Suits in DC & Tire Tours

Alexander RossiHost0:00

This is Off Track.

Alexander RossiHost0:03

[car revving]

Tim DurhamHost0:03

To.

Tim DurhamHost0:07

We're joined by a very talkative Alex Rossi today.

Tim DurhamHost0:11

Feels like you're a guest on the show at this point.

Tim DurhamHost0:14

I think James has been doing-

Alexander RossiHost0:15

Why is that, Tim?

Tim DurhamHost0:15

... all the Tuesday episodes.

Alexander RossiHost0:17

All the Tuesday episodes.

Alexander RossiHost0:18

He did-

Tim DurhamHost0:19

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost0:19

... one Tuesday episode-

Tim DurhamHost0:20

Like the last two

Alexander RossiHost0:20

... last week.

Tim DurhamHost0:21

I think the last two.

Alexander RossiHost0:21

No, he didn't.

Alexander RossiHost0:22

I did the one before that.

Tim DurhamHost0:22

Oh, did he not do it two weeks ago?

Alexander RossiHost0:23

No.

Tim DurhamHost0:24

Oh.

Alexander RossiHost0:24

I did.

Tim DurhamHost0:25

Well, [beep] me, I guess.

Alexander RossiHost0:26

That was Marcus Armstrong.

Tim DurhamHost0:27

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost0:28

Uh, what a guy.

Tim DurhamHost0:29

I forgot about that.

Alexander RossiHost0:30

What a guy.

Tim DurhamHost0:30

I forgot about that.

Alexander RossiHost0:30

Yeah, so you can go [beep] yourself.

Alexander RossiHost0:32

What's going on? You know, part of the problem is you don't, you know, actually get good guests, so.

Tim DurhamHost0:39

Yeah.

Tim DurhamHost0:40

Yeah, there's something to be said for that.

Tim DurhamHost0:42

It's 'cause I try to name drop you guys, but them, them names aren't dropping like they used to, you know?

Alexander RossiHost0:48

Who did you ever successfully name drop us to-

Tim DurhamHost0:51

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost0:52

...

Alexander RossiHost0:52

Tim?

Tim DurhamHost0:52

I don't know.

Tim DurhamHost0:53

I'm just, I'm just talking [beep].

Alexander RossiHost0:55

Hmm.

Tim DurhamHost0:55

Uh, what's, what's been going on? We had a weekend without a race.

Tim DurhamHost0:58

It felt weird.

Alexander RossiHost0:59

Why did it feel weird? It felt awesome.

Tim DurhamHost1:02

Yeah? What, what did you get up to?

Alexander RossiHost1:04

Well, I finally finished my pergola that I started in May that, uh-

Tim DurhamHost1:09

Okay.

Tim DurhamHost1:09

All right

Alexander RossiHost1:10

... got delayed for several weeks because of someone decided to go get injured.

Alexander RossiHost1:14

And, um, my favorite quote out of the whole-

Tim DurhamHost1:17

What an [beep] Josef Newgarden is

Alexander RossiHost1:19

...

Alexander RossiHost1:19

the whole situation was, you know, I, I, I'm, I wouldn't say I'm 100% at this point, but you know, I'm, I'm functional.

Alexander RossiHost1:28

And Kelly came out and was like, "Man, I f- I feel really bad that you have to do all this by yourself." And I'm like, "Well, you know, I could...

Alexander RossiHost1:34

You could help me."

Tim DurhamHost1:36

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost1:36

And, um, she was like, "Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost1:41

I could," and then proceeded to walk away.

Alexander RossiHost1:45

So-

Tim DurhamHost1:45

So you married you.

Alexander RossiHost1:47

Uh, behind closed doors, yes.

Tim DurhamHost1:49

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost1:49

Outwardly, I think that would surprise some people, but yes.

Alexander RossiHost1:53

Um, and I thought that, A, that was really rude, and B, it was really funny.

Alexander RossiHost1:58

So, yeah.

Tim DurhamHost1:59

It was definitely funny.

Alexander RossiHost2:00

Uh, I guess I could relate to-

Tim DurhamHost2:00

I'm definitely leaning-

Alexander RossiHost2:01

Yeah

Tim DurhamHost2:01

... more towards the funny.

Alexander RossiHost2:03

Hmm.

Tim DurhamHost2:03

Um, did we talk about how massive the numbers were? 'Cause I think we recorded before that was released, the numbers for the last race.

Alexander RossiHost2:11

Oh, for the race?

Tim DurhamHost2:11

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost2:12

Turns out that, uh, World Cup lead-ins are pretty sick.

Tim DurhamHost2:16

Looking forward to this weekend.

Tim DurhamHost2:17

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost2:17

This weekend should be very interesting.

Alexander RossiHost2:19

Like, there's, there's a very real possibility that, um, it has a higher TV number than the 500, which I don't know how I feel about that.

Tim DurhamHost2:29

That would be insane.

Alexander RossiHost2:29

But it's, like, there's a potential it could be 10 million people, because-

Tim DurhamHost2:34

That would be nuts

Alexander RossiHost2:35

...

Alexander RossiHost2:35

I think they're expecting, like, 27 million to turn, tune into the, uh, the old final of the soccer game.

Tim DurhamHost2:43

For soccer.

Alexander RossiHost2:44

Um, let me tell you, I'm excited and not that mad that the United States lost, because I haven't felt the need to pay attention to one of those boring-

Tim DurhamHost2:52

Yeah

Alexander RossiHost2:52

... ass games ever since.

Tim DurhamHost2:53

Immediately went back.

Tim DurhamHost2:55

I just keep trying to rage bait my European friends.

Tim DurhamHost2:57

I'll be like, "It's all right, we're gonna win the World Cup next year."

Alexander RossiHost2:59

You have friends?

Tim DurhamHost3:00

I have some European friends.

Alexander RossiHost3:02

Right, 'cause-

Tim DurhamHost3:03

Oh, you just mean friends in general.

Alexander RossiHost3:05

Right.

Tim DurhamHost3:05

You were just...

Tim DurhamHost3:06

Got it.

Tim DurhamHost3:06

You were just going insulting.

Tim DurhamHost3:07

That's my bad.

Alexander RossiHost3:08

Hmm.

Tim DurhamHost3:08

What s- what side of whose bed did you wake up on this morning?

Alexander RossiHost3:11

I mean, speaking of insulting some people, let's, uh, let's get right into it.

Alexander RossiHost3:17

Um, Felix, Alex, and David went to the White House to promote the Freedom 250, which-

Tim DurhamHost3:24

Yes

Alexander RossiHost3:25

...

Alexander RossiHost3:25

I thought it's pretty cool to see, uh, like, an IndyCar in front of the White House, uh, do a pit stop.

Tim DurhamHost3:32

Okay, this actually brings up a point that I wanted to ask you about, and I forgot 'cause I didn't write it down.

Tim DurhamHost3:37

Somebody pointed out-

Alexander RossiHost3:38

Hmm

Tim DurhamHost3:38

... that when any other athlete visits the White House-

Alexander RossiHost3:45

Mm-hmm

Tim DurhamHost3:45

...

Tim DurhamHost3:45

they do it in a suit and tie.

Alexander RossiHost3:46

They're not in their suit?

Tim DurhamHost3:48

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost3:48

Yeah.

Tim DurhamHost3:48

[laughs] So, but if it's NASCAR or IndyCar, you guys are in fire suits.

Alexander RossiHost3:53

Not NASCAR.

Tim DurhamHost3:53

So how do you...

Tim DurhamHost3:54

As a driver, how do you feel?

Alexander RossiHost3:55

Not NASCAR.

Tim DurhamHost3:55

I feel like, I feel like when-

Alexander RossiHost3:57

No.

Tim DurhamHost3:58

'Cause there was that moment where Trump was, like, doing something about the tariffs and, and all the Penske guys were there.

Tim DurhamHost4:03

It was, like, Newgarden, and I, I forget who else, some of the NASCAR guys.

Tim DurhamHost4:06

And I thought they were in fire suits too.

Alexander RossiHost4:08

No.

Tim DurhamHost4:08

Were they not?

Alexander RossiHost4:09

They were not.

Tim DurhamHost4:10

Okay.

Tim DurhamHost4:11

Um, I know-

Alexander RossiHost4:11

Okay, then just you guys.

Alexander RossiHost4:12

So how do you feel about that?

Tim DurhamHost4:13

I mean, not good.

Tim DurhamHost4:15

You, you know, one of the biggest grievances I have about my 500, um, like, victory media tour in Manhattan was that, like, I was in a bill boarded up button-down, whereas, like, the past four-ish years, I think five years maybe, like, the drivers have gone in just, like, business casual clothes.

Alexander RossiHost4:39

Mm-hmm.

Tim DurhamHost4:39

And it just looks so much better than you-

Alexander RossiHost4:41

Yeah

Tim DurhamHost4:41

... being there just sitting in, like, a half wrinkled Amazon Basics button-down that's got some patches on it.

Tim DurhamHost4:49

Like, it's just, I don't know, it's lame.

Tim DurhamHost4:51

Um, and it's equally as lame to wear your fire suit.

Tim DurhamHost4:54

Like, obviously the drivers didn't have a choice, so I don't know where the mandate came from, whether it was from the series, the team, the promoter, or whatever.

Tim DurhamHost5:03

But it's interesting, because clearly, clearly there's like...

Tim DurhamHost5:08

There were...

Tim DurhamHost5:10

Not clearly.

Tim DurhamHost5:11

I'm making an assumption.

Tim DurhamHost5:12

So both Alex and Felix were in their, like, normal fire suits, right?

Alexander RossiHost5:17

Mm-hmm.

Tim DurhamHost5:17

But David was in, like, a generic Freedom 250 fire suit.

Tim DurhamHost5:22

So it begs the question, does, like, Verizon not wanna be politically associated with an event? I don't know.

Alexander RossiHost5:28

So I, I saw-

Tim DurhamHost5:29

Maybe.

Tim DurhamHost5:29

Maybe not

Alexander RossiHost5:29

...

Alexander RossiHost5:29

some speculation on that, and then the other counter was, well, David was the one who was driving, and he was driving the Freedom 250 car to do the pit stop.

Alexander RossiHost5:37

So was it that? I don't know.

Tim DurhamHost5:39

I don't know.

Alexander RossiHost5:39

I'm just trying to get some plausible deniability here.

Tim DurhamHost5:41

Very interesting, though.

Tim DurhamHost5:41

So, but listen, I, it always, unfortunately, this entire event, everything surrounding it becomes political.

Tim DurhamHost5:49

It doesn't need to be.

Tim DurhamHost5:50

Um, the fact that IndyCar was promoted at the White House with, like, an entire press event and the President of the United States with three IndyCar drivers in an IndyCar changing tires and doing a p-

Alexander RossiHost6:02

p-faux pit stop is pretty sick.

Alexander RossiHost6:04

So, um, hats off to all those who pulled that off

Tim DurhamHost6:07

All I could think of, though, with the pit stop was how much of an issue it is when the crews go to Canada, right? Like, they go through and there's some people who aren't allowed given some history.

Alexander RossiHost6:18

Sure.

Tim DurhamHost6:18

Surely they had to have a similar screening process for a West Wing pit stop.

Alexander RossiHost6:23

I don't know.

Alexander RossiHost6:24

I mean, I feel like [laughs] Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost6:27

I, yes, I'm sure.

Tim DurhamHost6:28

It should be, it should be at least as difficult to get into the White House as it is to get to Markham.

Alexander RossiHost6:34

What, what blows me away, but also isn't, like, a surprise, but is still crazy to think about, is that for all of the street races leading up to, um, DC, so, well, excluding St. Pete, but Long Beach, Detroit, and Markham, there is, like, representatives and liaisons from the Secret Service that are in attendance just to, like, not for security-

Tim DurhamHost7:02

Get a sense of it

Alexander RossiHost7:03

...

Alexander RossiHost7:03

but just to watch, like, how an event goes, and the structure of it all, and the flow, and the organization and everything.

Alexander RossiHost7:09

So, like, the, the, the research that they are doing and, like, the, the case studies that they are creating in terms of how they're gonna do this event, I mean, it goes pretty deep, which, again, isn't surprising.

Tim DurhamHost7:21

Feel like the Secret Service is pretty good at that.

Tim DurhamHost7:23

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost7:24

Yeah.

Tim DurhamHost7:24

Like, that's [laughs]

Alexander RossiHost7:25

Yeah, yeah.

Tim DurhamHost7:26

That's their thing.

Tim DurhamHost7:27

Um, okay.

Tim DurhamHost7:29

Well, I wish...

Tim DurhamHost7:32

Now, obviously this is gonna feel silly to say because you can't have the President of the United States promote every race, but I wish there would be this attempt at this level of promotion for every race.

Alexander RossiHost7:43

Like, how would...

Alexander RossiHost7:44

Okay, fine.

Alexander RossiHost7:45

I, I guess I agree with what you're saying, but, like, how would you do that for a race in Lexington, Ohio?

Tim DurhamHost7:51

I guess I'm more talking about, like, just having more boots on the ground to do, like, actual promotion in the town before it is.

Tim DurhamHost7:59

'Cause, uh, how often have you heard of people say in a town where there's a race, like, "Oh, I didn't even realize there was a race this weekend"?

Alexander RossiHost8:04

So I will say that that is...

Alexander RossiHost8:06

You haven't been to many races this year.

Alexander RossiHost8:08

Um, I don't know why.

Tim DurhamHost8:09

This year's been different.

Tim DurhamHost8:10

Yes, yeah.

Alexander RossiHost8:11

Uh, but this year, like, we, we talked about it after we came back from Arlington.

Alexander RossiHost8:15

Like, James and I were both staying at a hotel that was 40 minutes away, and when we checked in, they were well aware of an IndyCar race happening in Arlington.

Alexander RossiHost8:22

So-

Tim DurhamHost8:22

Yeah.

Tim DurhamHost8:23

Okay, so this year's been different.

Tim DurhamHost8:24

Yeah

Alexander RossiHost8:25

...

Alexander RossiHost8:25

I think that has changed.

Alexander RossiHost8:25

This year's different.

Alexander RossiHost8:26

Um, and I think the, the ratings and, and the growth of the series back that up.

Alexander RossiHost8:32

Um, anyways, so there wasn't a race this week, but we did have a test in Milwaukee.

Alexander RossiHost8:40

Um, what notable things happened there? Uh, really nothing at all.

Alexander RossiHost8:47

The package-

Tim DurhamHost8:47

You posted a picture that said, "Hello, goodbye" to a car.

Tim DurhamHost8:50

Was that not, did you not wreck it in Milwaukee, or what was that about?

Alexander RossiHost8:53

No, that was my speedway car, Tim, and that was-

Tim DurhamHost8:56

Oh

Alexander RossiHost8:56

... before the test even happened, but cute.

Tim DurhamHost8:58

Okay.

Tim DurhamHost8:58

I just saw it and thought I'd catch up.

Alexander RossiHost9:00

Yep, yep, yep.

Alexander RossiHost9:01

Nice try.

Alexander RossiHost9:02

Um, no one crashed in Milwaukee.

Alexander RossiHost9:04

Actually, that's not true.

Alexander RossiHost9:05

Dixon crashed, but at the end, didn't really matter.

Alexander RossiHost9:08

Um, as always, gonna be a great show, great race, doubleheader this year, so every single team tested there because it's a double points weekend, essentially.

Alexander RossiHost9:20

Um, but nothing, nothing new to expect going into that event.

Alexander RossiHost9:25

Um-

Tim DurhamHost9:25

How, how are you guys looking? I know that you can't read too much into tests, but, like, do you feel good?

Alexander RossiHost9:30

I mean, we're fine.

Alexander RossiHost9:31

I mean, it was probably the...

Alexander RossiHost9:33

It wasn't...

Alexander RossiHost9:34

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost9:34

We're, we were good.

Alexander RossiHost9:36

We were good.

Tim DurhamHost9:36

Okay.

Alexander RossiHost9:37

We were fine.

Alexander RossiHost9:37

Um-

Tim DurhamHost9:38

So predict- You heard it here, Alex Rossi predicting a clean sweep.

Tim DurhamHost9:41

Pole and win both races.

Alexander RossiHost9:43

I s- I said we were fine, Tim.

Alexander RossiHost9:45

Um-

Tim DurhamHost9:45

He said, he said he's gonna win it handedly.

Tim DurhamHost9:50

[car revving]

Alexander RossiHost9:51

That's really all I have to tell you guys.

Alexander RossiHost9:54

Uh, before Mid-Ohio, actually, there's one other thing.

Alexander RossiHost9:57

Um, I got an invite from Firestone to go to their...

Alexander RossiHost10:05

Ah, I'm, I, I mean, it's, it's a pretty secret, uh...

Alexander RossiHost10:10

What is it called? It's, it's essentially the...

Alexander RossiHost10:15

I'm gonna look up the exact terminology, but it's essentially the Bridgestone Advanced Secret Facility of Magic Tires.

Alexander RossiHost10:25

Um, that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but-

Tim DurhamHost10:26

It's, like, their R&D department?

Alexander RossiHost10:28

Correct.

Alexander RossiHost10:29

I can't find it.

Alexander RossiHost10:30

Anyways, essentially they're, they're skunk works division of, um, the, the greater company.

Alexander RossiHost10:39

And what blew me away, I can't give all of the details because I was sworn to secrecy on, like, 90% of the information that was shared to me, but what blew me away was it is a relatively small building that only, the only thing that comes out of there is IndyCar tires.

Tim DurhamHost11:01

Sure.

Alexander RossiHost11:02

There is less than 100 people that work there, and every single tire, every single tire is made by hand, start to finish.

Tim DurhamHost11:14

Really?

Alexander RossiHost11:15

And I was, like, flabbergasted by that.

Alexander RossiHost11:17

And they are actual, like, artists at work building these tires and s- and, and some of them are generational.

Alexander RossiHost11:26

Like, I met, um, a father-son duo that work there that the grandfather had worked there and in the same building producing tires for IndyCars.

Alexander RossiHost11:37

And it's just-

Tim DurhamHost11:38

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost11:38

... like, it, uh...

Alexander RossiHost11:39

I asked, I was like, "Well, in, in this day and age, like, obviously the automation technology exists." And the answer was, "We operate these tires on, like, such a..." They're pushed to such an extreme in terms of, like, the limit of the materials and the construction and everything they use, not only from a- Performance standpoint, but from a durability standpoint, that the only way to get the tolerances to where they need to be is to do it by hand.

Alexander RossiHost12:11

And it's like, that's-

Tim DurhamHost12:12

That's crazy.

Alexander RossiHost12:13

It, it's pretty amazing.

Alexander RossiHost12:14

Which also gives me a lot more appreciation, you know, for...

Alexander RossiHost12:19

It's easy for us to bitch about, like, testing-

Tim DurhamHost12:22

Yeah

Alexander RossiHost12:22

... tire quantities, and, like, how many sets you get, and, "Oh, why are we testing on a tire from last year?" Or, "Why do we get three tires from last year and only one tire for, like, the upcoming year spec?" And all this sort of thing.

Alexander RossiHost12:35

It's like, well, because they're made by hand.

Alexander RossiHost12:37

And, um, it takes, it takes w- essentially one working day, like o- uh, one, uh, man hour day.

Alexander RossiHost12:49

Is that the right way of saying it?

Tim DurhamHost12:50

Okay.

Tim DurhamHost12:51

Sure.

Alexander RossiHost12:52

So essentially one 16-man hour day, which is two eight-hour shifts to make a tire.

Tim DurhamHost12:59

Each t-

Alexander RossiHost12:59

Yeah

Tim DurhamHost12:59

... and not, not a set of tires, each tire.

Alexander RossiHost13:03

Yep.

Tim DurhamHost13:03

So it takes eight days to make a set?

Alexander RossiHost13:05

No, it would take four days.

Tim DurhamHost13:06

Or sorry, eight shifts.

Tim DurhamHost13:07

Eight shifts to make a set.

Tim DurhamHost13:09

So four-

Alexander RossiHost13:09

Yeah

Tim DurhamHost13:09

... four days.

Alexander RossiHost13:10

But, but-

Tim DurhamHost13:10

That's insanity

Alexander RossiHost13:11

...

Alexander RossiHost13:11

so, but that's, but they have more than one person.

Tim DurhamHost13:13

But I mean-

Alexander RossiHost13:13

Right, so no

Tim DurhamHost13:13

... that's how much time goes into each making-

Alexander RossiHost13:15

Right

Tim DurhamHost13:15

... into making each.

Alexander RossiHost13:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Alexander RossiHost13:17

Exactly.

Tim DurhamHost13:17

Uh, yeah.

Tim DurhamHost13:18

So you can never complain about tires again.

Alexander RossiHost13:21

Well, that's not true.

Tim DurhamHost13:22

Do you think that was the plan?

Alexander RossiHost13:23

I c-

Tim DurhamHost13:23

Do you think they were like, "Hey, let's shut him up" [laughs] Like... [laughs]

Alexander RossiHost13:28

No, so here's, here's, here's what I did.

Alexander RossiHost13:30

I, I got a lot of appreciation for some of the challenges that they have.

Alexander RossiHost13:38

Because ultimately, the, uh...

Alexander RossiHost13:41

Let's, let's talk about what Firestone has to go through.

Alexander RossiHost13:45

So Firestone as a, as a business, right? Their number one priority is to make a profit, right? And the way-

Tim DurhamHost13:55

Bold move

Alexander RossiHost13:56

... and IndyCar is ultimately a marketing arm of Firestone, and Bridgestone Americas, and the greater Bridgestone company.

Alexander RossiHost14:06

And so the number one thing that they cannot have, or the number one thing that is very bad for business, is tire failures, right?

Tim DurhamHost14:14

Mm-hmm.

Alexander RossiHost14:15

So priority number one for Firestone is make a tire that's robust, safe, doesn't fail, okay? Priority number two for Firestone is make a tire that, you know, meets the driver's demands of what they want from a performance aspect, a feel aspect, and a consistency aspect.

Alexander RossiHost14:34

But number three is they have to, like, f- tread the line between safety, performance, but also what the series, the tracks, and FOX want from the product and the show that they put on.

Alexander RossiHost14:51

So whether that means the type of oval racing that we have, whether that's, um, oval racing with super high deg, whether that's oval racing that's pseudo pack racing.

Alexander RossiHost15:02

On a road and street course, the separation and difference between the primary and the alternate, um, how big of a delta that is in terms of straight up performance, and also how much of a delta it is from the, the durability of the tire and, like, how much longer an alternate or, or a primary lasts than an alternate.

Alexander RossiHost15:23

So Firestone has to, like, find this middle ground that is appeasing all three parties, and that's a, that's a very hard thing to do.

Alexander RossiHost15:33

So when it's kind of explained to you in that way, and you go and understand the level of engineering that goes into making a change to a tire, like, I can't talk about it, but I was like, my jaw was on the floor.

Alexander RossiHost15:47

Like, you would not believe how small of a change...

Alexander RossiHost15:55

You would not believe the effect of a, of a minuscule change, like how big of a, of an effect that has on either the durability or the performance of the tire.

Alexander RossiHost16:04

So anyways, um, very eye-ope- very eye-opening, very cool to see.

Alexander RossiHost16:08

Appreciate the invite.

Alexander RossiHost16:10

And yes, I have a much deeper respect for-

Tim DurhamHost16:12

Man, this has been a banner year for tours

Alexander RossiHost16:15

... people at Firestone.

Alexander RossiHost16:16

Well, JPL.

Tim DurhamHost16:17

Lockheed Martin, JPL.

Alexander RossiHost16:19

Lockheed Martin.

Tim DurhamHost16:20

And, and then-

Alexander RossiHost16:20

Honestly, the best, the best two tours I had were Lockheed and Firestone.

Tim DurhamHost16:25

Oh, [beep] you.

Tim DurhamHost16:27

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost16:29

Do you know why?

Tim DurhamHost16:30

'Cause I was at JPL?

Alexander RossiHost16:32

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost16:33

For sure.

Tim DurhamHost16:35

Um, okay.

Alexander RossiHost16:36

[laughs]

Tim DurhamHost16:36

Well, that's, that's, that's mean.

Tim DurhamHost16:38

That's hurtful.

Tim DurhamHost16:39

That's unnecessarily hurtful.

Tim DurhamHost16:41

Okay, so I know we're gonna talk about this more at length on the Thursday episode when Jimmie Hinchcliffe gets back from gallivanting in Europe and whatever I'm sure he's doing on some yacht somewhere.

Tim DurhamHost16:55

But, uh, feeling excited for Nashville?

Alexander RossiHost16:57

Am I feeling excited for Nashville? Um, I'm feeling indifferent about Nashville, Tim.

Alexander RossiHost17:03

It's, uh, it's, it's always a weird, it's a weird event.

Alexander RossiHost17:06

N- uh, they do a, a great job with the production.

Alexander RossiHost17:09

Um, it's just, I just, I miss, I miss being in Nashville.

Alexander RossiHost17:15

I, I, I don't know.

Alexander RossiHost17:15

I don't know how else to explain it.

Alexander RossiHost17:17

Like, it's-

Tim DurhamHost17:17

I was thinking about how cool that road course was, or street course-

Alexander RossiHost17:20

Right? Like-

Tim DurhamHost17:21

...

Tim DurhamHost17:21

I mean, sorry

Alexander RossiHost17:21

...

Alexander RossiHost17:21

it, it was just, it was sick to be in Nashville.

Alexander RossiHost17:24

And w- while this tr- while the, the speedway is, is a nice speedway, it's, it's unique.

Alexander RossiHost17:31

The race is pretty good.

Alexander RossiHost17:32

Turnout, fan turnout's great.

Alexander RossiHost17:35

As I said, the production quality is awesome.

Alexander RossiHost17:37

Um, but yeah, you just miss that energy of, of all cities as well, right? Like, Nashville is comparable in so many ways to, like, Las Vegas, and Lebanon, Tennessee is not.

Alexander RossiHost17:50

So-

Tim DurhamHost17:50

And not, not as many, not as many bachelorette parties in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Alexander RossiHost17:54

No, no.

Tim DurhamHost17:55

Not none.

Alexander RossiHost17:55

Much, much less.

Tim DurhamHost17:57

Not none.

Alexander RossiHost17:57

Not none.

Tim DurhamHost17:57

But, but not nearly as many.

Tim DurhamHost17:59

[laughs]

Alexander RossiHost17:59

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost18:01

And, and that's what we, we all care about really is the bachelorette parties.

Tim DurhamHost18:04

Yeah.

Alexander RossiHost18:05

Clearly, like that's, that's our gauge of a good city.

Tim DurhamHost18:08

Well, all right.

Tim DurhamHost18:09

Sounds like you had a more eventful weekend than I did.

Tim DurhamHost18:11

I went to an antique store with Kenna and got a microphone, 'cause I was like, "Oh, this would be cool.

Tim DurhamHost18:15

I could use that to record Off Track." Not as good.

Tim DurhamHost18:18

It does not sound as good as this new digital microphone that I use, so.

Alexander RossiHost18:22

[laughs]

Tim DurhamHost18:22

Who'd have thought that an antique microphone would not sound as cool? And, like, I was hoping that at least it would sound really old, and I'd sound like old-timey announcer.

Tim DurhamHost18:30

It's like, nah.

Tim DurhamHost18:31

It's just not as good, so.

Tim DurhamHost18:33

That's my whole story-

Alexander RossiHost18:33

Ooh

Tim DurhamHost18:33

... for my weekend.

Alexander RossiHost18:34

At least, uh, at least you can't return it.

Tim DurhamHost18:38

Yeah, no, all sales were very final.

Tim DurhamHost18:40

They made that clear.

Alexander RossiHost18:40

Mm-hmm.

Tim DurhamHost18:41

Um, so yeah.

Alexander RossiHost18:42

It's like they knew.

Tim DurhamHost18:43

All right.

Tim DurhamHost18:44

Well, I will see you on the Thursday episode.

Tim DurhamHost18:47

[car revving]

This has been Off Track with Hinch and Rossi.

Off Track is part of the SiriusXM Sports Podcast Network.

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Off Track is produced by Tim Durham, and by that we mean Tim.

[car revving]