to try to create this opportunity for myself to stay here, to help this team grow and compete at the highest level. So, it's a long story. I've had a lot, you know, you could talk about it for a long time. But again, the, the whole goal and, and what I always tell people is just you can't, if you, if you know you can do it. Continue to try to create an opportunity for yourself to prove that this episode is brought to you by our friends at Roots Realty Co.., the absolute best real estate team here in Central Indiana. Listen, if you're looking to buy and sell or invest in real estate, you need people who actually care about our Indiana community. That's Tyler and Max over at Roots Real. These guys aren't just slinging houses, they're building communities, helping people find homes that actually fit their lives and making the whole process way less stressful. They're not some big corporate machine. They're real people who know Indiana inside and out. Whether you're a first time buyer, an investor looking for your next deal, or just trying to get top dollar for your home, these guys have the expertise and the hustle to make it happen. They're out here doing great work, not just in Indianapolis, but all across central Indiana and beyond. So if you're in the market, or even if you're thinking about it, hit up Tyler Max at Roots Realty Co. and they'll take good care of you. Check them out@rootsrealty.co or meet them in person at one of their upcoming investor masterclasses. More details on their website, rootsrealty.co. Let's get back into it. That's incredible. And when you say 33. Like when you think of the lifespan of an IndyCar driver Yeah. At the highest level. Like what, what are the peak years? Or like, where does it start to be like, here you're, is, is there a time where you're too old to do this? Well, Scott Dixon proves that you don't Yeah. There's no age, right? Like Scott Dixon is, is late thirties. I don't even know how old Scott Dixon is. I don't think his he ever ages. He, he's like 39 maybe, almost 40, 38 years old. Who knows? But, Scott Dixon has six championships. You know, we look at Will Power, who is also Scott Dixon's 44, Scott Dixon's 44. Exactly like is he really? Is he 44 years old? That's crazy. That's what, that's what Google says. Google says, because he's from New Zealand, right? Yep. Yeah. 44 years old and he's still winning so. That's 11 years older than me. Right. So I, I think that there's plenty of opportunity if you're in the right situation to do this. I, I think I'm the fittest that I've ever been now, and there are a lot of young drivers who are doing incredible things right now in IndyCar, but there are also a lot of veterans who have more brain power than the young drivers do right now. Right. So there's, there's the, there's. Being a psycho young gun, which pays off. But there's also being an experienced veteran who knows to use that experience and to be able to take advantage of the right opportunities at the right time. So there's really no peak age yet, but there is eventually you will fall off for sure because there is a physicality that this sport demands that is so hard to drive these cars physically that you have to stay ahead of. So there's kind of a lot of different things that go into this. Yeah. You say the fittest you've ever been, and I don't think people think about that, right? Yeah. It's like, yeah. When, when you say about like fit, like what are you, you talking about cardiovascular and weight training and all those kind of things Like take us through like just a quick dive into the physical aspect that it takes to drive in any car. Yeah. I mean racing is, is without a doubt, I think physically the hardest thing to do in the world right now. IndyCar racing because what people don't realize is that your heart rate during a road street, Revent is an my R rate at least, which I wear a heart rate monitor in the race is. You know, average of one 60 to one 70, right? That's very high. You're running a marathon, running a marathon for two and a half to three hours and driving a car that has no power steering. So you're try holding two 30 pound dumbbells in your hands and fighting that for two and a half hours as well, and pulling three to four Gs to five Gs on your core, your shoulders, your body. It's 130, 40 degrees in the car. Okay, now you're sweating out 10 pounds of water weight during the race. Okay, well, well, that's hard too. Shoot. now you're strapped in. You've got blisters on your hands. You're fighting this wheel. The, the, the car is 1600 pounds. You're fighting that. So all of these things, people have no idea. I can't tell you to go outside and do that. I can go outside right now and throw a football and know that I am not gonna be a quarterback. Right? I can go outside right now and shoot a three pointer and know that I am not in the NBA. Right? But I can't tell you to do that with a car 'cause you would just die on 4 65. You know what I mean? So that, that's impossible to do. And I don't recommend trying to be a race car driver on the interstate because that's not safe or smart. But you can go to an indoor go-kart track and you can go to like a place like Speedway, indoor karting, or Fast times on the north side in Keystone. You can get in a go-kart that doesn't have power steering, you can get in there and I will go there with you and I will beat you because it's what I do. It's what we do. And then you can physically feel, oh wow, my forearms hurt after doing in 20 minutes of that. Well that's level one of a thousand. You know what I mean? So like that's, that's kind of what I, I always tell people to do. Go to those indoor go-kart places. Go race against some of the people that do it a lot more than you do there and you can experience kind of, hey, level one of how tough what we do is. Yeah. I think that a lot of people think that it's just the car. Oh yeah. It's like, oh yeah, the car does all the work. Yeah. Dude, I, it's hard. I can't even, it's hard. I did the, there's a sim at Juncos, right? And I was, and even just the sim that gives you some pretty good resistance. I'm like, dude, three hours. Like that's not easy. Yeah. You're, you're out there putting your life on the line. 'cause what we're doing is also dangerous, right? There's not a lot of sports where you can go out there and die. In it, you know what I mean? So like, you're kind of like a gladiator of, of modern day, of just like going out there, putting your life on the line, putting your body on the line to, you know, and our cars are very safe nowadays. It's not necessarily like the eighties and, and the seventies when you were, you know, those guys were true crazy people. But I. It still is dangerous, but we are prepared to do that because we want to do that and we, we love what we do. I wanna get into a little bit of the business behind IndyCar. Yeah. And one thing that I think is interesting, you think you make it there and all of a sudden millions of dollars in every sponsor ever and all of these things, like where is the moment where you start to like, you know, hit the superstar level? Like where do people get and they're like, oh, we're making. Good money and you're feeling kind of famous and a celebrity. Yeah. And all those things. Well, I mean, again, re results bring you the, the fame and the money. You, you, you have to win to, to make money. Right. And, and I have not won Indie Gar races yet. Like I know that I'm very, you know, up, up to date with that. And so you have to create the opportunity to win though. But there are only certain teams that will give you the opportunity to do that. Right. And some of the best teams. You know, Penske only has three seats, right? Penske's the top level in our team, right? Or the top team in our sport. Ganassi probably the, also the top team in our sport. Only three seats there, right? So it's very hard to get those top seats. It's very hard to win in our sport. But winning does create success. but also if, if you want to create. An opportunity to win. You have to fight to get to those seats. Right. And for, you know, the, the drivers that, that get there, yeah, those guys are making good money. There are some drivers that are making good money, but there are also drivers who aren't Right. But you, you want to get to a place where you can do that. There are a thousand different ways to make money in the sport, which is hard for us, that are not quite with the top teams. You gotta create it. You gotta go out and fight to prove that IndyCar is the business that you want to be in. Right. And there are a lot of great sponsors and, and, and businesses that realize how good it is to be in this sport and how successful, you know, you can be in this sport, but you're also fighting, you know, racing is a, is is a show, right. It's, it's a, it's entertainment. So what else is also. Entertainment. The NBA, the NFL, the MLB, the NHL. And so how many businesses are in those sports? A lot. So you gotta fight with all those businesses. You gotta fight to make sure that our business is the most entertaining to create an opportunity to spend money in this sport. We have the largest attended sporting event in the world, right? The Indy 500. That's awesome, but how can you also sell that to the 16 other races? Right. The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, which is March 2nd, the, you know, the race in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, which, which is April 13th, which is one of the coolest events, I think, in Motorsport, you know. Wait, what, what makes it the coolest one of the events? Well, it's, it's an, it's an event that was a Formula 1 race. It's an event that my dad did. It's a street race. In the streets of Long Beach, California. It's right on the water. It's an incredible street race that that brings out 180,000 people over the weekend there. So, you know, but again, it's something that maybe not everyone in the United States knows about. You know, we have every single race this year on network Fox. Watch all of them. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because. All of us that compete in that single largest attended sporting event in the world at the Indy 500 are doing it 16 more times across the country, in Canada as well, in Toronto. And so that's what we have to do. You know what I mean? We have to make it. Known that we are doing that and make it so that every weekend it's can't miss tv. And so you as a driver for Juncos, how much are you thinking about the business of it and like every day. Every day. Like I don't think people realize that. You think, okay, all you need to do is go out and focus on not dying. Yeah. And racing this car really fast. That's important, but, but you're also focused on how to make a business and how this thing is gonna stay solvable so you can. Continue to race. The goal is, again, to be the best racing driver that you can be. And again, a lot of people will debate you on where your focus needs to be. And, and, and I will completely agree that you gotta be focused on producing results that at the end of the day, is the most important thing to keep you around and to be in this sport, but to also generate business for this sport. You gotta be an entity that people wanna follow. You gotta be an entity that people wanna support. You gotta be an entity that wants. You know that, that people want to buy stuff around, right? You gotta be a, an entity that people wanna support with merchandise. You gotta be someone that, you have to be supported by companies, by all kinds of things, and that takes effort too. So you gotta do it all to stay around. Who do you think? Within the IndyCar series is doing a really good job. Like you think of NIL name, image likeness. Yep. Money coming in from having, you know, social media following and doing appearances and stuff. Who's crushing it on that side? Pato O'Ward's the best, right? Really, Pato O'Ward is the best at the overall business, the overall entity of being a supported driver. You know, he's, he's a, he's a driver from Mexico. Sports fans in Mexico. The race fans in Mexico get behind their guys or girls, right? So they get behind it and that's huge. And he plays into that hard. He's got billboards in Speedway, Indiana that say patowho.com. That's Pato O'Ward. Like that guy is buying billboards for himself, which is a crazy thing to do, but it's awesome. He's got the highest selling merchandise. He's got incredible things going on for himself. He wins races. He can, he hasn't won the Indy 500 yet, will he? Yes. Those are guys that I have to beat. Right? Those are guys that you have to go out and beat on a daily basis. Dude, heartbreak, right? Yeah. Like it's, it's hard to do that, but it's also, I was on the podium with Pato O'Ward right in, in Milwaukee, and, and he won that race and, and he was the guy that. You know, you have to fight against, right? So that's cool. Like you, but, but, but that's who we're up against. So Pato I think is the best. I think Josef Newgarden is one of the best, obviously two time Indy 500 champion, multiple time Indy 500 champion. But he is also someone that is in a Fox commercial right now that is looking like the coolest person on the planet, right? You know, an elite athlete. He looks cool, he goes out and wins races, smoking, hot wife, you know what I mean? Cool. Family like, great. Thinks he's got a son that's probably gonna be the most incredible person in the world because he is an athlete and his wife is smart. Everyone's smart. So you gotta be the best you can be. You gotta create that. You gotta make it look cool. And that's what IndyCar is doing. That's what Fox is trying to do with IndyCar. So again, you gotta fight against all those people. You gotta create it for yourself. You gotta continue to cont, like make people watch what we are doing because I think what we are doing is crazy. And cool and fun and awesome and like knowing, the guy or gal, the driver that's in the seat and knowing who they are outside of that is, I mean, that's part of it, right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Like you wanna be someone that people support. Yeah. And you being, you said the only driver from Indiana, kind like the home state guy. Yeah. I think you are someone that the state can get behind and support. I would love that. Yeah. We would love that. Yeah. Make that happen. No, and I am supported too. Like I, I. Love the fact that I am from Indiana for sure, like you mentioned. And I love the support that I get. And man, it's, it's so cool to, to be able to compete for fans and to compete for the support that, that, that, that people want to give out there. So I am thankful and I am so happy to be in this game. And it is a, it is hard, like I've just, like I've mentioned, but it's so cool to feel that and I love being a part of it. When, I mean, when you walk around Indiana, is it just like people know, oh, that's Conor and like. Like, you're pretty well known. I no, I, I think so. Yeah. And I would say so. And it, and it means a lot, right? Like, I love being that guy. Like I love being from this place. I love being a Colts fan, a Pacers fan, you know what I mean? I love being a sports guy that is in this. This state. It is something that if I win the Indy 500, when I win the Indy 500, which is the plan, you know, we want to do that. You know, we want to do that for the people that support us, which is really cool. Do you feel pressure from that, like being the hometown guy, the Indiana guy racing the biggest sporting event in the world, in your home state where you grew up at, like I feel like that'd have to be. Like, add some pressure to the shoulders, like you wanna put on for the state? Is there pressure? Yeah, of course. I mean, I, I, I love it, but it's also something that I think is, that's what you do, right? You show up to be under pressure. You show up to be the best that you can be. And, and, and it is cool to feel that, right? You know, at the end of the day, if you do the best that you can do every single day. To be the best that you can be. You know, you just hope that that is worth supporting, right? And and I love that and I'm excited to wake up every day to be the best athlete that I can be. And I love to hopefully continue CR to create a positive and exciting experience for folks that enjoy the Indy IndyCar Series and folks who enjoy racing in general. We want to let people know that if you support IndyCar racing, that is awesome. And if you support the Indy 500, that's awesome, but we also hope that you support the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. We also hope that you support every other race in the season because it's cool to be an IndyCar fan. Yeah, and I, I think that Indiana does a really, really good job. Of balling out for the Indy 500 for sure. Right? Yeah. It's like tons of companies have sweets and they're this and they're that and they're going there on carb day and this, and I think that we kind of, can get into the mindsets like, oh, I support, I support Conor because I go to the race, or I support Conor because I go, which is true, but there's other ways. And you think back to the business of this like, yeah, the only reason you get to raise is 'cause you're on a team. Yeah. The team has sponsors. Yeah. And what are ways that you see Indiana businesses that. One, what ways do you see Indiana business getting plugged in more on the team side and what are opportunities, if there's a business leader out there that maybe they've done the sweet thing before and maybe they'll continue to do that, but they want to invest even more into the business of IndyCar. We have supporters on our team, you know, when, I dunno when this gets released, but like we, we are gonna have sponsors, right? You know, the MannKind Corporation, which might be a supporter of mine, which is a supporter of mine. Which I have type 1 diabetes. So if you have a company, a group that creates you know, an opportunity to support a type one diabetic athlete, they go check them out too. The returning. Champion of the Indy 500, what's the title? Sponsorship dollar amount roughly on their car versus like brand new rookie to the field, like car 33, like an overall budget if you want to talk about it. Right? So to be a part of an IndyCar series sponsor, right? You would love to be able to raise like a million and a half dollars. For the Indy 500. Right? For one race. Would For one race, right? Like it's the Indy 500 costs, essentially a million and a half to be a part of, for sure. For, for you to get a car. Without a doubt. To be on the car. Yeah, you gotta do that. Well, it could also be more than that, right? Like if you, like, we want to sell the sponsorship for Indy 500 at two and a half million dollars because I think it is worth that. Right? We can see it. We, it costs money to do this. Right. Tires, engines, people. Yeah. It's hard to be a part of it. It costs money to be a part of it. And that's, those are the numbers behind it at times. Mm-hmm. Is it $10 million to be a part of this sport for the full season? Absolutely. It is $10 million to be a part of it. Well, and like I think that they, what they don't think of is how much it costs to run a car. Yeah. Like if, if I was just Jeff Bezos. Yeah. And I wanted to say, I want the Jeff Bezos racing team or whatever. Yeah. Like you're for was Amazon Yeah. A lot of money to just like run a car. Yeah. Like it's hundreds of thousands. If not I, millions. Millions of dollars. Yeah. Because there are people, there are teams and cars that just raced the Indy 500 For sure. Yeah. Right. And I don't, I don't know off the top of my head, but I know that, yeah, the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team, which is the team that I drove for last year. Great group of people. Yeah. Yep. And they want to do that at, you know, $2 million per car. Right. They want to do that at $3 million per car because it is important to do that. You gotta go out there and do it. Right. Wow. It's awesome. That's the, the, it's worth that though. I think so. And people, you have to make it worth that. Yeah. And it, and it's all about how you leverage it, right? Yeah. Like someone, like a big brand, like a Pennzoil or whatever, you know, it's like, okay, maybe. They're definitely getting their value outta 'em. They're spending a ton of money. Look at 'em. Oh sure. And they love it. Right? It's worth it to them. Pennzoil and the people that fo focus on winning and being a part of a great team. Guess what? They won in the 500, so that's cool. Yeah. And it's worth it for them. Right? And it's like you and then all the digital assets and all the this that. Yeah. And I think some people, it's like, oh, they just slapped my logo on the car. Like what? And it's not just that. Yeah. There is so much with it is there a world where there's an all electric IndyCar? I don't like it, personally. Oh, there we go. No, I, I, no, I, I, I think that there is an incredible support for our, you know, technology and electric racing. I still think that there is so much that we can do with the internal combustion engine and electric motor sport, right. So, and technology, but. I don't know what the best part is, but for me personally, I love fast, loud cars. Right? Love, like here in the Rumble it, it would just not be the same if it was just like the Tesla IndyCar goes by. Yeah. Or just can't hear. I dunno. Yeah. I don't know if I'm into it. Okay. Well, one more question on that topic. When do you think an autonomous IndyCar will beat a human being? I don't think it ever will happen. I hope it doesn't way. Yeah. 'cause. You'd eliminate a lot of jobs. Right. And I don't think if people, I don't think people would enjoy it. I really don't think it's cool. No one wants to watch like a, it gets cool, but no one wants to watch an algorithm. No. Race, another algorithm. No, absolutely not. Who wants to support people? People, yeah. Right. Why? Why do you watch the Indy 500 to see a driver B better than other drivers? Yeah. So guess what? You have to be the best driver. I, you're not gonna be the best thing, I dunno. Yeah, right. Definitely. So it's cool to be a car. But it's also cool to support the emotional aspect of the driver who is weeping because they won and it is awesome. If I had to guess, we're gonna give this to Netflix for free. Netflix, here's your idea. I think they're gonna get, within the next five years, maybe 10 years, you're gonna get the best, smartest people to put together an an autonomous car. And we're gonna see it on Netflix. Best driver in the world versus smartest people in the world. Like man versus machine. I dunno if it's like a hundred laps or whatever it's, you know, and I can see it's like turning on Netflix and watching this one-on-one. Maybe. Yeah, maybe that would be like the Jake Paul boxing match, right? Like that's a Netflix original presents that You can have that idea for free. Just like cut. Get in a check when you get there. Man, this has been so fun. I've loved learning more about the business behind and how you got into IndyCar and. And just like the process, I think there's a lot of misconceptions around it for sure. I think you did a good job of, of clearing a lot of that up and. Knowing how we can support other than just showing up and having a good time and turning three also like, yeah, buying merch and buying beer. Yeah. That's cool. But yeah, it's awesome to be a part of this game. Well, I have some fun segments here at the end. Yeah. kinda our lightning round and our younger year segment. I'd love to get into those. Sure. So the first one is, brought to you by our friends at Orr Fellowship. They're a great organization here in Indiana helping develop young business leaders across the state. So Conor, what advice would you give to your 22-year-old self? Always, enjoy. What you do. Right? Always enjoy those that support you. Right? Always try to never burn bridges, right? So it's important to never upset a group of people that have been behind you, right? Just create something cool, create a connection, and never burn bridges. I would say that just don't burn bridges. Enjoy, just try to make people enjoy supporting you and whew, don't burn it away. What's your favorite tradition around the Indy 500? Well, when I went to the race. As a fan, I loved just, supporting my favorite driver, right? So if you, if if I wake up and I love, say, hey, when I was growing up, I loved Dan Wheldon, right? I loved, Sam Hornish Jr. I loved all these young people that were involved. Support your favorite person. That's that's good advice. What drivers throughout have inspired you the most? Dan Wheldon was one of my favorites. RIP. Dan Wheldon, we love him. Tomas Scheckter. I love Gil de Ferran. I loved Tony Kanaan was one of my favorites. And I also got to race with him, which is sweet. Isn't that crazy? Like, you like stay around long enough and you get to race your heroes. Yeah, that was my fun. Isn't that cool? That was my, that's awesome. That's my favorite thing to do. What's your pre-race ritual? I don't have a ritual. I don't, I don't, I don't think it's cool to overthink. Right. But I love waking up and seeing that it is race day. Right. Your dad raced an F1 in IndyCar. What was the best advice you ever got from him? It is difficult, right? So he said every day you gotta be the best. What are the most historic racetracks besides Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana? Well, I love the New Castle Motorsports Park, right? It's, it's, we have a great. go-kart track out there. Yeah. Which is sweet. The Whiteland Raceway Park. Right. And it's cool. Kokomo, right? There's a lot of incredible dirt racing experiences here. There's a lot of great places here where you can go racing, so it's cool. Yeah, I was just down at the Salem Speedway. Salem Speedway, yeah. The high banks. Dude, that's a wild place. Super, super cool. all right. What's something the world needs to know about Indiana? I think people from Indiana are super nice. Indiana hospitality I think is important. We have so many conventions, right?. We have incredible sports here, right? Yeah. We have so many things. We have a professional volleyball team now, right? Indy Ignite. Its great. Yeah, Indy Ignite, so that's awesome dude. And there. That's awesome. Great sports in Indiana. Yeah, I think it's incredible. They're hosting the volleyball pro, the professional volleyball league, all Star game. Yeah. At the Fishers Event Center. I love that best. The best volleyball players in the country come here. I love Indiana and I love sport. Right? Yeah. It's awesome. And we now we're gonna get a one more, dive into a piece of Indiana that you love. You get to share a spot or a thing that people need to go check out. What is a hidden gem in Indiana? Shoot, I just had Hotboys Chicken right in, in Indiana. That was awesome. That was really cool. Yeah. Yeah. yeah. There's one in Carmel. There's one downtown in fountain Square. Yeah, they were awesome. Hot boy. Shake it sweet. It was awesome. Real. I don't. I'm cool. I'm, I'm gonna hate on, yeah, it's like Dave's Hot Chicken is, is good. It's not bad, but Hotboys is. Oh man. Crazy good. Yeah, it was awesome. So one of my favorite places in the world is King Dough. I love pizza. Oh, so King Dough. I love them. They're sweet. It sweet. Like that bougie fancy pizza too. Oh, hand. So good. They were awesome. Livery is my favorite restaurant. I love Livery. The, chicharron chicharron is, oh dude, those things go crazy. Love Livery. I love. Coaches. That's my favorite. Bar. Tavern, yeah. Coaches Tavern. That's a good little spot. Great people there. I was at Coaches Tavern when, remember when we hosted, the national. Championship for football. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was there and I think a bunch of Georgia fans were in there. Oh yeah. And they were, it was rowdy, dude. It was a good time. Yeah. So those are good spots, man. I love it. Dude, it's been great to get to know you and and your story and your journey. It's incredible. I do have one final thing I have to show. So one of my good friends from back home in Northern Indiana, I. Huge IndyCar fan. Nice. And he just sent me a picture of you and him in 21. He made a model of your Indy 500 car, since they didn't produce it. Oh yeah. And he, so I don't know if you know this is Taylor Somos. Oh wow. Yeah. Nice. He was, he was like, dude, I made a model and gave it to him and he had nothing but great things to say about Awesome. About you from when he met you back then and, he was super pop. So Sully had to give you the shout out on the top. Love that. Yeah. Thank you dude. Keep up the great work in the month of May, right? In Indianapolis. Everyone's all about IndyCar. I think we can do a great job of supporting from down in. St. Petersburg to Long Beach and all the different, there's 17 races in the series. Absolutely 17 races come out. Check it out. Right? I now, I now have my new official, not that he wasn't already, but my official, this is my public statement, my favorite IndyCar driver. I'm gonna be sporting 'em all season long. They the hometown here out. If you're an Indiana guy, gal, Indiana, anyone, you need to be behind Conor and the team at Juncos, they're doing great stuff. All I ask is. Just watch one other race, right? Or two, right? So if you say, Hey, I love the Indy 500, go watch another one. Right? Go watch Detroit. Go watch Iowa. Oh shoot, go watch Road America. Go watch Laguna Seca. I don't know. Who cares? Just watch one or two other races. There you go. That's what we would love you to do. Do that. You do that and and then we're gonna watch Conor win the Indy 500 coming up. Up too. Amen. Appreciate you coming on, man, and we'll talk soon. Thank you. Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This show is made possible by our friends up at. Sweetwater, whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations@sweetwater.com. If you want a behind the scenes look at everything we're doing across the state. Make sure you follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Hoosier State. Great. We'll see you next time here on Get In.