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PODCAST

It"s Not the Car

Sam Smith, Ross Bentley, Jeff Braun

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts. Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer with time in NASCAR and IMSA. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist, a club racer, and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. We don’t love motorsport for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel.

sports

All Episodes

01:26:18

Two Drunk Guys Win Le Mans — (Jaguar Works Team, 1953)

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/12/24

And that’s the end of Season Two! INTC will return on February 3rd, 2026, to kick off our third season!We're gonna close out 2025 with one of the greatest stories in racing: The time two British legends went on an all-night drinking bender, then jumped into a 150-mph Jaguar and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.The summer of 1953. A night of brandy, cognac, pink gins. When Tony Rolt started the race, his co-driver, Duncan Hamilton, was on the pit wall nursing a brandy.Before that point, their lives

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01:03:27

Get a Job as a Race Engineer! — w/ Charlie Ping

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/12/09

You asked for it! This is the first episode of a new series where we unpack just what it takes to get a job in pro racing.Charlie Ping is a pro engineer. Over the last 20 years, his career has spanned IndyCar, sports cars, and the Australian Supercars Championship. He helped develop Acura's LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes, and he developed and led the manufacturer track-testing program for Chevrolet's IndyCar aero kits.These days, Charlie works alongside INTC co-host Jeff Braun at Toronto’s 13 Motorsports,

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00:11:47

BONUS Episode PREVIEW – Listener Q&A – 11/25

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/12/05

Full episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/november-bonus-144929992**NDQ is our listener Q&A series! Have questions about performance driving, race engineering, setup, or anything else? Hit us up: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INTCPod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠There are no dumb questions in racing… but there might be some dumb answers.**ANSWERED THIS MONTH://2:30 – How do pro drivers in long endurance races get by without sleeping? // 19:50 – How should you think about the beginning of braking as entry speeds

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00:43:40

The One Where Ross Doesn't Get Hit by Lightning

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/12/02

Off-topic show! Back by popular demand. No intro or announcements on this one—we dive straight in.***TOPICS: What Ross found when he tore down the engine from his Lotus Elan — Jeff's tale of French sports-car drivers meeting North Carolina NASCAR spotters — The summer coaching adventures of Ross and Sam — How the phrase “hot foam around your butt” relates to Jeff’s IMSA-champion son Colin — Ross going thunderstorm rogue at Sebring — and more!***PLUS: Spotter theory, race-strategy nuance, and how

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01:20:50

Michael Schumacher Does the Unbelievable — (1994...

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/11/25

Thirty years ago, one of the world's greatest drivers was forced to drive most of an F1 race with only fifth gear.Amazingly, he finished second.The 1994 Spanish Grand Prix is widely thought of as Michael Schumacher’s greatest race. His gearbox was almost entirely kaput. His team had basically given up on his car even finishing the race. And yet, because he was Michael Schumacher—one of the most successful and complex individuals in motorsport history—he never stopped trying to make something

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00:49:28

Did Patrick Dempsey Imagine His Way to Being Faster?

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/11/18

**Want more listener Q&As like this? Patreon members get bonus episodes! Link below!**It’s another “No Dumb Questions!” You email to ask, we sit down to answer. There are no dumb questions in racing … but there might be some dumb answers!Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Ask about racing, performance driving, engineering, car setup, or anything

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01:01:13

Want a 1000-hp Indy Car With No Wings? — w/ JR...

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/11/11

“I just want to see motorsport be as awesome as it can possibly be… can we make this more meaningful? So there’s more to care about?”When J.R. Hildebrand says racing is broken, people listen. A few weeks ago, Hildebrand unveiled a discussion project called Blackbird 66. Maybe, he says, the future of motorsport lies in a hella-sexy 1000-horse Indy car with zero downforce. Twist my arm.Hildebrand: 2011 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year, drives a 1960 Cadillac named Rosie. He last hit INTC on Episode 72,

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00:57:34

Shelby Cobras, Kimi Räikkönen, and the Art of...

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/11/04

How did Ross and a young Kimi Räikkönen end up sharing a fancy London apartment? After 20 years of testing fast cars for a living, which one still makes Sam misty? What really went wrong with Ross’s IndyCar career?Answers to these questions—and more!—in this episode. Probably! Yes!Every so often, INTC does a listener Q+A show. We call that format “NO DUMB QUESTIONS.” This isn’t that. This is Ross and Sam running a weird almost-gameshow and answering uncomfy questions from each other under

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00:56:48

Crashing Four Times at Your First Indy 500 — w/ Jimmy...

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/10/28

Jimmy Kite crashed four times—four!—trying to qualify for the 1998 Indy 500. The story of how he finally made the show holds bad luck and trashed cars but also a hidden concussion, a giant fireball, an airborne gearbox, and a fat dose of can-do spirit. Plus: INTC co-host Jeff Braun! Jeff was Kite’s chief engineer that year. So we brought Jimmy onto the show and asked him and Jeff to tell the whole tale.Kite was a 22-year-old sprint-car kid from Missouri who came up on dirt and had just been crowned

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01:04:29

Learning to Love (Hate?) the Porsche 911

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/10/22

We’ve driven nearly all of ’em. Nearly every road model, plus some great race cars and extended family—a 934 and 935, a Daytona-winning Sixties 2.0-liter, a Rothmans 962, some 959s and RSRs, even Jerry Seinfeld’s 1964 “Butzi” shorty.Why do people love (and hate) the Porsche 911? Are the good ones worth the money? Can a reasonable person grow to love a great 911 if they don't like the things to begin with?Cliché questions. We hit them, then go deeper: What do you learn strapping into all that

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01:03:20

RECAP: 2025 IndyCar Season — w/ Marshall Pruett

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/10/14

IndyCar is a gnarly old series, and 2025 was one of the sport’s gnarliest seasons. So we asked the one and only Marshall Pruett to break it all down—own the mic, spit Palou truth, don’t hold back.(That’s Pruett's secret—he never holds back.)Select Pruett bona fides: decades of paddock reporting for RACER, ESPN, and Road & Track. Hosts the Marshall Pruett Podcast, which you should totally check out. Also, he’s on a first-name basis with Chip Ganassi’s lawyer.Select IndyCar gnar, 2025: Scandals

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00:50:57

What a Daytona Win Won't Teach You

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/10/07

Picture it: Your scrappy little pro race team has a rough 2024. The next year, out of nowhere, you win Daytona. Then the whole gang takes its first trip to Le Mans and lands a killer finish.The rest of Jeff Braun's 2025 IMSA season was, to quote Jeff, “not that.”This one’s a doozy: First, we’ve got INTC co-host Jeff sharing what he learned in IMSA this year. (Jeff helps run a Corvette in the GTD class, remember.) Second, we’ve got Sam, who made way too much coffee on tape day. He's a little

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00:52:44

Wanna Meet the Nürburgring?

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/09/30

More than 150 corners. Twelve point nine miles. History out the wazoo, big fun, big challenge to drive quickly. The Nürburgring Nordschleife is basically the world’s greatest race track.Wanna go? Of course you do! How convenient—Ross just got back from there! In this episode, he and Sam discuss that trip, why Ross takes a small group of clients and friends to the Ring every year, and why Sam has had many opportunities to visit the place for work and kept saying no.(Hint: It may be because Sam is a

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01:02:00

Blood and Speed in Indiana — (First Indy 500, 1911)

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/09/24

Little ditty... 'bout a race and a Speedway! Two Indy names, growin’ up in the heartland. Race gonna make the front page of the Indy Star? Speedway gonna something something… uh... museum... race... car!Yeah, sure, that makes sense! Don't tell me if it doesn't?The story of the first Indy 500 holds a lot of things—death, sand, smoke, around a million blown tires—but it does not hold John Mellencamp lyrics. Still, I hear Mellencamp in my head every time I meet Indiana, so that’s what

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00:53:19

So . . . What is Handling, Actually?

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/09/16

Remember the time you almost died because your hotted-up old Camarobird got all loose and stabby up at Dead Man’s Cul de Sac? Or maybe it was Turn 45 at Laguna Merrica. Either way, there you were, boppin’ along like a lap-wreckered Versteppy, when you nearly bought the farm.“She handled like trash that day,” you told the cops/the race steward/that fry cook at Burger Queen. “No idea why.” And the gathered crowd sighed—who hasn’t been there?Few automotive terms are as misunderstood as “handling.” What

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01:08:12

[BEST OF] – Belief, Death, and the Fastest Man Alive...

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/09/09

INTC is on a short break, so we're dishing up an encore presentation of some of our favorite stories! This show originally aired in June of 2024.***Once, a long time ago, a brave man went to a beach and tried to drive faster than anyone ever had. He did not survive. This is his story. This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history. In this case, that means the story of Welshman John Parry-Thomas and the 180-mph

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01:16:32

[BEST OF] – The Ferrari Story You Didn’t Know You...

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/09/02

While the INTC gang is on a short break, we're dishing up an encore presentation of some of our favorite stories! This episode originally aired in April of 2024.***Once, in the 1990s, an Italian carmaker hadn’t gone sports-car racing in 20 years. Maybe they were too busy figuring out new ways to make a 348 catch fire or something. Then some influential folks made a few expressive hand gestures and the Italians agreed to do it—but just this once, and then you gotta vaffanculo, alright?Hold onto

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01:54:22

[BEST OF] – The One Where a Cobra Eats Europe — 8/13/24

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/08/26

The INTC gang is on a short break, so we're dishing up an encore presentation of some of our favorite stories! This episode originally aired August 13, 2024. Guts, hot-rodders, and the legendary Carroll Shelby—it's a good one!***In the summer of 1965, a V-8-powered love song from California dethroned Ferrari, shut up the haters, and won America its first FIA manufacturer’s road-racing championship. Naturally, almost no one here noticed.The Californian car was a gutsy experiment from a

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00:30:43

What the Perfect Driver Knows

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/08/19

The perfect race driver doesn't exist. But great drivers *try* to be perfect. How? We'll tell you! In the form of a spicy excerpt from “Ultimate Speed Secrets," the best-selling performance book by INTC co-host Ross Bentley!(Bonus: Saucy stories from Ross's coaching past!)(Disclaimer: Said excerpt and stories may be neither spicy nor saucy!)This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “INTC BOOK CLUB.” Think of it as a strange but unexpectedly

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00:54:11

How NASCAR Cheats – Part 2! — w/Chris Andrews

It"s Not the Car ·

2025/08/12

When Chris Andrews was a NASCAR Cup Series engineer, he worked hand-in-hand with drivers like Robby Gordon and Carl Edwards. In his current job, Andrews is lead engineer for Vasser Sullivan’s championship-winning IMSA Lexus team.And man, does Chris have *stories*.Chris first hit the show last fall, when he shared killer tales of illegal race-car foolery. (INTC #46, “How NASCAR Cheats.") And now he’s back for another round of NASCAR cheats!This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We

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