It's Not the Car – Details, episodes & analysis

What happens when famous actors go fast? Not just Cool Hand Luke. Also Tom Cruise, Patrick Dempsey, and many others, including that guy I can’t remember from that one show. (You know—that dude with the hair and the face?)

Spoiler: There is crashing! But that’s not the point.

Ross has coached Hollywood celebrities. Jeff once worked with Paul Newman himself. Plus, we dip into the weird and wonderful story of the 1977–2016 Long Beach Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. Which was basically Formula 1, except the part of Max Verstappen was played by Carlton from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Ross Teaches Sam a Thing.”

Related Trivia: Jeff and Sam were at the VIR IMSA race last weekend, working and slapping INTC stickers on children and livestock. So many people found us in the paddock to share how much they enjoy this show! Thank you—we really enjoyed meeting all of you!

(Except you, Tom from South Dakota. You know what you did.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠

⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠

⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠

⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Cheats II: Electric Boogaloo! Back by popular demand, like before but more! Firsthand accounts from an INTC host who works in the paddock!

Our first installment of “How Pro Racers Cheat” was back in May. We didn’t intend for this to become a series, but you loved it and asked for more. We could have said no, but that would be lame, and then we wouldn’t get to hear Jeff Braun talk about race cars with mercury pumps. (Yes.)

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Jeff Shares a Secret.”

Like last time, this episode is just Jeff and Sam. Ross was off gallivanting around the country. You know, gadding about! Jazzing around! And other such language I certainly didn’t just lift from an online thesaurus!

Related Trivia: Sam will be at this weekend’s IMSA race at VIR. He may have INTC stickers. If you see him and want one of those stickers, all you have to do is utter the super-secret code phrase: “Hey Sam, can I have a sticker?”

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠

⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠

⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠

⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Everything you always wanted to know about a sliding car but were too cool / afraid / busy paying for a chunk of Armco to ask.

Okay, maybe not *everything*.

Popular questions not addressed herein: Why is a slide? Who I win track day? Is them car better have more dinner-roll stiffness?

Have you ever really *looked* at your hands?

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode’s format is called “Instant Expert.” Know squat about the topic? Pull up a chair, we’ll bring you up to speed. Expert already? Pull up a chair anyway, it’s chill, you’re among friends, we got stories.

And none of us have ever, ever made a mistake in a race car and we are all perfect and know everything why do you ask? 

Related Trivia: Sam usually says some stuff here, but he threw out his back two days ago while washing his wife’s VW and the prescription painkillers have him even more of a gibberbot than usual. Also please feel free to make jokes about the kind of person who might injure themselves while… washing a car. 

Scrippy drugs ain’t hurt his writes ability though, gsgflippa fruppo see if I don’t!

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Once, a long time ago, a brave man went to a beach and tried to drive faster than anyone ever had. He did not survive.

This is his story.

Perhaps you saw the date in this episode’s title and thought, “The 1920s? Prehistoric! Swipe left, bruh, yuck!” Which is definitely a take.

Some people think the past is a dull place. Nothing to do with who we are or where we’re going.

Those people are—if you’ll pardon my French—stupid.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history. In this case, the story of Welshman John Parry-Thomas and the 180-mph stack of steel and chains that killed him.

Related Trivia: A YouTube commenter asked how old Sam is. Sam is 43 years old. Everyone who hears that is surprised. (Insert joke here.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

https://www.instagram.com/intcpod

https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/

https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/

https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/

⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod

https://rossbentley.substack.com/

https://speedsecrets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Free bonus episode! To celebrate the release of Sam’s new book, “Smithology,” we’ve released one audio excerpt, read by him, every Monday for a month. This is the fourth and final installment.

The book’s full title is “Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003–2023.” It’s an anthology of Sam’s writing for car magazines over the last 20 years.

Today’s story originally ran as a column in Road & Track magazine in 2016. It’s called “Indoor Storage.”

“Smithology” is available on Amazon in print and as a Kindle e-book. (There’s a link further down in this episode description.)

Enjoy!

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

Is this a free bonus episode where Ross and Jeff break down and analyze the 2024 Indy 500 and 2024 Monaco Grand Prix? Indeed!

Sam is on this episode, but he mostly just listens, because he didn't watch either race this year. Boo hiss, that guy, what a chump, right?

Wait, doesn’t Sam write these episode descriptions?

Isn’t he just talking to himself right now?

Also: Why are there so many free bonus episodes lately?

Also also: Is this the closest INTC has ever come to resembling a traditional friends-yap-without-direction podcast?

Answers, in order: Yes! Only sometimes! How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat any meat! And, well, perhaps! Forty-two!

Related Trivia: INTC’s producer, Mike Perlman, is on vacation this week, so this episode was edited and assembled by Sam. 

Trivia Related to the Above Trivia: Make no mistake, Mike is way better at that job. For his part, Sam has stared at some audio-editing software for too many hours today and he’s a little slap-happy from all the molecular analysis of WAV files and he was so engrossed that he kind of forgot to eat dinner, see, and it’s late, but you know what, the fridge is full of beer because Memorial Day and the kids are in bed so screw it beer dinner plus empty stomach—what could go wrong?

Also, you know what just occurred to me? I think we need to buy Mike a pony when he gets back. As thanks for putting up with us.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠

⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠

⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠

⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠

⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠

⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Secrets dished! Stories told! Firsthand accounts from an INTC host who works in the paddock! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll ponder the nature of human morality!

This episode’s title implies a question. For the long answer, press play. The short answer is, “very effectively.”

Sometimes.

Mostly.

(Insert push-to-Penske IndyCar joke here.)

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Jeff Shares a Secret.”

This episode is just Jeff and Sam. Ross couldn’t make it—he was busy [redacted] a [redacted] while [redacted] because the moose had [redacted]. But that’s okay, because the Dallara was [redacted] and you can really only eat so much [redacted] before you [redacted] anyway, right?

Related Trivia: We could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon www.patreon.com/notthecar

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Check out Sam's new book!

⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod

https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/

https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/

https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/

⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod

https://rossbentley.substack.com/

https://speedsecrets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Free bonus episode! To celebrate the release of Sam’s new book, “Smithology,” we’re releasing one audio excerpt from it, read by him, every Monday for a month. This is the third installment.

The book’s full title is “Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003–2023.” It’s an anthology of Sam’s writing for car magazines over the last 20 years.

Today’s story originally ran in Road & Track magazine in 2018. It’s called, “Dajiban!”

There is a race track in Japan. A vehicle goes two-wheels-up over a curb. Taylor Swift makes an appearance. The rest . . . well, hey, strap in. It gets weird.

“Smithology” is available on Amazon in print and as a Kindle e-book.

Enjoy!

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday. 

“You’re gonna get fired anyway, so you might as well start racing!"

Clay Millican was a forklift operator. He quit that job to chase a dream in drag racing, and now he's an NHRA Top Fuel legend. He's also our very first guest on It’s Not the Car!  

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Guest Teaches Us a Thing"—in this case, what it feels like to have 11,000 hp under your right foot. If you like it, don’t worry—there are plenty more to come whether you like it or not.

Related Trivia: Top Fuel racing can be absurdly violent. Clay's car once vibrated so much that it shook his dental crowns from his mouth. Mike, INTC's producer, wrote this episode description late at night with approximately four functional brain cells, and he will probably suffer the same fate simply by continuing to miss his dentist appointments.

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

** 

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/notthecar

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod

https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/

https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/

https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/

⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod

https://rossbentley.substack.com/

https://speedsecrets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.

Another free bonus episode! Why? Sam has a new book out! To celebrate, we’re releasing four excerpts, each read aloud by him, every Monday for a month. This is the second installment.

Sam’s book is called, “Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writings, 2003–2023.” It’s an anthology of his writing for car magazines over the last 20 years. Like the man himself, it’s thoughtful, funny, and deeply human.

Today’s story originally ran as a column at Hagerty, the classic-car insurance and media company, in 2021. It’s called “Mears and My Feet.” It’s about racing, pain, and the things we need to do.

“Smithology” is available on Amazon in print ($29.95) and as a Kindle e-book ($12.99).

Enjoy!

**

Support It’s Not the Car:

Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

**

Where to find us:

⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/j.v.braun⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠instagram.com/intcpod/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/INTCPod⁠/⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠facebook.com/Drivercoach/⁠⁠⁠⁠

**

ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.