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It's Not the Car

by 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.

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Episodes

  1. How to Build a Racing School

    How do you build a racing school from scratch? INTC co-host Ross Bentley has done it multiple times—and he famously helped start Washington State’s world-renowned DirtFish Rally School. This episode has everything: Whales. Islands. Subarus. The philosophy of teaching and culture. Plus a small...

  2. Battling Fear at the Wheel — with Tom Roberts

    You’re not scared. Right? Tom Roberts is a driver coach, an aerobatic pilot, a racer, a Buddhist, a former dentist, and a student of fear at the wheel. His new book, From Fear to Flow: Transform Your Ego and Uncover the Life You Were Meant to Live, unpacks the relationship between fear and peak...

  3. Catch-Up Show! — Nürburgring Recap, Burnout Advice, and Jeff’s Big Announcement

    Big announcement in this one, kids! No spoilers! Especially not having to do with the one and only Roger Penske, no sir! This is one of our rare “chat” shows—Jeff, Ross, and Sam gone full chill hang. With this one, they're together on the mic for the first time in months, catching up after a long...

  4. IndyCar’s Bravery Problem — with RACER founder Paul Pfanner

    This summer, for the first time in 15 years, IndyCar unveiled a new chassis. The Dallara IR-28 has a chance to change everything about the world’s fastest wheel-to-wheel racing. And when the car takes its first green flag in 2028, maybe it will. Paul Pfanner founded RACER magazine in the early...

  5. Crappy Miatas, Endurance Porsches, and Other Fun Diseases — with TJ + Ed from BFGoodrich

    This episode is about how racing sucks you in—even (or perhaps especially) if it’s tied to your day job. And never more than with endurance racing. Last month, BFGoodrich invited Ross and Sam to co-drive a Porsche Boxster in a ChampCar enduro weekend at VIR. A lot happened. Way too much! Chiefly,...

  6. FREE BONUS: The Hyper-Nerdy Sim Racing FAQ — with Balázs Remenyik

    Balázs Remenyik is a professional sim racer and the official simulator development driver for the Citroën Formula E team. He’s also chief instructor at the Speed Secrets Sim Racer Academy, where INTC co-host Ross Bentley is founder and head coach. Sam and Balázs talked earlier this year—Sam…

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  7. You're Wrong About Sim Racing

    Some love it, some hate it. You’re probably doing at least part of it wrong, even if you’re good at it. Twenty years ago, INTC co-host Ross Bentley was a beta tester for the original version of iRacing, the world’s largest online racing sim. Today, he’s logged thousands of hours of sim coaching…

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  8. How to Get a Job in Racing — Ashley Baily, IMSA Tire Specialist

    Once, Ashley Baily was a pastry chef. Now she’s the 26-year-old, Daytona-winning tire chief for an IMSA Corvette team. Landing that leap took guts, passion, and five years of working two demanding jobs at once. (Plus cake. There was a silly amount of cake.) Want a job in pro racing? If you're…

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  9. What it Feels Like to Quit Le Mans

    INTC’s Jeff Braun had to do it. Just a few weeks ago, only a few hours into that epic race, with a car still fast and healthy. The 24 Hours of Le Mans. A GT3 Corvette. Months of fighting just to make the grid. Maybe you’d make the same decision—pull into the garage, start packing for home. Maybe...

  10. Sliding Hoopties with a NASCAR Legend — (Live in Grattan, MI - 6/13/26)

    LIVE from a Porsche Club of America weekend at Grattan Raceway on June 13, 2026! * Want the INTC gang to come to *your* event and tape a show? Drop a line – ⁠[email protected]⁠ ! * Two weeks ago, Ross and Sam went to a PCA track weekend to coach, tell stories on a podcast, and hang out. This is…

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  11. The 10 Greatest Myths in Racing

    It’s another mythbusting episode! Ten classic racing myths, ten rapid-fire shoot-downs, no prisoners whatsoever. Your answers, as always, come from INTC’s resident paddock veterans: Jeff Braun is a champion IMSA engineer with time in IndyCar and NASCAR. Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and...

  12. Getting Used to Big Power

    Why are some drivers fast in everything? What makes a person quick in Miatas but not Mustangs—or vice versa? How do the pros wrap their heads around big jumps in speed, power, and risk? This is show about many things. Precision. Restraint. A Corvette Z06 walloping into the climbing esses at VIR....

  13. "Don't Drive It, You're Going to Die"

    Our favorite race cars—the ones that stick out, from all the stuff we’ve driven. This is an episode about many things. Love. Hate. Jeff’s mouse-filled Triumph Spitfire. The 1970s BMW IMSA factory team car that Sam rode all lock-stop-drift-slappy down the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. It is also an...

  14. What the Hell is Going on With Formula 1?

    This is what: Three races into 2026, the FIA is trying to fix what it broke. Because everyone hates it. (Ross goes on a rant in this one! Ross *never* goes on rants!) Here’s a joke: A former IndyCar driver and a former Road & Track editor walk into a bar. When they walk out, they never want to…

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  15. Saying No to a $20 Million Porsche

    We call this "Take Your Podshow to Work Day." Three stories of weird days on the racing job—one from each of our hosts. Once, Sam had the chance to drive a 230-mph Le Mans prototype—a factory-owned Porsche 917K!—and he said no. Why? It’s complicated! Once, Jeff won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 28...

  16. Jeff and the Glorious Mazda Fail-Diesels

    Ten years ago, INTC's Jeff Braun helped a Japanese carmaker go IMSA racing with a 180-mph diesel prototype. The car was cool. More than 700 lb-ft of torque at 2800 rpm. Gobs of potential. Also: It blew up every five minutes. (An exaggeration, of course. No race car blows up every five minutes…

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  17. How Pro Race Cars Blow Up!

    The short answer? Use, abuse, and every way but loose. (But sometimes also loose.) This podshow has three hosts. One of them, Jeff Braun, has won Sebring, Daytona, and multiple sports-car championships. From Indy to Le Mans and beyond, Jeff has seen race cars fail in strange and funny ways. And...

  18. The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Jeff’s Car on Fire

    Jeff's Daytona 2026 Pit-Wall RECAP: With special guest—and Jeff Braun co-worker—Andrew Wojteczko, of AWA Racing and IMSA Corvette team 13 Autosport! January 2025: Against towering odds, Andrew, INTC's Jeff, and the rest of the AWA gang win the 24 Hours of Daytona. January ’26: The same team hits...

  19. Postwar Madness on Public Roads — (1948 Watkins Glen GP)

    If you do nothing else, listen to the beginning of this episode. The first few minutes. Maybe with a large drink in your hand. A tiny town in upstate New York. A dapper man with glasses, a dream, and a Duesenberg he didn’t need. One of the greatest—and nuttiest—moments in the history of American...

  20. Racing Stories That Change Your Life

    We’re back! INTC’s third season starts… now! Are we celebrating by going full nerd with this one? Does Alex Palou wear Labubu pajamas? Did Sam have a dream last week where Ross and Jeff heckled him from the audience like Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets? (The answers, respectively: yes;...

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

    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…

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  22. Get a Job as a Race Engineer! — with Charlie Ping

    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...

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

    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: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ There are no dumb questions in racing… but there…

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  24. The One Where Ross Doesn't Get Hit by Lightning

    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...

  25. Impossible Gear, Impossible Finish — (Schumacher 1994 Spanish GP)

    Thirty years ago, one of the world's greatest drivers was forced to run most of an F1 race with only fifth gear. Somehow, he finished second. The 1994 Spanish Grand Prix is widely thought of as Michael Schumacher’s greatest race. His gearbox was stuck in fifth. His team assumed his engine was...

  26. Did Patrick Dempsey Imagine His Way to Being Faster?

    **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...

  27. Racing is Broken, and Blackbird 66 Might Fix It — w/ J.R. Hildebrand

    “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…

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  28. Shelby Cobras, Kimi Räikkönen, and Suspension Cork-Sniffing

    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…

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

    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…

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  30. Learning to Love (Hate?) the Porsche 911

    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…

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  31. RECAP: 2025 IndyCar Season — w/ Marshall Pruett

    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...

  32. What the 2025 IMSA Season Taught Our Pro Engineer

    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...

  33. The One Where Ross Explains the Nürburgring

    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...

  34. The Bloody Madness of the First Indy 500 — (1911)

    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...

  35. So . . . What is Handling, Actually?

    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…

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  36. [BEST OF] – Belief, Death, and the Fastest Man Alive — 6/4/24

    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…

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  37. [BEST OF] – The Ferrari Story You Didn’t Know You Needed — 4/16/24

    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…

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

    INTC 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...

  39. What the Perfect Driver Knows

    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...

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

    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...

  41. INTC Movie Club – “Days of Thunder” (1990)

    It’s “Top Gun” on wheels, almost beat for beat. It’s awful. It’s great. And it’s a racing flick, so this ep must be… The return of the INTC Movie Club! SPECIAL GUEST CO-HOST: Kyle Kinard, formerly of Road & Track magazine. (Kyle’s last time here was INTC Ep. 26, “When Sam Drove Alonso’s F1 Car.”)...

  42. Listener Q&A: Track-Day Focus for Beginners

    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. Topics this week: What are the three most important things a beginning track-day driver should focus on? Is it possible to give yourself extra...

  43. How to Get a Racing Sponsor

    “Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life.” That’s Willie Sutton, the famous 1930s bank robber. Over a 40-year career in the field of unlawful arts, he personally stole a fortune, at gunpoint,...

  44. Rippin' Pikes Peak in a NASCAR Sled — w/JR Hildebrand

    Colorado, 2025: An IndyCar veteran enters a stanky old stock car in the world’s most famous hillclimb. On his own dime, with his dad as crew. Because he wanted make a point. Also: Because fun. 800 horses! An ex-Kyle Petty 1990s Winston Cup car! And JR Hildebrand, your 2011 Indy 500 rookie of the...

  45. The Drama of Your First Le Mans — w/ Baptiste Viala

    Debrief alert! INTC co-host Jeff Braun helped run a GT3 Corvette at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. To a top-ten finish! In his day job, Jeff is comp director for an IMSA team. Baptiste Viala is a 25-year-old engineer who works with him. June marked Jeff's sixth time running a car at Le Mans…

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  46. Brakes, Boots, and a Stock Car in France — (Le Mans + Cale, 1981)

    For July Fourth, an American tale: Big ambition! A mutant Camaro! A crashed mutant Camaro! Success! Failure! Wisconsin! Plus: a NASCAR man, in France, with his name on his boots. (Gave proof, through the night, that our flag was still there.) This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel....

  47. When Miatas Ate Sam’s Brain

    Laguna Seca. Nineteen privately owned Mazdas. And one man, lapping all those cars for Road & Track, quietly losing his mind. Car magazines: It’s a weird gig. In this episode, Sam relives one of the more unhinged story pitches of his career: A nonstop weekend wrangling 19 wildly different Miatas....

  48. The Hidden Rhythm of Road America

    Corner by corner, inch by inch, with one of the greatest tracks in the world. Do Ross and Sam use this episode to dissect their love for the pavement of Road America? Does a Wisconsin bear pope eat beer cheese in the Kettle Moraine woods? (The answer is yes, for the record. Yes to both.) Welcome…

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  49. Le Mans Race Prep 101

    “They were all standing in front of our big Kenworth, the truck, this monster big American machine. They could have cared less about the Ferrari. They were like… the *truck* is awesome.” That right there is an actual quote from this episode, about actual French people meeting an actual Kenworth...

  50. The Secret Life of an IMSA Team

    Just what happens behind the scenes at a big-league pro sports-car race? Answer: Everything! And in this extra-special, audiobook-style INTC, you get… a whole lot of it! Jeff Braun and Sam Smith are two of this show's three hosts. Jeff is also competition director for the IMSA GTD Corvettes of…

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ABOUT THIS 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. 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.

HOSTED BY

Sam Smith, Ross Bentley, Jeff Braun

CATEGORIES

sports

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does It's Not the Car have?

It's Not the Car currently has 120 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.

What is It's Not the Car about?

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,...

How often does It's Not the Car release new episodes?

It's Not the Car publishes regularly with 120 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.

Where can I listen to It's Not the Car?

You can listen to It's Not the Car on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.

Who hosts It's Not the Car?

It's Not the Car is created and hosted by Sam Smith, Ross Bentley, Jeff Braun.
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