The Why of a Racing Coach

How do you know when to let go of something you love? What if you know it’s time but still think about that something every minute of every day? If you’re INTC co-host Ross Bentley, you back up but you don’t give up—and you lean into what you’re good at.  Ross was once a pro driver in IndyCar and IMSA. He is now a pro driver *coach*. And while he’s too modest to admit it, he’s one of the best in the world at what he does. He has coached Indy winners, Le Mans winners, even Ken Block, and he has made them all faster. Plus, he wrote bestselling books on how he thinks. This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this ep's format “My Life With.” It’s where an INTC host tells the story of how they came to understand a complex racing topic over their working life. In this case, that means Ross and coaching! Related Trivia: Sam just got home from being a keynote speaker at the Lotus Owners Group national gathering in Texas. He has wanted an S1 Lotus Elise since forever. (That’s really unrelated to this ep, but hey, Sam is a Lotus nerd and can’t let it go.) This episode was produced by Mike Perlman. ** Support It’s Not the Car: Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Check out Sam's book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Where to find us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** ABOUT THE SHOW: It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts. Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine. We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel. New episodes every Tuesday.