NASCAR podcast: ARCA Menards Series season outlook

There is a lot of positive energy around the ARCA Menards Series as the 2024 season kicks into high gear. Between a high car count at Daytona and names like Shane van Gisbergen and Marco Andretti (pictured above) competing in the series, things are …

There is a lot of positive energy around the ARCA Menards Series as the 2024 season kicks into high gear. Between a high car count at Daytona and names like Shane van Gisbergen and Marco Andretti (pictured above) competing in the series, things are looking bright. Plus, why Venturini Motorsports are favorites in the championship fight. Charlie Krall, the communications manager for the series, joins The Racing Writer’s Podcast to discuss the state of the sport and many other topics.

Inside the SCCA, with B-Spec driver Josh Schmidt

On episode 154 of Inside the SCCA, we connect with B-Spec driver Josh Schmidt. We’ll chat about this weekend’s Hoosier Racing Tires SCCA Super Tour at Road Atlanta. We’ll also talk about the art of building roll cages. His business Babyface …

On episode 154 of Inside the SCCA, we connect with B-Spec driver Josh Schmidt. We’ll chat about this weekend’s Hoosier Racing Tires SCCA Super Tour at Road Atlanta. We’ll also talk about the art of building roll cages. His business Babyface Fabrication is responsible for many cages in the paddock.

https://www.youtube.com/live/pc7jwzgyN0w?si=HmIJNZwJvmyDw2UE&t=291

How Ward is making mental health a priority at Arrow McLaren

Gavin Ward grew tired of losing a private battle. Years later, those losses would become a gift to his colleagues at the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team. On the outside, the Red Bull Formula 1 race engineer was achieving his dreams as part of a winning …

Gavin Ward grew tired of losing a private battle.

Years later, those losses would become a gift to his colleagues at the Arrow McLaren IndyCar team.

On the outside, the Red Bull Formula 1 race engineer was achieving his dreams as part of a winning program with four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The success continued later in the decade when the Canadian moved from F1 to IndyCar to engineer Josef Newgarden at Team Penske. But on the inside, hidden away from teammates in a sport that celebrates toughness and bravery, Ward was being ravaged by anxiety.

“When I first started going trackside at Red Bull, I thought, ‘This is too stressful.’ This was my dream, but I’m like, ‘I don’t think I can do it. I don’t know if this is something I can keep doing.’ I adapted and I got better at that. And then I came to think I thrived on the pressure for a long time,” said Ward, Arrow McLaren’s team principal.

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“It was my first year as a race engineer in IndyCar, it was my first oval race; the Indy 500 in 2019. We were going in second in the championship, you’ve got a championship-caliber driver, and at Team Penske, where you’re expected to fight for the win. And to my surprise, I just couldn’t quite handle that situation. It was the day before we started running at the Open Test, the big pre-month-of-May running for the Indy 500. And I had a panic attack in my hotel room.

“I’d never had one before in my life. And it was terrifying. But I also didn’t feel like I could tell anybody about it. I thought that it would be seen as a weakness and that I couldn’t do the job. And that was a high-pressure year. I was stepping into this big role, but also expecting our firstborn, and we moved over [from England] and because of a visa situation with my wife, she couldn’t work, so I’m the sole breadwinner and you’ve got this relocation… There’s a lot going on.”

Newgarden would finish fourth at Indy, which helped secure his second IndyCar championship. Despite earning four victories and clinching the title in his first season with the team, some of Ward’s strongest memories from the championship run are from the darker days.

“I remember thinking on the plane flying back from Laguna having won the championship, ‘Someday, I’m going to tell people about the journey that this this year has been,’” Ward said. “Nobody would think anything like that was going on, but there was also a positive outcome. The month of May was hard and I was battling panic attacks, going into the bathroom at the Speedway, and trying to work my way through it on my own. But off the back of that, I got some help.

“I got some help with counseling, learned some coping techniques, and actually managed to really get control of that situation. But also, it’s funny, because all this stuff I learned from going through that has made me a better race engineer. When it was later in that year, and we’re dealing with decision making under pressure and situations where you’re a little hypersensitive to it, you’ve been educated on coping strategies.

“I didn’t tell anybody at Penske what I was going through. And maybe that’s just me, maybe I just wasn’t comfortable with it at that point. I wouldn’t say it was because of the environment necessarily, but I certainly didn’t feel like it was something I could bring up.”

In shifting from Penske to Arrow McLaren, Ward was quickly promoted from a senior technical role to leading the entire team at the onset of 2023. With the first Indy 500 looming last May in his new position, Ward decided it was time to share his story with the expansive group of men and women inside the four-car operation and broach the sensitive subject of mental health.

“We brought the whole team together for a huddle before we went into the month of May,” he said. “I decided now’s the time. I shared the story for myself, and my background and then shared the team resources we have; just wanted to encourage people to feel comfortable to talk about it. I’m not a professional in this, it seemed like the right thing to do. Even afterwards, I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do. Immediately, I thought, ‘Well, maybe I screwed up here. Maybe people are gonna think less of me.’

“But what was amazing was the number of people, and the people you would never have expected to, that reached out after that; I was absolutely gobsmacked. People you just never would have guessed. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is more common, and it’s a bigger deal than I even thought.’ So that gave me motivation to do more.”

Whatever type of stigma existed within the team beforehand was significantly defused through Ward’s open and raw revelations. The reaction inspired Ward to speak with other leaders within the Indianapolis-based team and McLaren’s home base in the U.K. to add a formal layer of assistance to their IndyCar employees.

Through training offered by the Mental Health First Aid organization, Ward and approximately a dozen others at Arrow McLaren have gone through a course that will help them to “identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders,” according to MHFA.

With the backing of McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, Ward is committed to changing the culture within his team.

“For myself, whether it was some training; learning to deal with your emotions, whether it’s anger, frustration, depression, anxiety, and being in tune with that, and being able to recognize it in others and be able to help others with it, I think is a superpower,” he said.

“And now, it’s a huge part of what I do. This is a people game. We talk about race cars all the time, particularly engineers will talk about all the geekery of it. But when it really comes down to it, it’s a people game. Nothing happens without making people work well together and perform on the day.”

Some of IndyCar’s old guard might scoff at a team placing such a heavy emphasis on the mental and emotional welfare of its mechanics, truck drivers, and other hardy types. Ward hopes such notions give way to the direction his group is following — a focus on deeper support of the individuals — in collective pursuit of its first IndyCar championship.

“It’s been my dream to change the sport for the better by setting the example that other people are inclined to copy,” he said. “Because I think it’s the right way to build a winning race team. But I also don’t want to hide what we’re doing here because we want to be the shining example of what it is to build the best race team and have other people come along and do that in the right way. It’s a positive impact on the whole, so I hope we can keep doing that.

“I love getting to do this job. It’s a hard way to make a living, but at the same time, there are very few days where I’m not thankful. But it’s been a journey.”

Listen to the full conversation with Ward in the podcast below:

The New Heights podcast teases the new episode with Jason Kelce jumping through a flaming table

What could be better than this?

A new episode of the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce drops on Wednesday morning, and it’s going to be a fun one if the teaser is any indication. After a week off, the brothers are delivering a new, in-person episode that will be the first since Jason announced his retirement from the NFL on Monday, March 3.

MORE: The Cavaliers celebrated Jason Kelce’s retirement with special video, Kelce-themed bobblehead night

In a clip posted to the podcast’s official account on Twitter and Instagram, Jason is dressed in a pair of coveralls and a face cover and holding onto the side of a fire truck. Below him, a folding table lit on fire awaits. Kelce gloriously and gracefully leaps into it, rolling off with just a smidge of fire remaining on his suit.

Perfect teaser for the new episode.

Inside the SCCA: Solo with Dave Whitworth

On episode 153 of Inside the SCCA, we connect with a someone who dedicates a lot of his life to the solo community. The owner of SoloPerformance.com – Dave Whitworth. …

On episode 153 of Inside the SCCA, we connect with a someone who dedicates a lot of his life to the solo community. The owner of SoloPerformance.com — Dave Whitworth.

https://www.youtube.com/live/7qOdecR8T2s?si=ahe-CUeF9p77PHF9

NASCAR podcast: Bill McAnally

Bill McAnally is one of NASCAR’s most successful team owners, but did you know he started as a driver himself? McAnally visits The Racing Writer’s Podcast to discuss his background in racing, how things have evolved over the years, his life-long …

Bill McAnally is one of NASCAR’s most successful team owners, but did you know he started as a driver himself? McAnally visits The Racing Writer’s Podcast to discuss his background in racing, how things have evolved over the years, his life-long connection to NAPA, and a look at his lineup in the ARCA Menards Series and Craftsman Truck Series this season.

Recapping Kansas City’s Super Bowl LVIII victory on Chiefs Wire Podcast

On the latest episode of @TheChiefsWire podcast: @EdEastonJr and John Dillon recap Super Bowl LVIII and look ahead to the 2024 offseason.

We’re back with an all-new episode of the Chiefs Wire podcast! This week, we’re recapping the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVIII win over the San Francisco 49ers.

The Chiefs have become the first team since the New England Patriots in almost 20 years to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles. We check in with the post-Super Bowl LVIII press conferences featuring comments from head coach Andy Reid, quarterback, and game MVP Patrick Mahomes,

Chiefs Wire managing editor John Dillon recaps Kansas City’s Super Bowl victory over San Francisco, focusing on the team’s grit and plans to attempt a three-peat as champions.

Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. shared his thoughts on Kansas City’s offseason plans after winning their second consecutive Super Bowl. He spoke with wide receiver Mecole Hardman following his game-winning walk-off catch as he worked a shift at Raising Cane’s.

Listeners can look forward to being well-informed about the Chiefs’ securing back-to-back Super Bowl victories and three wins in the last five years with eyes on more in the future.

Check out the link below to get your Chiefs talk before the offseason.

PODCAST: Legacy MC takes its pit crews in-house

Amongst the changes and growth at Legacy Motor Club is the organization deciding to bring its pit crews in-house instead of leasing them from another organization. But that meant those crews needed to be built from scratch. Chris Hall, a former …

Amongst the changes and growth at Legacy Motor Club is the organization deciding to bring its pit crews in-house instead of leasing them from another organization. But that meant those crews needed to be built from scratch. Chris Hall, a former NASCAR pit crew member who also had success putting crews together at Joe Gibbs Racing, was tasked with the job. Hall joins The Racing Writer’s Podcast to shed insight into how Legacy Motor Club found its pit crew members and why doing so in-house this year has its advantages.

Inside the SCCA, with Mike Cobb

On episode 150 of Inside the SCCA, we catch up with SCCA President and CEO Mike Cobb. Mike was our guest on episode 50 and I asked him if he would come back every 50 episodes to update us on all things SCCA. Much to my surprise (although I did put …

On episode 150 of Inside the SCCA, we catch up with SCCA President and CEO Mike Cobb. Mike was our guest on episode 50 and I asked him if he would come back every 50 episodes to update us on all things SCCA. Much to my surprise (although I did put him on the spot during a show) he said yes. Then he actually came back for episode 100, and now it’s time for episode 150. A lot has happened over the two or so years since that first appearance and I look forward to getting Mike’s take on the state of the club and what he and the staff are cooking up for 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/live/3TucygQOj6A?si=A3UXAMcIxYeLs3Dg&t=380

NHRA podcast: Erica Enders on 2023 and beyond

Erica Enders is now a six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion and the winningest woman in motorsports. Enders is also unapologetically brash and obsessively competitive. On this week’s edition of The Racing Writer’s Podcast, Enders provides insight into …

Erica Enders is now a six-time NHRA Pro Stock champion and the winningest woman in motorsports. Enders is also unapologetically brash and obsessively competitive. On this week’s edition of The Racing Writer’s Podcast, Enders provides insight into seemingly having a chip on her shoulder, puts 2023 into perspective and the competition being quick to write her off, and then looks ahead to this week’s Scag Power Equipment PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park, which will feature more than 40 professional drag racing teams slated for competition across Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock. Plus much more.