The Worst Race Car I’ve Ever Met

Once, Jeff and Robby Unser tried to qualify a car for the Indianapolis 500. Jeff was the engineer. Unser was the driver. The car stunk to high heaven. Unser was scared. This is that story. Here now, one man’s experience with the epically uncompetitive Riley & Scott Mk. VII Indy Racing League Indy car. Has Jeff Braun—esteemed INTC host, legendary bus driver, and championship-winning race engineer—met a worse race car? He says no. This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Jeff Tells a Story.” Related trivia: Want to read Jeff’s test notes and see his spreadsheets and setup from that Indy 500 attempt? We’ve published those docs on our Patreon. Check ’em out—link below! This episode was produced by Mike Perlman. ** Support It’s Not the Car: Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Check out Sam's new book! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think! ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Where to find us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/intcpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/j.v.braun/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/rossbentley/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thatsamsmith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/INTCpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/Drivercoach⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** ABOUT THE SHOW: It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts. Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and 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.