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A Solif 4 Beer Thoughts - Indy 500 May Kickoff
37 Plays1 month ago
We talk to Brett's brother John about his Indy experiences. Fun filled conversation about the track and activities. We wrap up with a joke of the week with Brett. We also talked about the NFL draft, weekend experiences, and a lot of fun.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Intros
00:00:01
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
A solid four beer thoughts. Pop a cold one and get interactive with us on YouTube, Facebook, thanks or Instagram. And away we go.
00:00:13
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
e You know, Link's here. You know, Jeff's here. Brett started the beer timer or the egg timer or the tyr timer timer. It doesn't matter. It's a solid for beer thoughts.
00:00:24
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
If you have any thoughts, you can always email us, 4solidbeers at gmail.com. Be sure when you listen, you like and subscribe.
Weekend Adventures
00:00:31
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
We need more subscribers. Hey, we got some new followers on TikTok. Oh, are we still on there? Yeah. Oh, yeah. We're still on there. We're we're loading up TikToks every week. It's awesome.
00:00:42
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But ah tonight we're going to kick off the month of May. We're recording on April 30th, but, you know, we want to get all four weeks in. So you can't you can't cover the entire month unless you start early. So we've got a special guest tonight, John Pemberton. We'll talk more about him.
00:00:57
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Long time IndyCar fan. and And not that. One of Brett's brothers that he knows about. Not that. Not that John Pemberton, for those you history buffs who know that John Pemberton actually invented Coca-Cola. Butt-related. Not that one.
00:01:13
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Butt-related. Butt-related. Like you and me are butt-related? Yeah, was going to say different different level of butt-related. Also related. okay thank you for clarifying john peberton who thought fucking john would come through with the english right there was got john apparently everybody drank before they got here anyhow um so we'll do that while we're here tonight we got some other stuff to talk about um i'm sure because there i've got i've got things you're shador got things you're shador that we have other stuff to talk about i'm shador that's a whole big fun topic we'll talk about that for a little bit not a lot um but uh yeah and then uh
00:01:50
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Some other things, but more importantly, Jeff, how was your weekend? It was good. Yeah. What'd do? Took off ah Thursday night, headed down the lake. Actually, Thursday afternoon. supposed to be Thursday night, but i headed down Thursday afternoon. Duh.
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A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Your boss doesn't listen podcast, does he? No. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. Or does she? Thankfully. She does not. I know she does not listen. followed me about an hour later. ah Yeah, so went down there, launched the boat. Listening to the podcast?
00:02:14
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's my boat. Yes. ah Got the boat put in and um yeah Spent a weekend down there and got some shit done. Weather nice. It was good. It was a little chilly. Sunny, windy as it was up here. um Yeah.
00:02:28
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
but Spent some time on the lake. Then on the way back home, took about an hour detour to Madison on Sunday to see one of our good friends' daughter's senior day in softball. Oh, cool. Yeah. Did you run into anybody else down there? No.
00:02:39
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Nobody. but Nobody? Okay. Nope. Didn't see anybody else down there that I know. Nope. Nobody at all. Yeah. Nobody goes to Hanover. Yeah. Who the hell goes down there? Yeah. I just heard a rumor. Anyhow, okay. How about you, Link? How was your weekend? don't know.
00:02:53
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
current Current wife left last Tuesday for work. For good? Out of town. Maybe. I don't know. She hasn't come back yet. Oh! We're not sure. Last Tuesday, she's been gone for eight days now? Yes, sir.
00:03:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Hang on. yeah well You won the lottery and you didn't tell her. What? I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Nathan. That is a complete joke, and that's the reason you don't listen to the podcast. That's why it's so funny. Yeah, so anyway, I didn't know all that. doess I was getting prepared for new the first first day of the new current job. New current so current job.
00:03:25
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
How's that going? ah Well, so fridays into so far, I've done nothing but stare at a computer for three days. Come on. No job in the first week is good. yeah I assumed a little of paperwork the first day. Yeah.
00:03:36
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But I mean, literally a giant list of videos and shit I've got to read and then take tests at the end of every module. yeah I mean, OSHA just started this morning. Yeah. So lawyers and.
00:03:48
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So you do have to It's all legal stuff. It sucks working, doesn't it? Yeah. So about that. shit About
NFL Draft Insights
00:03:53
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
that. Yeah. So I have a card. Yep. that says i am osha 10 certified yeah and that card says it never expires no expiration never expires never does nope and less unless unless you start a new job and they say uh well if you haven't done it guess in the last three years we'd like you to do it as a refresher yeah it's been three years and nine months but the what the hell am i gonna did they have a house whopper to go with that i don't know what that is no it's my former job we could get the osha 10 but
00:04:24
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
before that we had to get what's called HAZWOPPERS, hazardous operations waste management. Oh, what wow. Oh, no, no. it's the same thing. It's supposed to last forever. It does. Hey, I'll have a HAZWOPPERS. They take those off the back of the grill. We had to. didn't do one before the other. Those are the ones they actually record because drop on the floor and then they put it back on the grill. and We had people dropping on the floor, too. We had to it back on the No, I had hot dogs tonight. I didn't HAZWOPPERS.
00:04:50
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Nope. I didn't have BOPPERS.
00:04:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
You're picking up kids at Davis tonight? Nice. Well, how about you, Brett? I'll keep this short. ah thirty Thursday drive up to Michigan Tech. Friday drive back. 10 hour? the way up.
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A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
What time did you hit it? What time did you hit Chicago? About 4 o'clock on Friday. That's a good timing. We had to wait until Big Cat got cleared from his room, which is at basically 1030, so we couldn't leave until we were there. yeah, yeah.
00:05:33
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Awesome. just Just all part it. What you Sunday? ah Sunday had a beer with a friend at a softball game. Really? Yeah. Huh. And i think it wasn't Jeff because he didn't run into anybody. He did not run into anybody. um They ran into me. I make a joke there that you know I'm not going to make it. OK. I should tell you afterwards.
00:05:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
ah But I did the attend Hanover Baseball Senior Day. Cool. I had a great time. kind of Not awkward, but. I walked out on the field with Dave, Kylie's boyfriend.
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A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
but only to take pictures, right? I'm like, I'm not sure. um Yeah, you know, out there yeah this is your day, right? This has nothing to do with me being seen a picture or anything like that. ah So I walked down the field and just veered off the home plate, took pictures, ah but it was cool. It was just slide into home plate or no, I don't know. I almost did something on the pictures, man, though.
00:06:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Oh, I almost not no, not something stupid. all No, it's like took a picture out there. But ah Anyway, it just reminds me, and I saw an inning of ah the game you were at, the softball game. Yep.
00:06:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Freeing college athletics. It's it's awesome. Man, especially at that level. At D3 level, yeah. Not to demean that level because nobody's going pro here. Right. The kids work as hard. They spend as much time in practice, right? All of that stuff.
00:06:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
They are very, very good athletes. And what was kind of cool is to hear that the chirping and the cheering from each team. Yeah. The support. You're like, and some of you, senior day, right? So you kids are getting ready graduate.
00:07:10
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
you'll miss the shit out of this year yeah five years 10 years 20 years yeah and it's just cool to kind of be on the other side of that and just to see it all play out so that's cool it was good awesome how about you John did you do anything fun over the weekend should we introduce John no wait a minute will oh Not so much over the weekend. We want to hear from you first. In the middle last week, I went over the Speedway for the oval test. Oh, cool. Which was
Racing Passion with John Pemberton
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A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
entertaining.
00:07:35
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
ah The weekend, I mowed lawns and opened up mom and dad's pool, which is always... Hey, I got the pool open. ah Let's not sell yourself short It's the yearly cluster. you are You broke a marble...
00:07:47
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I did break a marble umbrella base. It weighs about 70 pounds. Dude, dude lifts it up. Goes to set it down on the side. this so This is classic, John. I mean, I dropped that sandwich three inches and it cracks in half. You'd have thought I'd you know drop it from my forehead or something. What the hell?
00:08:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And I mean, he's had some physical stuff going on. He's like, I just can't hold it anymore that thing down like it's gone and then then of course mom starts chirping yeah and it's frustrating two two years ago i was in a wrestling ring lifting up 250 pound guys and now I drop a freaking 70 pound stone it was yeah it kind of a fists ah yeah open a pool yeah it's always good time yeah a little green looks more like it's ready for koi than people yeah yeah we'll get there we'll get the algae killed it'll be nice it'll be nice and clear by race Tommy you got a lot of stuff going on is what you were saying earlier we had a good weekend it was an anniversary weekend so was it okay oh did you go to that race in St. Pete nope i didn't know that was that was earlier did you find Chiba
00:08:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
no go to Vegas for a hockey game no didn't do that either it's weird we had a a nice quiet Saturday 11 married 11 together like 15 yeah huh what I hope that didn't come through no she she did ask um So am I now officially the longest? oh Oh, no. Oh, wow. And the answer is yes. Yeah. Okay. By one year.
00:09:21
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
so Oh, there you go. I said, so, you know, I don't know. You're on borrowed time at this point. Nice knowing, Andy. I was going to add to that there was an under over and under. There has been. Well, we would have all lost that bet. I say that because Tom himself has made that joke in the past. He's been a little frustrated.
00:09:37
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But anyhow. Everything's safe here. It's all good. There's no safe here. Okay. Do what? Where'd you go to dinner? So we went to Hyde Park. Oh, shit. Yeah. Hyde Steakhouse. We did. um And – Hide the pork? Is that what you said? No.
00:09:50
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Sorry, I wasn't listening. Hide park. Oh, geez. Oh, was way off. Sorry. sorry you were you were way off. So you would be amazed without incident. What? But the only reason is because of you guys.
00:10:03
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Uh-oh. It's all your fault. because they overcooked both steaks oh no and all i kept hearing in the back of my head was you don't go anywhere without having a problem well true you don't and so you can't accept an overcooked steak though that's not us and say that's a 70 it was and i sucked it up and we're just saying the words tom i had a medium steak instead of a medium rare steak so those are two completely different ball parts yeah no no it was our anniversary I just wanted to try get away. I just, that has nothing to do with it. just wanted to ah get through dinner without as issue.
00:10:37
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And so I will say this about Hyde Park. Great place. Um, go there. Food's good. but Service. Yeah. Service was good. It trailed off the end, which was kind of weird to me. Um, inordinate long period of time after we were done eating to order dessert, cause she was going to order dessert and,
00:10:55
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
than an even longer period of time to actually get the check so we get the fuck out of there um but yeah how long how long total uh we were probably there two ish hour and 40 something like that that's healthy hour 40 is not bad yeah hour 42 you have that much you can talk about in two hours that's a lot well know there's scenery and they have they have like a little jazz trio playing so that oh okay that added some nice conversation about how weird that was but um yeah it was cool that's across the table oh yeah all that stuff deeply into each other's eyes so and i said this last year it's a question it's legit comment yeah because normally at nice steak places yep they undercook the steak um like you you ask for well done yeah or medium well and it comes out rare and you're like what the frick yeah no you cooked it the way you wanted to eat it yeah this is i want it medium i don't
00:11:46
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
so this is that that's complete opposite to me so that's a legit comment and i made the comment when we left because normally for our anniversary we go to harry and izzy's or st p because we for a race you they never fuck it up they know that they never get it wrong and this is very good and they're always consistent you know you're going to get it exactly the way you order it every single time and so anyhow so yeah no it wasn't horrible but you know it's a lot of money to spend on a sure but it was delicious it was and you if you see the pictures are beautiful i mean the food what is what's what's the uh what's the gift for uh silver
00:12:24
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Silver, that's 25, dude. Like high-ho silver, like a horse? No, stainless steel. Sorry, stainless steel. That's a lot different silver. Sorry, stainless steel. Did you buy her a new microwave? No, I got her some flatware. Yeah, there was a spoon. Actually, it was a sp I didn't buy her. i didn't buy her sp You spooned her.
00:12:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I didn't buy her anything. I bought her a really nice dinner. um But she got me these really cool stainless steel ice cubes. Really? Yeah, so. put the freezer and. Yeah, they're in the freezer now, so I don't, I'm kind of on the fence of whether they will taint the taste of the drinks, so we'll find out. they Hang on.
00:12:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
You
Racing Series Discussion
00:12:57
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
say taint. He say such said taint. I said taint. I don't want tainted drinks. I actually got some those for Christmas two years ago from Brett and Mary that shaped like bullets. yeah yeah I thought you were going to tell a taint story. No. well But they worked very well. Anyway, that's a track. They look well. The story's not over.
00:13:15
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So they're shaped like bullets. and they No, no, no. No They work very well. No taint. There's no taint. Suppository. so yeah So yeah, it was a good weekend. It was a good weekend. And then Sunday, yard work and you know typical relaxation. and And you got new glasses, right? I did get new glasses. really you What prescription change? What happened there? So my old glasses, I just felt like I wasn't seeing as well. It's kind of... You see this, Tom? I do. You do? Okay.
00:13:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
You don't have to turn it up. um Got it. See his nipples are hard? Honestly, the whole reason behind it is because I left one job and was going to another one.
00:13:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I had flex spending. Oh, yeah. do you That needed to be spent before the end of April. So I was like, well, I know a good way to get rid of a whole lot of flex spending money. Go get some fucking glasses because every time I go to get glasses, it's a big hose job.
00:14:10
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's all it is. A big hose job. Just like when you go to dinner yeah and i i don't know much about flex spinning because i have an hsa so flex spinning cores are not part of that program right not okay so you had to buy glasses it had to be something medical yeah okay good so yeah what about whore with glasses yes i don't think that no no and not let me take a card and she can get it who yeah jeff so so did contacts ever yes actually and so yes so we had a whole conversation about kind of me and the optometry okay i wasn't there I know because you never came over to help me with my contacts. Yeah. Well, Brett's ready.
00:14:44
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
yeah So anyhow, so I had a long conversation with the optometrist and he said, I'm not going to talk you out of it. You do what you want to do. But because I wear bifocals, he said the way that the way they do that is one is got the bifocal one, that whatever. Yeah.
00:15:00
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And he said multifocal. Yeah. is that multiho yeah that's what i got Multifocal contact. And his his comment to me that made me make my decision was that a lot of people say they spent a lot of money on them, but they don't see the benefit. Eye to eye. No way. That's just what he said.
00:15:18
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
yeah That too. So. so
00:15:24
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
pretty fucking funny that was funny have you started your dad joke website yet but so i was like all right fine just then just let's do the glasses because then i'm then i'm going into trauma mode from the last time i tried to buy contacts and i tried to put it on the end of his dick no that's not what happened but the lady was harassing me and it was horrible she hot uh no ah not not at all So, yeah. So I went to the eye doctor. The whole thing's a sham.
00:15:52
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
um i go yeah i don't the whole or that it's I don't even know why people have vision insurance, to be honest with you. yeah I have no clue. So you don't pay for the eye exam? Is that the only reason? Yeah, which is like $70 of the $7,000. Right. yeah Yeah. So, and that's what's crazy is that you get, and she she wrote it out on a piece of paper, and the difference between what you get if you pay out-of-pocket versus with your insurance was literally $7. And I'm like, are you fucking kidding me right now? And they have all their promotions. They don't count if you use insurance. So I'm like, what what are we doing here?
00:16:31
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It's insane. So, you know, oh, buy one pair, get another pair for half price. Yeah, if you're paying out of pocket, you can do that. Or you can use your insurance and get one pair and pay the same amount of money. ah What the are we doing here? You said the difference, though, with with and without insurance was $7. $7. Seven fucking. It's ridiculous. Because of all the discounts they apply if you're not paying with insurance.
00:16:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And I'm like, this is insane. Why are we even doing this? yeah So, whatever. So, yeah, I got new glasses. There we go. Okay. Yeah, how about that? Hey, I got a new bidet. Oh, yeah. You told me about that. Yeah. that's the old one ah The old one actually did break.
00:17:08
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. It was a $35 just like a clip on that went underneath your current seat. Sure. Whatever. put it too far up there. We had it like, don't know, five, six years or so. It's supposed to be surface cleaning, not an exploration. It's not an enema.
00:17:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
so we So we upgraded. We didn't get the $35 clip-on version anymore. So we got we got a $200 version. Ooh, big money. It's not the full toilet, it's it's ah but it's the full seat. Give old boy a job that he has to go to, and he's spending money right away. We had to install. That's cleaning all day. We had to install an outlet yeah right next toa to us to plug it in. Yeah. It's got a seat warmer.
00:17:52
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It's got warm water. Dude, seat warmer's legit. I you what. Air blower. Air blower. Yeah, it's nice. I'm telling you. I'm coming over your house. I like it. It's going to warm his ass up, plant it, and then he gets little puff puff to dry him The hotel we stayed in on hockey trip in Vancouver had a heated bathroom floor.
00:18:11
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
um Oh, yeah. That was legit. Game changer. yep yeah I can imagine would be a good one. So you got that hooked up and running. you Oh, yeah. Oh, I've been doing it about a week now.
Racing Risks and Legends
00:18:22
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
He shits four times a day. I'm going there. I don't even know. I've been shitting nice stops. Oh my God, I just love shitting. Yep. Sometimes I need you to go. Just go sit down. Do ever sit backwards on it? Let it blow on your knee bone? Oh, yeah. All the yeah Yeah. You got nothing over me, Jim. Yes, I do that all the time. To the window,
00:18:45
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
to the bidet drops down my balls. So is it time for this week? No, it's not. I just wanted to make sure. Because, speaking of toilets. but Have you guys recently bought a plunger? This is serious question. Have you, like, ah a new plunger? not No. Because the new version of plungers.
00:19:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Useless. there No. No, no, no, no. They're air plungers. Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, you pump that thing up like you're pumping a basketball up. Yeah. And it fills this little cylinder with air. blows the air into it. Oh, my gosh, dude.
00:19:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That thing is freaking amazing. Like, water doesn't. Water doesn't. Wow. If have to use a plunger every time you shed, it's no wonder you got a bidet at your house. didn't say that. Are you shitting Lincoln logs over there door you shitting tree trunks? Lincoln logs. Well, actually, I am. Link logs. I am, yes not link it yeah yeah. Link logs.
00:19:36
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
No, so the story behind the reason we need a plunger, current wife made some oh you potatoes and green beans that accidentally got left out on the stove all night.
00:19:48
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So the next day, we did we we threw them away. Well, she said in the old days when she was growing up, she would just take their there' stuff like that, they'd dump it down the toilet, flush and it, and be gone. Come on. You know you know how she grew up. You can't trust that. So to apparently they don't make toilets now the way they used to because she did the same thing.
00:20:08
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
it Our toilet was clogged up for four days. I jesussis i could not hey like get it unclogged. You know, they they other have this other modern convenience. I know. It's called a garbage disposal. Don't tell me.
00:20:20
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
She knows that. Conveniently located in your sink. Maybe that's why she left. She said, this is find work that's like should being operate eight days a work. a working toilet.
00:20:31
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It's the way they used to do when she was a kid. She said, didn't even think twice about it. I'm coming back once you get this toilet fixed. Yeah. I tried to every night when they talk. She's like, is the toilet fixed? We bought stuff specifically made to put down your toilet that would eat up.
00:20:47
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Uh-huh. Well, shit's specifically made. Yeah, you're not supposed you're not supposed to put that because that's made for pipes. it's It literally is it's specifically made for toilet pipes. So it won't eat pipes up whenever we want.
00:21:00
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But it's also supposed to eat through like a ah ball of hair that's stuck in your toilet for whatever reason. None of that shit makes sense to me either. But it wouldn't eat through frigging green beans and potatoes.
00:21:11
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Ball of C here? not that's that's not all That's not hair. That's vegetables. It's still organic material that it just needs to eat through. Who cares? So you would go down on a vegetable?
00:21:25
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
but is wrong with you that is wrong What's that got to do with throwing it in your toilet? Anyhow. It has nothing to do with anything. Are we supposed to talk about shepherd's pie? We talked about shepherd's pie last week. No. No. Shepherd's pie is delicious. Shepherd's pie is frigging awesome. It's the perfect meal. We had an argument.
00:21:42
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It's everything right there together. It is ass. Come Let's refocus on where it's at right now. Yeah. Peas, corn, shit. Hamburger, mashed potatoes. Just some things I had written down. Cheese. wait We talk about shepherd's pie in July.
00:21:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yes. I'm telling you. Anyhow, how about that draft, guys? Anybody watch the draft? I know Link recorded all of it. I did watch a lot of it. I watched the Colts pick, and that was it. I watched zero. Which, how did he fall that far to the corner? Because nobody else needed a tie-in. Yeah, but still, he was... He was the second tie-in taken. So, yeah, I mean, but good on us, right? Oh, absolutely. 17th pick, yeah. 14th pick.
00:22:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
14th pick, yeah. Fell all the way down. Yeah, they got who they wanted. Yeah, and then Shadour tumbled the fifth round. Tumbled a lot. Which was surprising. And then ah today they announced, ah was it Albrecht? Is that his name? The coach at Atlanta.
00:22:32
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
got his kid got access to Shadour's phone number during the draft. That came out Sunday. They fined him with a total... It was a defensive coordinator or So the team got... They fined him?
00:22:44
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
They fined him? t Team got fined $250,000. He got fined $100,000. Holy shit.
00:22:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And the kid has yet to say word. No, no, no, no, that's not true. No, it is true. He came out and apologized. The dad did. No, that's not true. The kid apologized, but the dad made the call to the Santa, because the dad in his press conference today said that his son will be calling the Santa's house. But the son came out on social media on Sunday and said, I made a big mistake, you know thought it was funny.
00:23:19
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I read it. I mean, unless it was a fake account. No, so he he put it also he did put that on social media, but the dad has been the one that has had to go in front of every single person.
00:23:30
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Person in the press and everything else. And he should, right? here yeah Here's the problem I have with the whole thing, right? The NFL never fines these people a proportionate amount. $250,000 to the owner of the Falcons? Atlanta Falcons, nothing. Fine, that's like me giving $5 to somebody, right? That's a joke. correct And the fines have been this way forever. When Belichick was cheating, they fined him $100,000. They gave up a seventh round draft. like something yeah That's stupid.
00:23:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But... I think there's something to be said. If you come into a situation where you're looking to be employed and you're the most arrogant son of bitch in the room ye and you think that you can pick and choose where you go and don't go.
00:24:11
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
um And i by the way, I watched zero of the draft. I watched hockey for the most part and was in a car for 20 hours. But that rubs people.
00:24:21
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Oh, yeah. right there and And at some point, if if you – Portray that image and portray all of that. And like, not only am I not going to draft you in the first round, right? So because of our interview, the way it went, not going to draft you ever because you acted like a complete arrogant prick. So what's interesting is, and I listened to way too, I was in the car a lot this afternoon. Um, but I listened to a whole lot of NFL network and nobody will go as far as to say,
00:24:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It was because of his attitude, his his ego, his whatever. As a matter of fact, what they said right. But as a matter of fact, the Browns even came out and said, we we liked everything about him. He did well in the interviews. He did this. He did that.
00:25:09
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But they picked another quarterback before they picked him. Yeah, Dylan Gabriel. So that's all bullshit. right yeah so But the one thing that they kept orderback to yeah the yeah the one thing they kept pointing out was that as a lead those owners decided how this was going to play out. And I'm like, well, that's kind of collusion. And that's kind of crazy. There's no way. There's not true. I don't think there's collusion. Wait a minute. but No way. But there was there was something in that whole package going into the draft that people couldn't get behind. And nobody nobody would just come out and say,
00:25:46
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
anything he's agogant that he's an ass that was that was about did you see the video where he celebrated the night after he got signed and he goes to a some club with three or four his buddies and a whole wad of chains on and they literally go into vip and they sit down boxes and open the boxes and just start taking out wads of cash and throw Yeah. so yeah like Come on. um And I mean, realistically, and that's the thing, even as a fifth round pick, he's still on the chopping block. he he's maybe he's still yeah he's in a no no he but He's making less in he would have been in. college Yeah. massive And
00:26:22
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It was like Quinn Ewers, the the quarterback out of Texas, yeah that had he stayed at Texas, he would have gotten four to five mil NIL. Right. And he got drafted in the sixth or seventh round. he's yeah He's not going to see that money. Exactly. so it's Yeah. So the the whole Sanders thing, love Deion. I've always loved Deion.
00:26:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But his kid. Entitled. If you want to sit there and and and walk that walk. Yeah. Yeah. Talk that talk. that yeah for You got to earn it. You better. You better earn it. you And that was that was another comment that was made. Zero collusion, because if any there's no owners are there for one reason.
Notable Racing Incidents
00:26:57
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yep. And that's still to win. And if they thought that kid could help them win, yeah they've they've taken murderers. They've taken rapists. and They brought that up. They're like, they've taken They've taken far worse. They've taken far worse. Sure. Sure.
00:27:08
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And if they thought he could get the job done, somebody would have. Yep. But yeah, a hundred percent. So anyhow, but that's how it turned out. And I don't care because I don't have a dog in the fight and he ain't playing for my team. So here we go. all He might be. I thought, sure. He wouldn't.
00:27:22
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It's all good. We'll let John talk here about a lot of stuff. John is, uh, so John's my brother. introduce him And I'll just say this. I'm fortunate, John is a Raiders fan, which sums up a lot about John. Honest to God. I'm out of here.
00:27:37
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
hope pete carol through the season i'm turn the air conditioning on down here and get it real get my knipples colder um yeah but we're here to talk uh john is uh an absolute race fanatic is safe to say uh think i used term maybe last week when we were talking idiot savant with indy 500 stuff right i know his but everything about everything been to yeah you've been to lot of stuff every time somebody posts anything on the indy 500 group on uh facebook john's like the first one to respond see it all the time so we're trying to and we're kicking off the month of may like an ambassador an unofficial ambassador no yeah you know what are so many people to snipe i'm like god yeah
00:28:18
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
These people coming in from out of town or out of country asking a legitimate question, and you're being a complete asshole. That's the problem with social media. It's like, hey, what's going in at at the corner of ah X and Y? Dickies. Yeah, like it's the 19 Starbucks. you know like I just asked a legit question. no Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't be a douchebag. But anyhow. so so We're going to talk 500, right? And we're probably just going to open it up a little bit.
00:28:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Just tell us when you started going to 500, how long you been going, How many Mother's Days you've missed to go to qualifications? Third-day qualifications. Yeah, quite a few because I've heard about them.
00:28:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
um So, yeah, just kick off. What do you remember? remember When did you first start going to race? This this is the crazy story I put in that little book I wrote. the for The first 500 was 68, which I don't remember a whole lot about. For some reason or other, I vividly remember. You were four.
00:29:11
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I know. Okay. I vividly remember going with Grandma to a carb day in 1967.
00:29:18
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Bro. And we we went in the tunnel and everything and all that. Ryan Adams, the Carb Day concert then? No, they didn't do concerts and all that shit. the And the cars ran for like an hour. And Carb Day then was on Thursday. Was on Thursday.
00:29:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And so you go in and we park. what we We become the snake pit eventually, but you parked right by the fence and she put the blanket on the hood. And she said, hey, come on, we're going to get breakfast. well Back at that time, if you're if you're walking out of Gasoline Alley to the left, right underneath the seats, because underneath all the terraces and the pit stands were all rooms.
00:29:47
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It was the SDP and yeah whatever, all of them. But this one was a cafe. It was for racers' families. And they had been connected to a quarter midget club that my uncle had raced in, and some of the people who raced their daddies were IndyCar drivers. Turns out midget runs in our family. Yeah. So –
00:30:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Grandma – this the afternoon was in the new one in 1967. They all had the paisley old woman dresses and the big corn-drimmed glasses, and every woman looked alike. you know And Grandma comes in, and this lady shakes her hand and introduces herself as Arza Parsons, so Johnny Parsons' wife, Johnny Jr.'s mom.
00:30:21
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Okay, so we go in, and and this little old lady is waving her arms. I'm going all apeshit, and we get our food, and we've got to go sit at this table. And this lady introduces herself. Hey, you're five when this goes down? Like three or four.
00:30:32
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
but But I remember. i don't know how I remember it. But anyway, it turns out. 67. I can't remember what you did last week. I know. But it turns out. That also runs in our family. like It turns out it turns out this this little old lady was mom-unzer.
00:30:45
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
yeah So we had breakfast. Al and all alllan Bobby's mom? Was she hot? and Bobby's mom, yes. Junior's grandma. ah She is? Lady, no lady. He was three, dude. was three. so we So some driver came in, and then they had a bubble gum machine, and i got he bought me a piece of gum. but I don't know. I wish I knew what driver that it was. But anyway, Grandma, the engines are going, and Grandma says, we need to get back down in the car.
00:31:06
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
She sets me up on the car, and I'm on the hood, and and this little orange car comes rolling out, popping, cracking around. These are in with a white helmet and the red bandana, so I ask Grandma who's that. And typical in our family, when typical grandma says, Oh, that's your favorite driver.
00:31:19
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
We didn't get to pick one. She told me it a J and launched the short, our great grandmother owned property off at Tibbs where the, where by the drive in where the, where the junkyards and shit are now, yeah it was called a lot. And she had like fire assist garages and a little studio apartment and they kept the dirt car there.
00:31:37
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And mom used take me and uncle Bill and grandpa. And Billy take his midget and run around. And Mike? eight No, Mike was not around. And AJ would give him driving tips. And he had a big stick, and he stuck it out.
00:31:50
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And he told Billy, quit keeping your hands up here because if you flip, going to take your knuckles off. Hold this thing down here. And he flipped Billy with a stick. and know to To try to learn it. To try and learn it. and and And Grandpa had more money than sins back then. And in the the car that another part of a cool family tree sort of thing, the guy that used to Checker Flag Tavern, Bud Bunnymaker, the original owner, was Bill's mechanic.
00:32:14
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Holy shit. And Grandpa had money. He his own floor covering. So Bill is our uncle who grew up racing with. uh poncho poncho leffler's and that yeah so anyway bill's sliding upside down aj's all good he kept his hands on the bottom grandpa's losing shit because he's got a five thousand dollar candy apple red paint job that's getting scratched up and so that was with the connection that we had to be you know grandma's year and aj for okay and it so so that that's your intro to racing the racing yeah as a whatever four or five year old kid yeah
00:32:46
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And then what's the, do do you know the first race that you went to? 68. our Our parents took me in 68. So who wins that year? Is that Bobby? Bobby Unzer. Bobby Unzer.
00:32:57
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That was the year they made the movie Winning. Really? and With Paul Newman? With Paul Newman. He's carrying around the trophy that was made out of plastic, so it wasn't really 85 or 90 pounds. And they used ah the Speedway Hotel, and they used Bobby Unzer's, a replica car of his for Paul Newman's car for that movie. yeah I mean, I didn't see any of that. Sure, sure, sure.
00:33:15
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's pretty cool. That's awesome. I used to the quarter midget club or something. We had tickets up in the Southeast Vista way at the top, like a couple rows from the top underneath the deck for several years until that all that club went away. i was going to say, they probably hadn't closed in the north or south end yet back then in 68. I don't remember. I just remember maybe there's a Southeast Vista. I think it was Southeast Vista. Maybe not. yeah yeah So when you think about consecutive 500s, how many?
00:33:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Mine aren't consecutive. I've missed a few years. He's missed a couple. This will be somewhere around 50. So you've been to 50 races. Yeah, because I missed a couple. Well, shit, you're only 60. Yeah, I missed a couple when Brett and I lived in Florida. Right. See, you probably went about 45. Yeah, I think actually I think we're around 47 this year. Anyway, we missed a few years when I lived out in the East.
00:34:03
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
one year old 94 mom and dad threw a fit oh grandpa now he's not gonna live long you you've got you can't miss his birthday you've got to go out there and shit he lived another 10 and a half years yeah we lived through that shit for a while so yeah so i missed the 94 race this has no this has no do racing We went out to Omaha, Nebraska for Christmas for like 96 straight years because somebody was dying. Somebody was going to die. It'll be their last Christmas. Hey, bitches, we're on year 20. And this time, bitches are still around. Nobody's dead yet. So it was 94. Was that John Billedove? No, no, no. It was Little Al the Beast. Oh, okay. The pushrod motor that they made a bunch of.
00:34:45
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
power out of and looped rules. Marlboro. And, and, or no, was it Gallus? No, it was Penske. Okay. And little Allen M over going 250 on the backstretch, but they didn't have the the ground effects and the grip yet. So they had to lift to make it through the corners. They couldn't just, you know, balls out all the way around or they'd obliterated chart record. sure Wow. So, um,
00:35:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
You show up your first race. You're told that's your driver. yeah Luckily, it wasn't a piece of crap driver. Correct. He'd already won three times by the time you're there. Here's some shit that I'm still pissed off about. oh okay Only fucking race I missed in the Oh, it was 77.
00:35:26
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I'm still mad at him. Why'd you miss that race? Our dad... why you miss emily nice our dad You had to go to Omaha. No, no, no. We didn't go to Omaha. Our dad gets roped in to work in the concession stand for a youth football league ah because they got a percent of the of the take, right?
00:35:42
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And he absolutely wasn't letting mom and I go out in the infield, anywhere in infield. By yourself? By ourselves. Uh-huh. So I listened to it. Because that would have been another brother. Well, no. Clearly. Are we sure? It was crazy.
00:35:55
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah, we're sure. Okay. Okay. okay
00:35:59
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
but So, yeah, missed 77. Turns out also related to Michael Andretti. No. She told you about that. You probably weren't too far from maybe being related to the Parsons, though. Uh-oh. Oh, wow. Johnny Jr. Okay. So, okay. There was a mom babysat because he was young at the track, and I guess there was a little bit of a crash, but there was eight years. Okay, so this is is weird because there's there's a lot to like sort of unpack here. Digest, yes. I'm going learn more than you guys will because – ah So it's weird that dad said that because ah he walked us through the snake pit when I was like a nine or ten year old kid. We've heard this story. yeah yeah I'm like, that's my first pair of titties. I was hooked on the track then. i didn't give a shit about the racing. right I'm like, wow, if you can go here and see He didn't make me pick a driver or anything. He just showed me titties.
00:36:46
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That was the old. Hey, pick that pair right there. yeah That'll do you well. Titties and beard. and the And the amateur titties were always so much better than when the pros started coming in from the strip clubs and fucked everything up.
00:36:59
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Wow. did. I mean, they ruined the snake pit. They ruined the snake pit. Wow. Okay. Yeah, because that was the whole ah this whole story of, Dixter, what's he doing? You said you're walking by, people doing shit vans and all kinds of stuff. Lucky they were in vans.
00:37:14
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
yeah i mean Did that ever tell you the story of 72 when we stayed the North 40 with the Kinsers? No. steve camp I was three years old, dude. So we're camping. They parked there. and Now it's a North 40, but back then it was camping.
00:37:27
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And it was like Friday morning. Sure. It was the best race of the whole weekend. They'd open that gate back there on 30th Street. And they'd bang into other. And people would just knock the hell out of each other to get up to the front, right? So dad wasn't going to be dealing with that. So we just drove in and we parked towards the back.
00:37:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
na Because, because, why were they banging to get up in the front? Because when the, you why? When they know um the gates go off in the morning, you're the first ones under the tunnel. Absolutely. General admission. Right on the fence. Yeah. yeah So,
00:37:52
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
they have the big searchlights, right? They said the big searchlights. And I always was just trying to run up and put my hands in it because I want to see if you'd make the bat signal. And mom's like, God damn it, stop that. So we have this card table.
00:38:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
We got this card table. And we' we're sitting around the car. It was like 10, 11 o'clock at night. And there was a tent. John took a lot of shit growing up. The great big old-fashioned tents. Not like the Army. Sure, sure, sure. They're a real thick canvas. yeah you know yeah Oh, yeah. There's no pop-up tent. Like like like you know Jason, they have a hard time carving through that bitch. It's so thick.
00:38:23
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And there's this couple in there. And they literally roll out butt naked, all entwined on each other. And the dude's on top. And Clayton Kendrick gets up walks over, puts his foot on this dude's ass. And he's got this real gravelly boy.
00:38:34
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Get that back the tent. We aren't that shit. Got kids here. And he kicked that dude down. And they never stopped. They rolled back in that damn tent. Funny as can be. Funny as can be That was my first time realizing there's much more than auto racing that goes on at 16th and Georgetown. This is hilarious. Awesome.
00:38:52
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So this is what's weird for me. John is a diehard race guy. Yep. I'm there for the party. Sure. I actually do like that, but I have not seen anywhere close to. He won't even hardly go in the suites
Cultural Impact of Racing
00:39:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
with us. He's like, no, going to stay down by the pagoda where my buddies are. Yeah.
00:39:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
yeah I'm there drinking and hang out with few people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. Nope. Oh, I thought you had a question. No, no. Oh, yeah. So. so How many other brothers you have, John? One that I'm aware of. And a half sister, different dad. No.
00:39:23
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
She told you about that. Different mom, I mean. Anyhow. Fuck, it's confusing. Same mom. Same mom. It's confusing to Brad also. We have the same father. He just passed. As somebody that has been to so many races, what is the one race that you say is the absolute best experience? Wow.
00:39:45
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's kind of hard. Because I think the on-track racing now was much better than it's ever been. Are we talking strictly IndyCar? Yeah, just the IndyCar. You can even be specific to the Indy 500. There's nothing beats the Indy 500. If you want to go to a badass party, the best party in all of racing outside here is Spring Race in Talladega. yeah Off the chain.
00:40:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Right. so But from ah from an Indy 500 perspective, what is the one race that you would say holds... the most most memories the most memorable. yeah and it's I know it's got to be hard to keep in that. It's either 92, so much shit happened, and it was butt-stinging cold, that was and I was a big Al Jr. fan, and and and Michael Andretti was just kicking the shit out of everybody. and He blows some kind of little up plastic oil ring on the backstretch.
00:40:33
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And from second on back, that race was very competitive the whole day. and he also blew a seal. The seal, that's what he blew a seal. The Ganassi cars were fast and were battling for lead off and on or battling for second behind Andretti. And then Goodyear comes all the way up from the back and him, little Al, and Michael blows up and there's Rex every few laps like,
00:40:52
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Almost every Andretti known to man broke an ankle or a foot that day. was They were all wrecked. Like Bob and Tom, though you say, they had Dick and Haji on there. Like for the next two weeks, all Dick and Haji would say, oh, I'm an Andretti, my feet hurt.
00:41:02
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That was like the Q95 thing for a while. and So that was, it was just such a different race. like the po That's when the pole sitter crashed on the pace lap. We're sitting up and in the Southeast Vista, and Guerrero comes through too, they're on a parade lap. They're not even on the, you know, let's go. Yeah.
00:41:19
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
He rips the throttle. What it is is those have to be turbos there, and they have to spool up. It's not like if you mash your street car. Like, if I go out and mash my Camaro, it would go. Like, you know if you have a turbo, it lacks. It's got a spool. It spools, and it spooled, and it caught, and it just yanked that car to the left, and it piled into the wall, and the holes that are gone. That was in 2000.
00:41:35
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Oh, man.
00:41:39
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
2006 was really good and because it was pretty exciting. And we had some people in from Nebraska. It was their first race. And sure and he got a real VIP experience because we were really hooked up. And he like he got to go meet Carmelo Anthony in that. and And it was a good race and had that big end. but probably And it's going to seem really morbid, but probably the most memorable race that I ever went to was 1973.
00:42:00
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Was that Art Pollard? okay oh oh yeah I have that to bunch of stuff. That was practice, and I was there. He hit the ball and just knocked the bejesus out of himself, and he was on fire. Right.
00:42:11
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And all you could see was that it was blurry. Yeah. You know, at the time, it's, I'm nine years old, so I'm not understanding that methanol doesn't burn yeah where you can see it. Right. And all these safety crew guys are jumping out on it, man. and I can just remember this one arm being up in here. And they just, just burnt death right front of them. Yeah. Is that Sweet Savage?
00:42:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
No, Art Pollard. Yeah. So, yo, race day. So, we're living out east with mom and dad before we moved to the west side. I remember this. And, We go to the race, you and it rains and shit. it Finally, it it gets a go.
00:42:44
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
in the And we're way up atop still in those seats those you those season Southeast Vista. And for some reason, my Uncle Bill was kind of helping the team. He did lot of sprint car stuff, and he came up and sent with us. And that was they had the big cluster. He was pit board guy. in 74. The next year he was. Yeah.
00:43:00
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Anyway, this, they had the big wreck and salt water spinning and we could see the first turn, most of the first turn. And so I'm looking over, I've seen his dude's feet hanging out of a race car. I'm like, that ain't right. Oh my man. That's two guys. I done got seen killed out here this month. It's crazy.
00:43:15
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Tough to die that way. He ended up, you know, into the survive and rained and it, And they had to stop and start the race. it's like Wednesday before they finally got going. That wasn't the year Fred Flintstone drove in the Indy 500. No, it wasn't Fred Flintstone. Open cockpit. Yeah.
00:43:30
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
ah He finished the race. You said something about feet hanging outside of a car. So we were in turn one. when Stan Fox yep hit the wall and literally yeah we were returned it was right in front of us. And he's, his feet bouncing on the rear tire. And he is, he's just, the whole he survived. he survived yeah That was kind of good interject here. Cause people that haven't been here don't get Correct. Correct. you That people do die out there. but But you can also be at that event and,
00:44:02
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
and not see yeah anything any of lose to be a good clean right now yeah but no no but but because where you sit sure sure you're I mean it's a two and a half mile track you you you just can't see the whole thing it's not like going to a basketball game or a horse race where you can see every everything go down and thats that's probably the big difference between current day and back then because they didn't have the big screens on every corner and now you do see more well on the damn trees weren't so tall yeah if you were sitting in turn two you could see turn four you could see the main straightaway because of the grandstand trees weren't as tall right uh not as many stands on the inside the pagoda wasn't pagoda wasn't all that shit on the inside wasn't wasn't all built up You could sometimes literally sit on the front stretch and see bits and pieces of the back stretch. You could. Back in the day. You can't yeah now. but yeah so yeah Going back to 73, when they finally get it get back going again, my uncle's like, yeah Gordon Johncock was fast, and and so was Sweet Savage.
00:45:06
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
and My uncle's like, that that Savage kid's going to win this race. Keep an eye on that that bright red-orange car with that black helmet. and Sure enough, man he's he's second, first, second, first. and he can And we could see turn four all the way from turn two, and he comes out, and all a sudden the thing just whips to his left.
00:45:21
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And we couldn't see the impact, but the fireball went up, you could see the fireball. And so the crash has happened, and everybody's kind of calming down. And a few seconds later, you could hear everybody on the front stretch just losing their mind.
00:45:33
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Screaming. And yeah a safety truck went north down pit row. And Swede's crew was running out, and the pit crew hit him, killed him instantly, flipped him three or four times the and killed him instant instantly. Holy shit. The pit crew guy? Yeah. So that's why they changed.
00:45:47
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's why if you go the race now, you rarely ever see one way everybody goes left. One way. you Occasionally, you'll see some of the guys from the north get over on the road course portion of the track if the oval's open and come a little bit back left. But everybody's to the left so that that doesn't happen again.
00:46:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But that year just to really opened my eyes to how dangerous it was back then. And it was just addictive. Like, oh, my God, this shit. yeah you I'm going to ask that. Is the appeal for you, I know you're a racing guy,
00:46:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Is the appeal for you that the the danger versus the – I'm not saying you want to see somebody injured or hurt, right? But there okay there's there's yeah i get something there's part of that allure, though. it's like
Global Racing Appeal
00:46:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
The action. The risk reward risk theris award and the 60s to the – or 70s were date seventy s what grew dangerous. the seventy s got silly dangerous, because They bolted on wings, and all a sudden you're going 40 miles or whatever it is, 25, 30 miles an hour faster.
00:46:46
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. So the closing rate's instant, and when you hit concrete, you're going so much faster. its it Sure. The survivability rate's small. Concrete, yeah. So like when I was young going to the pits, have you ever heard Hemingway say there's only three real sports, bullfighting, racing, and boxing, everything else is a game?
00:47:02
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And that was sort of true back then. sort of misquote. He said wrestling as well. The most famous athletes back at that time was a world heavyweight champion. yeah know i And yeah a handful of big-time baseball players. And whoever won the 500. They were the most known people in world. Mike Tyson's punch-out.
00:47:20
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
so It was because of the risk reward. Yeah. That's why today everybody still loves drivers today and they're still stars, but they're not. When's the last time the indie indie series created a legend? Yeah. It's a smaller circle. It's a smaller circle. It's for because the risk reward ratio was challenged. Helio maybe?
00:47:38
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So would he be the last one? I mean, so would he be the last true? They were close with Weldon. They were. Yeah. Yeah. They were. Yeah. with danny And then they killed him. So. So as a race fan, because i mean, even though you're obviously in into IndyCar, you also follow other racing. So you're a NASCAR yeah fan too. NASCAR. But when when you look at racing as a whole on a scale of one to 10 of racing, you racing the best racing best racing IndyCar F1 NASCAR where would you rank each one of those because i have a very strong opinion about NASCAR these days so um i thought because they put the fight it but I'm kind of biased so I love IndyCar the most I still think that some of the most exciting racing for the money well the best racing for the money ever was and everybody's gonna say oh you're an idiot was the IRL years
00:48:35
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
because you're an idiot yes well no listen to me well but why the on track i don't know on track racing was nuts you had you heard me say that you had these ladies and men racing 200 plus miles an hour in packs of 10 12 15 20 cars you had dr jack miller and cra breast pan and yes that was a problem no could do no and that and that was why it ended yeah because i know half that field wasn't talented enough in racing in a pack.
00:49:03
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But that shit was breathtaking. Was that number two? I think IndyCar's sort of on the right track. They've kind of made some stars in their... mostly exciting races. NASCAR is only good at at Martinsville, Talladega, and Daytona. It sucks everywhere else. it just a Formula 1. Where does F1 fit into this? Because f one is terrible trash it's a different monster. It's soccer, though. soccer. Because outside of the U.S., people love Well, the U.S. is hot here right now because of COVID, and everybody watched that show on Netflix. yeah and And America is very snobbish about our sports.
00:49:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
We're not going to participate if we're not the best in the world. So you think we're the snobs and F1 isn't snobbish? No. As a group of oh yeah race fans and teams, very snobbish. okay But I think America is snobbish towards who we support. got you like We'll support the women's soccer team because they win. We won't support the men's soccer team because they suck. yeah The U.S. national team. right We'll support our football because it's the best in the world.
00:50:05
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
We're not going to support European football. and right I mean, America, unless your city is really good, you don't support hockey outside of the cities that are really hockey. But what the F1 drivers, I mean, over in other countries in Europe and everything, super you to makega a star they're gods yeah they're gods. They're as big or second big to to soccer stars. Yeah.
00:50:26
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And that's what I wish IndyCar... Because to me, IndyCar is the best form of racing. They need to promote better, but there's not a lot of Americans that are that are racing in that.
00:50:38
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
i mean Which is why kind of why I ask that question, because a lot of the guys that come over to IndyCar are coming from f three coming from even have come from F1, and have had great success in Europe. ever come from F1. I know if we run a bunch more ovals, they'd stop that shit. Yeah, but... why but come Some of those guys are the rising stars in the car now from around the world. Those guys are supremely talented. Those cars are The technology, those cars are unbelievable. right P1, by the way. I'm just biased because Formula One shit all over Indianapolis when they were here. right I mean, Link can tell you stories. And so i've just I will probably never be back in form. Oh, yeah. Link almost got gang raped during that F1 debacle. Holy cow. Yes, sir. Best day of his life. Best day of his life. You can't rape the willing. What are you doing now? but
00:51:28
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Here's ah so much. Go ahead. No, I was going to go back to the Sweet Savage accident. yeah um But I didn't realize that my parents were or that big of race fans. and And they really weren't. I know they went to a race here and there.
00:51:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
The one story that my mom ever really told me about the Indy 500 was was that year. They were there. That accident happened right in front of them. Holy shit. And she she told me that there was a woman that was like screaming bloody murder. and Hang on.
00:51:59
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And my mom was sitting there. and She said, I was thinking to myself, I wish this woman would stop screaming. Oh, that's his wife. It was her. no a sweet No, no, no, no, no.
00:52:10
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
ah Oh, it was my mom. Oh, okay. So she basically was sitting there going, you know, oh my gosh, what what am I, what did I just see? saw This horrible accident.
00:52:21
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Somebody of probably died, blah, blah, blah. right and she's And she's screaming at the top of her lungs, right thinking it was somebody else. But she's like, I don't know. And that's one of the very few Indy 500 stories I've ever heard my mom tell. Wow. Right. But, yeah, it was the first time I've ever heard of it. It's self-screaming. That's crazy.
00:52:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
What's interesting me about Indy is we've all been there because we grew up here. Right. We all take it for granted, myself included. I still don't even care about the race cars that much. As I've gotten older, I've appreciated much more for what it is and just the kind of awesomeness of that day. Uh-huh. In the events, so I love the parties leading up to Yep.
00:53:03
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
The social aspect. call it a spectacle. say it's the greatest spectacle in racing, and it really is. Anyway, but. But there's people like –
00:53:12
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
200,000 people like you, John. That live and breathe it. Yes. yeah That have, through the lean years, have kept this thing going and care and give a shit about it. So ah you started going early. What, like, what like hooked you on it?
00:53:28
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Like, as a five-year-old kid, you're like, yeah, I'm coming back every year. Well, just those cars. you know so I mean, sitting there on that hood in that orange car, I've got the...
00:53:38
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
ah On the collectorhood? The 118th of that very car that did that AJ signed. It was just, holy crap, that's awesome. well and we You don't so much remember it, but when Grandma and Grandpa had their house, their basement was a little tavern.
00:53:52
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And they had high-level race folks in their drunkard monkey. called it Jeff's Mom's Basement. Where where they where did they live, John? It was right on the corner of 10th and Farley Drive, little brick house, still there. That gas station right across the street. The shell there? Matter of fact,
00:54:09
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Mom gave up her bedroom and slept downstairs on the couch because Tori Ruttman had her room one year. Get out of here. Somehow so they were very connected. yeah yeah and i also I tell a story in in this little book I had wrote years ago.
00:54:22
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It may have even started when mom was pregnant with me in 64. They were sitting in J-Stand right off of turn four. She might have been pregnant the next year too. Could be. But Dave Sacks and and and da mcon Eddie Sacks crashed, hu blew up, and caught on fire.
00:54:36
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And so mom tried it with me and in my my biological car. They're sitting there in all that black smoke pouring over the grandstand. So that's what happened to you. That's what happened. Yes, that It wasn't that his mom fell down the stands that year and – yeah. Yeah, right. She yeah she was in secondhand. With him and with him in her belly. She saw some whores. you know Yeah. Let's talk about whores. Horrors. Oh, sorry. oh They were at – I think it was yeah or poor my but theyre at
00:55:14
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
They were at the Terre Haute action track. Oh my gosh. The dirt track. And someone flipped a sprint car. And mom and my biological dad are with grandma, grandpa, and Billy. And and and they're standing right by the fence.
00:55:26
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And a helmet rolls up at the fence. And mom looks down. And the dude's head's still in it. Ugh. And she freaked out. Well, yeah. would freak out, too. I think anybody would. so neat I need my bidet after that. And of course, you know, she's freaking out. day and with hand but And my dad's like, what happened? Shit, it's racing. Come on. He's being a tough guy. But that really...
00:55:47
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's how racing was back then. You didn't just race IndyCar, right? You raced sprint car. That was a whole series. You came up through the race. And the sprint races were part of the IndyCar series. Sure, absolutely they were, yeah. So the thing I appreciate about the 500 in particular, that race, is there's been a lot of F1 drivers that have come over, Nigel Mansell,
00:56:13
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
ah Crawford Scott Crawford ah Billy Crawford no Scott Crawford oh he goes back farther than that no no no I know that i know that I know that but I'm just saying Billy Eiffel from the 60s say yo fobby he had Mansell and fobby Nigel Mansell was a world champion Nigel Mansell was a beast He had the 501, and he screwed up a restart. Well, he came here and shit his pants the first time you went in the first turn. He sacked up and got it done. And Crawford, Jim Crawford. He also might have shit my pants at the 500 one time. Jim Crawford. Totally different reason. When in Fast Friday. Yeah, I wasn't thinking. When went into the first turn at 245 miles an hour and forgot to turn left and plowed that wall. I mean, it's...
00:56:53
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
These are the world's best drivers. And they come over here and they go, well, it's just left turns. It's just left turns. How hard can that be? Well, son of bitch, when you go plowing into turn one at 250 miles an hour and you have to turn left. Their their cars are way more technology advanced than any car, right? Massive. Much bigger tires. Massive brakes. it's a huge learning curve for them come over here. And there they're great drivers.
00:57:18
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Drivers? I mean, but what's his name? Montoya. Montoya was beast. Montoya was very good when he came over. about um My point being is, it's not as easy as what these foreign assholes think it is. They show up and drive, right? but The thing that turned was they came here and ran, and and Michael Schumacher pitched a bitch about having to run close to the walls, and the IndyCar drivers basically started calling a pussy for it. Yeah.
Tales from the Racing World
00:57:42
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Dude was a beast of a driver. He's one of the all-time greats. What's that about? All right, so, Dubs, what's – I'll go – now what's your favorite memory, but what – just a top story too. We're going to save a story. We're going record after this is done. We're going record a separate segment for you. Yeah, because we've got a whole lot of funny stuff. Okay, well, let's do it. The cool story, probably one of the coolest things that I ever got to do. Can you pause while Jeff goes pizza? And Tom, Jeff and Tom. I saw him think I was getting ready to go. Sword fight. Nope, we're not sword fighting. Who's Jeff?
00:58:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
There will be no sword fighting. So go with it. what So I was just over around 97. There was a team called Scandia, and they were trying to put like seven cars in a race, and Dick Simon was running the whole show.
00:58:28
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And I'll have her friend this this friend of mine. Her name was Dee. I'm a Dick Simon fan. Yep. And D, her dad was an engine builder in the 70s. And just like Ralph Earnhardt, he literally died in their in their shop, in their garage at their house, building a motor for Dayton Walter.
00:58:45
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And so she had the lifetime all-access pass. And a really good friend of hers was putting his car together for this little French dude named Fermin Belez. and yeah I mean, Brett and I are a baby. This dude is like five foot tall and 120 pounds at that.
00:59:00
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And he looked more like a ah derby jockey than any car driver. That's me. So they put the car up on the sawhorses, you know, and and and it's all together except for the body work. And they're like, hey you're small. Get up in there. So I climbed down the car, and they had me bleed the brakes for all four corners. Oh, so you're the driver?
00:59:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. so to To fit the car? when they When they get it all ready to go, and they say, hey, come back in couple hours, we got a job for you. So Dee and I take off, and we come back in a couple hours, and the car's...
00:59:28
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
In there, and they're wheeling it out, and they're jump in. right. So I jumped in, and back then, they had to tow everything out. Right. Yeah. And so I got to sit in the car, and you had the wheel in one hand. You had to keep tension up. Oh, hold the tow road. Hold the tow road. They towed us out to pit row for half hour. Oh, that's cool.
00:59:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And then the dude was driving the tow vehicle. You have a picture that? I wish. He was supposed to. We were the first pit north of the garage area. Uh-huh. So he was supposed to turn so that the car went out wide. He had to turn out wide to pull the nose. Because I'm sitting there, and and it's not like your street car. When you turn this much, that's It doesn't go any farther.
01:00:03
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It's a steering wheel. It clicks, but the wheels stop turning. So I'm like, I'm looking back. I'm like... No, this is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong. we''rere we're We're way too far in. We need to be out because when I cut these wheels and you back us up.
01:00:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Fuck you, Philippe. You don't know what's going on here. We're not going to get in the pit box. You're not even the real driver. And sure enough, they unhooked the rope and the guy's leaning in. and I'm like, dude, we're we're wrong. We're not the right angle. We're not going to get in the pit box. And sure enough, they push us back and maybe half the car is in the pit box.
01:00:33
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
The fucking light goes green. and Richie Hearns pitted behind us, and he thinks it's race day. He full bore rips it up, when on pops the clutch.
Indy 500 Personalities
01:00:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I'm looking in that little rearview mirror, and he missed us that know three inches, come out around us, smoking these tires. I'm like, I miss a lot of people by three inches in my career. It was just a rush. It was cool as hell. And then you're sitting in all these cars. Hang on. So you hit some with three inches as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. as a Three or four. Got it.
01:01:02
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So that was a really cool movie. That was fun. you are in the car as they take it out to people. Yeah. Yeah, that was awesome. That was awesome. One of the guys that went to Benday, his name was Tim Froman, big old fat dude. He was a photographer. That's racist, John. You don't need to call people fat. He was large individual. You can say it as a small dick. That's fine. has picture of it somewhere. Did you say Tom Paws? No. My bad. Wow.
01:01:27
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Probably with the the second coolest thing I ever did at Indy that had nothing to do with. Is this Dad 8 Pro-Man, the such as king of Chicago? I don't know, maybe. No? Okay. Did you ever, when you were at the track, did you ever see Frankie?
01:01:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Big Frankie? Yeah. Huh? Frankie Frankie Dogs? don't know. Dude used to come and gasping down in a big-ass Cadillac, just like he'd come out of Sopranos. Ball-headed guy. mean, he's like 6'2", 240.
01:01:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Go with your story. don't care about Frankie He would come into STP and bring packages full of Franks or hot dogs and sausages and all this kind of stuff and cheeses, and he'd load them up for the whole month and fill the refrigerator.
01:02:06
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's awesome. Yeah. And they were all called, Frankie, Frankie dogs. and over yeah The 500 is built on people like this, right? That's what's crazy to me. And people live for the month of May. Sure.
01:02:20
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And it it just, I'm going to say it's baffling to me, but as somebody who's not ah completely committed to it like that, I've grown into it as gotten older. Sure. Like, I took some shit from because of this sumbitch here. Like, there's been Mother's Days where I'm with mom.
01:02:39
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. And sumbitch know where to be around. Like, hey, when's your brother showing up? I'm like, About 630. Yeah, about 630 when the track's over. Because that's generally i think for first qualifying weekend, i right? It was second.
01:02:53
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It was always second, yeah. I'm like, I think he said the track. It was bump day, wasn't it? It was bump day. No, bump day was Sunday. Bump day was Sunday. So, this was Mother's Day. Yeah, Mother's Day Sunday.
01:03:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So, the the the second coolest thing that ever happened at Speedway had nothing to do with any cars. There had been this long rumor that we were going to get ah an NASCAR race. Yeah. And I'm a, other than AJ, I'm a monster Dale Earnhardt fan.
01:03:17
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
but Somehow or other, I got a contact that called me and said, hey, third it's it's on. The thing's going to be tomorrow since at such a time. Entire test? No, no, no, no. It was a press conference. yeah So my our dad had a little warehouse about two blocks south of the track, and I ran it.
01:03:30
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And I got everything. I went in early in the morning, got everything done. I was like, hey, I'll be back a few hours. I want to try and get this press conference. So I go back home. And Brett said IU at the time, he's got a polo shirt with a little pocket and the IU logo on it.
01:03:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So I put that bitch on. I got a steno pad and a pen and stuck in my pocket. I drive over the track, and I walk up the – you're going up the the old museum, and there's the yellow shirt there. yeah some bitch I said, I'm with the Indiana University student newspaper. newspaper I'm here to cover this race.
01:03:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
She oh, yes, sir, go right in. You go past the gift shops and go into the museum. So I walk into the museum, and immediately I'm in over my head, because I shit you not, I walk up, and this guy comes up to San Emerson goes, hey, how are you doing? He sticks out his hand. Robin Miller. Chris Econimack. Oh, Jesus. How much? Oh, hi, how you doing? And there's like Winston Cup scene and AP and all this stuff, and there's all our locals are down, like at the old museum. know how it was down on the right-hand side?
01:04:21
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And so they get they give me a press kit, which I still have. And so I'm standing there, and here comes Tony George and Bill France and Daryl Waltrip and Bill Elliott.
01:04:33
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
He got out of the shitter. And then here comes Dale Earnhardt. I'm like, holy shit, the intimidator's really Yeah, this is real. Really here. So they're doing all their thing. They're talking, and Dale's last one to to speak, and he's standing still up on the behind the podium talking to Francis and Holmans and all those kind of people.
01:04:55
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So I go down and D.W. is doing an interview for Channel 13. And our local media just is horrible covering the race at some point. They ask the same stupid ass questions over and over and over.
01:05:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And you can tell Daryl's getting tired of this. So I'm like, I raised my hand. I'm just like, I belong here. He's like, well, what's your question? I was well, noticed. you ask a question. Yeah. It's on YouTube. Me talking to Daryl's on YouTube. And so I was like, got a question. I was like,
01:05:27
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
and so i was like i got a question i was like All the other NASCARs came ripping out a four and stayed right up on the wall. You kind of faded to the center like Indy cars. I get it's a different weight and everything, but did that make any difference? I mean, just lit up. Oh, yeah. He's like, yeah. He goes, I had Gary. Because now he's talking race. Yeah. He goes, I had Gary Bettenhausen in my pit, and he told me to do that, and we picked up almost two miles an hour.
01:05:50
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Now, later on, they found out that it's actually faster to stay by the wall because it cuts a bunch of wind off the right side of the car, so you do less drag. Right. So we get done with that, and look over, and I'm racing stock cars out the speed room at the time.
01:06:02
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And I look over, and Dale's just sitting by the – so like the lantern's here, and he's – not the lantern, the podium, the lectern, and he's sitting on it or beside it So I just walk up and I stick my hand out and I say, hey, my name is John.
01:06:17
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I'm going to be in a student union. Yeah, no, I just said, name is John. And he looks at me and says, hey, how you doing? I was like, man, you've been interviewed to death. I said, I just, if you don't mind, I just got some racing questions for you. He's like, have a seat.
01:06:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And so I sat down. I told him, hey, I'm racing out at the speed room I'm trying my best. I'm busting ass. was like, and people, I'm running, you know, go top three, four, five cars every week. And everybody's roughing me up and I'm trying to hold my own. not trying to wreck anybody. I'm not trying to be here anybody else. I ain't going to run over.
01:06:44
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But people are booing the ever-loving shit out of me. And he's like, well, you got to embrace him, boo, son. Yeah. And then, I mean, I'll get choked up because he's like, how many plays that little track hold? I'm like, I don't know, 5,000, 6,000 maybe, and it's half, three-quarters full every week. He's like, so there's 3,000 people there.
01:07:06
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
A third of them are rooting for somebody because they've been doing that track forever. and they got He's like, so everybody you beat is another person booing. So the more they're booing, that's the more people you're whipping. He goes, don't. was like, I'm a little bit worried about my sponsor. They don't like me being so aggressive. He goes, everybody. You had a sponsor?
01:07:26
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. We had Westside bait and tackle. No shit. you really? Yeah. wow Wow. I've had master bait and tackle. Master bait and tackle? Yeah. I've had them as sponsors. How much they give you a month? Just one hand. was so dale Left and right. So Dale said. Dale says, you don't worry about the sponsors. He if you're running the top five every week and people are booing and making that much noise, guess what? You're doing well. They're getting noticed on the side of that car.
01:07:54
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. He's like, I'm like, well, they're trying to tell me, you know, not be too aggressive, you know, just be a little. He's like, you don't ever let anybody tell you. they're not sitting behind that wheel, nobody ever tells you how to drive that race car, son. Yeah, good good. Try to bring this back to the 500 little bit.
01:08:10
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So that interaction is a, uh, it's a person, right? is It's not a celebrity. sure It's, it's somebody in their element talking what they know.
01:08:22
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And that's, I think that's what the 500 was built on. Cause these are guys that, as you alluded to, stayed in in, local people's homes, you race what you brought. Right. Yeah. And you're a guy that would go out and drink a beer in the parking lot after you got wrecked and you crash out of the race. yeah It wasn't like you were,
01:08:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. There weren't millions of dollars on the line back then. You raised for the love of it and a little bit of money and hope you get your costs covered. Some sub celebrity too. Sure. nature it wasn't It wasn't what sports have become now. Yeah. Right. Really.
01:08:59
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But the emotional thing about that there was he told me. They can put it in you, but they can't take it out. Oh, Link says that every week on his podcast. I know. It leads to a joke. it's a joke. He does say that every week on his podcast. year or so after he died, they came out with movie three.
01:09:14
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And the actors playing Dale Jr. and Dale Sr. are in the garage with the late model sportsman. And Dale looks at senior looks at junior and says, They can't put it in you. They can only take it out. yeah so and I mean, I just sit there and bawled on my couch, and it was crazy. and I know that's your guy, right? yeah is it's It is very cool to talk.
01:09:31
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
People are so passionate about that stuff. So ah back to Indy. So we we went through some 60s, 70s stuff. Al Jr. in the 90s.
01:09:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Things changed in the early 2000s. um Down period for, what, 10? ish years maybe was when il yeah so where are you at with you still go every freaking day when the track's over right but where are you at with indie racing now good state bad state like it sort of don't like some parts don't like some this is interesting yeah yeah this is very interesting it's good
01:10:15
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
But they have some flaws that they still haven't fixed from the the split.
Concert Booking Challenges
01:10:20
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Like they still cater everything to the paddock and not the grandstand. Meaning teams, drivers, sponsors, not the fans.
01:10:26
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And without the fans. and yeah Well, here's the thing. i actually think they've done a good job of bringing in some younger fans. The 500 itself is doing very well. It's the series. The 500. Ever since Doug Bowles took over, the 500 has been on fire. Doug Bowles is a beast. He's a badass. He's a badass.
01:10:46
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
He's going to be on next week. ah yes that's our sp Doug is awesome. yeah yeah so like I The Iowa race, what's her name? Hy-Vee? Hy-Vee's gone. are they been out they poll so that That race will have half the crowd this year because the concerts are gone. yeah exactly Exactly. so you yeah and it's like That's a great track.
01:11:05
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
it's ah from I've never been out there, but I've heard a great race. it's yeah um so You've got to have those extracurricular events. yes so we We sat around. I think we've done this but three years now.
01:11:17
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
However long we've done it. And the one thing these guys bitch about, I don't go there, is Carb Day and the bands that are playing there. yeah Last year it was Bryan Adams and both. thats and these got You've got to have those to bring in new fans. But that's out of the Speedway's control. Live Nation killed that.
01:11:34
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Live Nation has 90% of all the band's contracts. And if you play anywhere within 100 or 200 miles of a venue, you cannot play there again for a year within 100 miles. So the Speedway sits handcuffed trying to book anybody. are you serious? Yeah, dead serious.
01:11:47
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
The Speedway can't book anybody. It's not that they don't want You have to go off of Live Nation's roster. You have to go off Live Nation's, yes. We had this argument like about this time last year, maybe it was two years ago. Why can't they get better bands in here?
01:12:02
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's why. that Because Live Nation has a lockdown. We didn't know the answer. Now we know the answer. That's a 12-month window. Hang on. Other venues. Other venues can get decent bands. It's all Live Nation. why But why not? why not Okay.
01:12:18
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
but Because they book out so much. You're right. They go off the rock. A band plays up at Deer Creek, whatever the hell it's called now. That's all Live Nation. Hold on. Let him finish. i my mike i know I know the answer to your question. okay Let me ask the question first. We'll see if you've got the right answer.
01:12:36
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Why can't they just treat the Indy 500... concert venue as just another concert. And because the Speedway would have to pay a whole bunch of money to join live nation.
01:12:47
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Correct. and And they're not going to do that. They're not going to do that. Penske's got a deep, deep pocket. So he's got to figure out how to keep this where it is with the air, the neighborhood around it going to hell. That's Penske's big challenge the next 10 years. what What do you mean by that? The neighborhood around it. Once you get off of main street and once you get past the little neighborhood that we used live in and the little neighborhoods where your Airbnb is,
01:13:08
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
How do I say this politically correctly? Everybody else lives around here. Don't give it to rats about the right way or what happens there. they and should They're not going to. So back of the track is a totally different experience. than us back Back to the whole concert thing.
01:13:22
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
As John said, a lot of the artists are signed with Live Nation and there is that that exists. the track has to go off that run. So you got to get away from the live nation artists.
01:13:33
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
There's still a shit ton of great bands that they could bring that are not under Live Nation contract.
Wild Snake Pit Stories
01:13:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah, correct.
01:13:44
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So it's it's a matter of two things, work and money. And the biggest one is money. And it depends on what that budget is for. I mean, that's just how booking shows go. They have money. That's what I understand. But I can tell you, just like any other corporation,
01:14:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
They have a budget for that. Right. So now you're shopping within whatever that budget is. Make it higher for next year. Well, well that's why Roger Penske's a multimillionaire because he doesn't spend his money stupidly. Right. That's not stupidly, though.
01:14:19
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
No. A concert on Carb Day is one of the biggest events out there. I'm telling you, that that shit going on all during the race and turned... Yeah, the snake pit thing down turn three. All the shit in turn three, that shit costs a shit ton money. Way more than the Carb Day All long, DJs playing during the and that But that's bring in 20-somethings. And that's to bring in the kids to get them on, you know, the next generation coming up. The indoctrination. That party probably costs more than what they spend on the Carb Day show. Which is dumb.
01:14:51
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Speaking snake pit, I don't know how we're time. Do we want a couple... No, we're going. Some funny stuff right now. We're going. So... I'm going to say this was late 80s. 62? No. got a joke with They had moved the snake pit out of turn. It sunk from 72 also. They had moved the snake pit in turn one. So the last straw, this kid was mud bogging in a copper Jeep.
01:15:12
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And he would mud bog, and then drunks would jump off their trucks. Was it made of copper or the colored copper? It was colored copper. You said, what's a copper jeep? He lost control coming up out of the mud bog, and it flipped. And he came out, and the roll bar landed on him and killed and and killed and fucked him. up So that was the last straw. They moved it down to to turn three.
01:15:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And Q95 is advertising the best Q in a bikini contest. So I'm with my buddy, Big John Gill, and we're like you know what you know that's going to be a tit fest. We've got to go down there. So we go down there, and and there's maybe 100 people, and there's about 12, 14, 15 people down there with their Q95 stickers and this and that. and then a couple of real smart ones had done the sun – where they put the Q95 and when they took it off and made Q95 on their skin with the sunburn. I think it's Matus and ah yeah man those guy the guy used to do Dick and Hotter. Anyway, so they the Q95, they got their, it's like your setup here. They got all their sound down there and they got all the shit.
01:16:08
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And they got a big ass golf cart with a bass boat seat on it that rotates around and it's mounted somehow to a telescoping pole. So one of the time, these these girls get up on this pole and they go up and show their cue and everybody cheer.
01:16:23
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
They got it cut down to about eight girls. And each one that goes up there and they're taking their tops off, right? Everybody's just losing their mind. we We get to looking and there's this blonde girl that has this Marilyn Monroe look kind of going on. And worse mind you, worse so this had to be 83, 82 or 83, because we're still in the high school. mean, it's 83.
01:16:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And this girl that was up there in her bikini with her top off her like, shit, she's still in high school. She's a ROTC. And she sure as hell don't look like that in her ROTC outfit. ROTC. This was a classmate.
01:16:51
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Yeah. oh I don't know her. I can't remember her name. and I wouldn't run the same. We don't need names. And we're like, oh, my God. I thought about it real hard. yeah It eventually ends up to where they get down to the final four, and they're completely bare ass naked.
01:17:06
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Wow. Taking turns going up on that. So I got a question for you, John. Wow. you You are very knowledgeable on the Speedway. You talked about the lining up the gates. They open up the gates, blah, blah, blah, going to the north. The cannon going off. The cannon going off.
01:17:23
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
What year was scaffolding? members Remember scaffolding because people would set up scaffolds on their trucks so they could get higher up. Man, I wish I knew that. I wanted to say that was, what, 40s, maybe 50s? No, no, no, no. It was around. In the infield. Yeah, in the infield. 70s, 80s.
01:17:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I went to the 70s. think it was. I think I remember seeing scaffolds out there when I was kid. I remember I fell and killed all the people. Correct. And that's when they stopped it.
01:17:51
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
These girls are all you know up there. those Those guys were all drywallers, right? Right. These girls are up there. Do you remember when the the yellow shirts used to have the safari-looking hats? No. look Like they were guarding somebody down there. They were taking tours down the Serengeti. Yes.
01:18:05
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And – this guy goes out there and he's trying to, and now there's three, four, 500 guys down there just roaring and these girls are naked and he's trying to, and and people start throwing nickels and pennies, pinging them off that safari hat, bing, bing, bing, and everybody, and finally the the mar was Marion County Sheriff's back then came riding up like 10 deep on horses.
01:18:26
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
and just clear the clear the crowd and when they zip tied all the guys from the radio station confiscate all their equipment took them that little portal jail down by the museum that's why that was going be my next question yes went to the port of jail down by the museum the port of jail i thought was always in turn three or towards down by the museum was it really yeah they had an actual jail inside the track so it had a friend that spent some time in there whos that Sorry, Link. No, no, no, no. Oh, that wasn't you. he's died no no No, no, no. You were working that day. It was part of the show Denny. that ah
01:19:01
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Denny was in jail? Yeah. yeah He spent the night day email then ah down at Marion County. Email Denny? No, that's Dave. Oh, Dave.
01:19:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So, no, this kind of goes along that story. So, when I worked in the IT department, just happened to be up in the top of the pagoda. So, the very the very ah top floor was security, police, blah, blah, blah, blah. blah And they'd look down on the crowd. And that so...
01:19:35
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
crowd gathering in the infield. There's whole bunch, there's a concert down there somewhere or there's something other. So there's this older gentleman and he sees something in his binoculars and he's calling down to us to his buddies who are on the ground, working, security.
01:19:51
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And he said, he said, 11 o'clock. That's exactly. He, so he calls down and goes, Hey, uh, no, the girl, no, the one right behind you and the whatever. Yeah. She's, uh, she's, she's flashing.
01:20:04
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And the guy comes back on the radio goes, she's what? She's flashing, you know, flashing. Right behind you. right behind you. No. like to in And he goes, wait, she's what? And he goes, she's like, you know, showing her boobies. And I was sitting there probably climbing underneath fixing a computer cable or something like that. listening to this going, what kind of clown? Who doesn't know what flashing is? I'm laughing my ass off. By myself, but I'm like, under this old man is sitting there trying to explain to another old man. right You need to go get that girl teller keep her top on she's showing her boobs.
01:20:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And he can't tell him how. I was like, what the frick is going on? I think that... To me, that's the beauty of the track right there because it's a different experience for everybody. And if you're into racing, it's it's probably the ultimate of speed and precision and all that stuff.
01:20:57
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
If you're not into that like me, but so but i still respect that. You're there for the people watching. and the dip that people watching the boy yeah yeah because that extreme is... It's extreme. It's extreme. You get that many people together and you pour a little alcohol on it. yep Shit's going to get sad. That's what happens. So...
01:21:16
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
No, you you had something. No, no, no. So your your father-in-law, he has said because he's he's been a cameraman out there. can Cameraman out there for several years.
01:21:27
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
and And he has actually said, he goes, joked he goes you you put a you have a camera in your hand? People, people that they don't care. They will do everything yeah if you have a camera in your hand. He's actually told me that before. So, John, instead of putting the press pass in your yeah in your pocket, just carry around a camera and just say press. and yep Okay, so what is – we got to wrap up here. yeah and we're We'll do it a little one-off. But what is your favorite race that you've been to?
01:21:57
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Not race experience, but which not your favorite track experience because those are different. Straight Indy 500? Yeah, yeah, straight Indy. Don't pick that bullshit Daytona race you went to.
01:22:08
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
No, no, no. The idea of being there when Earnhardt finally won was pretty badass. That was a hell of two years. We did that, and then we got to see Nebraska win the Orange Bowl. I don't think you ever paid me for those tickets, by the way. ah I might still have to throw up the shit I bought at Bike Week. Yeah, okay. Alright, fuck that since you brought up Bike Week. So here we are.
01:22:32
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
It's like the snake pit for a week um in Daytona. We're we're living living in Florida, whatever, have a credit card, very very low balance, right? um We go to cash out at the end the day and it's like, hey, you're credit cards the client says over your limb like no f'n wait there's like two grand on that thing uh-huh this some your boy here your boy used it all in a little extra had cashed out a couple times earlier in the day and bought like you bought something like
Indy 500 Reflections
01:23:05
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
500 fucking jacket in oh no no 50 bucks
01:23:10
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
A phone finger. He bought a couple phone fingers. It's just a jackal. We'll leave that. It might be politically incorrect now. 500 Canadian. It was Daytona in the night yeah So somehow I couldn't cash out because my credit card was declined because I maxed out my credit card that day and me was him.
01:23:30
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So the start that was we're over on the basketball courts. There's ah there's a band show at Daytona. We're back in the 60s. That's where all this shit ran. And it's a basketball court. I was a baller. I could play there. We're playing ball. Breaking hoop.
01:23:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
We're playing ball. And this band is a really weird. So bike week starts right as spring break ends. And it was right really a touch and go sometimes. time And we're sitting and we're playing ball. And of sudden I hear this, the same up to fiddling guitars. Like, holy shit.
01:23:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Because all you ever hear down the floor is rap and reggae and all this shit. i'm like... Dude, that's something like outlaw country. I'm like, I handed him the ball. I'm out. And I walked up to this little bar called Kokomo's, and there's a band called J.B. Walker and the Cheap Whiskey Band.
01:24:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And they hit no good they had known David Allen Co. And they had known Confederate. And they knew Confederate Railroad. Jesus Christ. Turns out by the end of the they knew us.
01:24:19
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
They knew us. Because we bought them all drinks. Because you maxed out your credit card. Yeah, because I asked. Yeah, I got to know Confederate Railroad because we got liquored up at eight seconds. So, yeah, we started conversing. Next thing you know, there's your shots everywhere. Like every 10 minutes, like, it's bike week. Bike week, get your pussies. Bam. Yeah, we'll pay for it. We'll buy that.
01:24:39
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Brett will pay for it. Brett's got it. So, back in my favorite fight. at my brother's credit card. We're good. He went to that Coke. i really enjoyed like i said earlier i really enjoyed 92 just because it was so different was that little al yeah yeah that was a cold coldest shit yeah last year was real decent i really liked that last year i didn't mind racing late in the evening like okay so that's cool i'm gonna go different question before we wrap up here what is your favorite part of race day good question oh oh uh uh Back home again and gentlemen, start your engines. Everybody. Like that that whole prelude that leads up to what we talked about that last year. They do it right. It's like it if yeah if you don't if something doesn't click in you differently. if you don't feel it, yeah. Then you're sick. You're dead inside. You're dead inside, yeah. And they basically patterned all that off the Kentucky Derby.
01:25:29
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
They just swapped out back home again from my old Kentucky home. And they balloons. Now they do a flyover. It was very similar. And it said, jockey's up. You know, gentlemen, start your engines. That's what that was patterned after. Yeah. There you go.
01:25:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So you want one more? Probably the funniest snake pit story. yeah Absolutely. We do. we do should we Should we save it for? no Yeah. So we're down.
01:25:53
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I'm down to snake pit where I can't remember which of my buddies I'm with. And there's this little black, you remember little ah like a Zuzu pup pickup trucks, little bitty tiny pickup trucks. And there's this little full figure short gal up there with a yellow tupet on him. Great big ass boots.
01:26:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And there's this kid. There's this kid who's probably 14 or 15, and he's got long black hair, kind of brown skin, and some cut-up slacks or cut-offs, and he looks just like the... The level of detail that Jon has on stories is ridiculous. It just burns into you.
01:26:25
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So he looks just exactly like the Mowgli character in The Jungle Book. Yeah. And he's harassing this girl to show her tits. So everybody starts saying, get him, Mowgli. Get him to get her out. But but that's how it goes here.
01:26:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
That's how it goes here. She keeps saying, oh, you got to ask my old man. got to ask my old man. he comes around. And I swear to God, he looked like Clyde on Every Which Way But Lose. Dude looked like a fucking ring of time.
01:26:53
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
He's got the peanut head. He's mostly bald on top. He's got this long, scraggly goatee and hairy ass arms. And er everybody starts calling him monkey. Man. And the more this goes on, first it's like, because they were right right where we were.
01:27:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And this goes on, and it says 20 people. Now it's 50 people. Now it's 70 people. And it's going back and forth, back and forth. Because that's how it goes. Once there's potential for nudity. If there's going to be titties or fights, that crowd goes into something. Titties or fights. That's true. That's life.
01:27:23
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
So she sits with her butt on the top of the cab and her feet down the bed. and Nice butt? No, no, no. She's a little roly-poly. Okay. And just great big knock. I mean, she was, she was all chinted. What? No, she was all 10 chits belly, you know, there was no in between.
01:27:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And so she's sitting up on this. to this and stop i'm a piss my pants i swear to good So just to be clear hes a chin t
01:27:56
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
them she will
01:27:59
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
she looked like a silhouette of hitchpot
01:28:05
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
youre seen that on movie oh okay go on i'm dying up here so so oh god This kid goes over and everybody's He reaches up and he yanks down top. Those things flop out. and they they lift like locally and They're ugly. like watermelons of pancakes on end nu they're just hideous And she does a front flip, and she lands flat on her back in the back of this pickup truck. Well, here's her her her old man, now monkey.
01:28:40
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Monkey's running around the truck screaming. He's going to kill Mowgli. Right turn, Clyde. and And no, they take off running, and they literally got two spots over. And you remember the little short Winnebago's? They went full-size little short Winnebago's? There's a little mini-winnie there.
01:28:53
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
And the little this this little... ah we you' going to use polllynes whatever This young man runs up in the thing and old monkey's just beating on the door. I'm going to kill this motherfucker. He's just losing you shit. Everybody's chanting monkey, monkey.
01:29:07
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
The door opens. and fights The door opens and I shit you not, it was like fucking shot or what is his name? ah Yokozuna. It was about 300 pound Samoan.
01:29:18
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
There was Mowgli's dad. Mowgli's dad or older brother. for those of you are new wrestling fans, it would be like open the door and there's Jacob Fatu standing there. He reaches down, grabs the back of Monkey's head, slams it into the ah RV.
01:29:34
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
The dude slides down like a cartoon, leaving streaks of blood and goes to his knees. Then everybody says, oh, boooo come on, man. you're and You're trying to say what this kid did. Guy never speaks. turns around as he's shutting the door you hear the fuck did you do we're like oh mogli got smoked the door shut monkey climbs up his teeth the seven or eight of them that he had are all filled with blood And he up and does the the victory pose. And people lost their shit. Started roaring and cheering. They walked him back to his truck and people just handing him beers left and right.
01:30:12
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Wow. that was It was funny and scary and then funny again. There's just that mob mentality that takes over in that infield. Yeah, that snake pit. That was snake pit, 1980s. Honest to God, you kind of got to experience. This guy's the best. youre really You really did. Where's he been? Where's he been from the last two and a half years? We'll tell us more next time. we got because We didn't even touch on the night before. there's all the el holds so yeah yeah You got a joke of the week, Brett?
01:30:41
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I do. who whoa but You can't go into it go to it well i was asking I wasn't going into it that way. was just asking if you have a joke the week. listened to the podcast on the way home from Michigan Tech 17 times because you had a 10-hour drive.
01:30:59
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
once we got to joke the week uh current wife's like what's going on what were they doing i'm like two retards no she said she said she's a retards yeah but she's like what's going on like oh they add a little bit each week it's kind of cool i kind like it so that means we have reached the time for
01:31:27
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
joke so
01:31:37
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
In Utah. Yes. Okay. Damn, you're not even reading this off your phone. No. Why does a chicken not wear underwear? In Utah.
01:31:49
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Why does chicken not wear underwear? Because it doesn't need to cover its cock. You're very close. o Running from the Mormons. Utah doesn't have anything to do with the joke.
01:31:59
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Oh, we that for a job. Just benefit.
01:32:05
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
I forget how that happened. I think it was for Jeff. I think it was Jeff. Why does the chick not wear underpants? Because his pecker is on his face. Oh. You were right there, Jeff. It's close. All right.
01:32:20
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
alright So that's going to wrap it up for this episode of the Solid Four Beer Thoughts. I didn't get music on the way out of the joke. Thank you, John, for joining us. Put your headphones on.
01:32:31
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
um We'll have more with John. You'll hear see those clips on a Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, all that good stuff. and ah We might throw up an extra episode briefly, but fun to listen to.
01:32:43
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
Send us an email, 4solidbeers at gmail.com and like and subscribe wherever you go. Until next week, I'm Tom. I'm Jim Herdabies. My brother got a handy from Chris Economonti.
01:33:00
A Solid 4 Beer Thoughts
You survived another episode. Send us an email at poursolidbeers at gmail.com for show ideas and input. Until next week, cheers.