It's Not the Car cover art

All Episodes

It's Not the Car — 108 episodes

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Title
1

"Do Not Drive It, You're Going to Die"

2

What the Hell is Going on With Formula 1?

3

Saying No to a $20 Million Porsche

4

Jeff and the Glorious Mazda Fail-Diesels

5

How Pro Race Cars Blow Up!

6

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

7

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

8

Racing Stories That Change Your Life

9

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

10

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

11

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

12

The One Where Ross Doesn't Get Hit by Lightning

13

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

14

Did Patrick Dempsey Imagine His Way to Being Faster?

15

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

16

Shelby Cobras, Kimi Räikkönen, and Suspension Cork-Sniffing

17

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

18

Learning to Love (Hate?) the Porsche 911

19

RECAP: 2025 IndyCar Season — w/ Marshall Pruett

20

What the 2025 IMSA Season Taught Our Pro Engineer

21

The One Where Ross Explains the Nürburgring

22

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

23

So . . . What is Handling, Actually?

24

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

25

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

26

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

27

What the Perfect Driver Knows

28

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

29

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

30

Listener Q&A: Track-Day Focus for Beginners

31

How to Get a Racing Sponsor

32

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

33

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

34

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

35

When Miatas Ate Sam’s Brain

36

The Hidden Rhythm of Road America

37

Le Mans Race Prep 101

38

The Secret Life of an IMSA Team

39

RACE RECAP: 2025 Indy 500 + Monaco Grand Prix

40

Why is Racing So Boring on TV?

41

Free Bonus: One Lap of America with Ross and BFG!

42

The One Where Hitler Loses — (German GP, 1935)

43

The Strange World of the Amateur “Pro” Driver

44

How Would You Fix IndyCar?

45

When It All Goes Wrong

46

Instant Expert: Getting Used to a New Car

47

How Do You Know You’re Good Enough?

48

Jeff Tells a Story:  My Favorite Cars to Engineer

49

Jeff and Ross Didn’t Win Sebring!

50

How Do You Become a Pro Driver?

51

Mythbusting: The Brakes Just Failed!

52

Off-Topic Show — You Asked For It!

53

Jeff Just Won Daytona!

54

Two-Wheel Science 101 — w/Nick Ienatsch

55

Drifting is Harder Than You Think — w/Vaughn Gittin, Jr.

56

Flowing Into the Zone — w/Dr. Sue Jackson

57

When NASCAR Broke America — (1979 Daytona 500 Fistfight)

58

Jeff Tells a Story: Meeting 1967 Formula 1

59

Inside Car and Driver's "Lightning Lap" — w/Tony Quiroga

60

The One Where Jeff Explains Race Strategy

61

Whoop, There It Is — (Mazda Le Mans Win, 1991)

62

Why We Love Laguna Seca

63

You Can Be Fast in Anything — w/Colin Braun

64

How NASCAR Teams Cheat — w/Chris Andrews

65

All Hail Dan and Uncle Bobby — (Gurney Flap, 1971)

66

The Why of a Racing Coach

67

How to Drive It: Porsche 911

68

Sex, Shocks, and Rock ’n’ Roll

69

To Pilot a Mercedes — (Le Mans CLR Crashes, 1999)

70

How to Watch F1 . . . and Learn Its Secrets

71

Paul Newman in a Race Car

72

How Pro Racers Cheat – Part Two!

73

The One Where a Cobra Eats Europe — (Daytona Coupe, 1965)

74

What Does a Race Engineer Do, Really?

75

The Worst Race Car I’ve Ever Met

76

To Be Dumb in Racing

77

Instant Expert: How Do Tires Work?

78

The Last Great F1 Fairy Tale — (Brawn GP, 2009)

79

When Sam Drove Alonso’s F1 Car

80

Listener Q&A: Does Driving Style Matter in F1?

81

Instant Expert: What is Oversteer?

82

Belief, Death, and the Fastest Man Alive — (Parry-Thomas & Babs, 1927)

83

BONUS: Sam Reads From His New Book — “Indoor Storage”

84

RACE RECAP: Monaco G.P. + Indy 500

85

How Pro Racers Cheat

86

BONUS: Sam Reads From His New Book — "Dajiban!"

87

337 MPH in 3.7 Seconds — (GUEST: Top Fuel Driver Clay Millican)

88

BONUS: Sam Reads From His New Book — “Mears and My Feet”

89

The Awful Joy of Bad Racing Movies — (Driven, 2001)

90

BONUS: Sam Reads From His New Book — “Wall Drug”

91

How Roger and Mario Broke the Indy 500 — (Penske “Beast” V-8, 1994)

92

Do Car Magazines Have Secrets?

93

The Dan Gurney Fan-Service Episode

94

The Ferrari Story You Didn’t Know You Needed

95

How to Be a Rookie at the Indy 500

96

For Love of the Game — (Villeneuve 1979 US GP Wet Quali)

97

The World’s Most Charming Race Track

98

How Do Wind Tunnels Work?

99

Listener Q&A: Can the Data Lie?

100

Can You Have Too Much Power? — (Donohue 1970s Porsche Can-Am)

101

What You and Max Verstappen Have in Common

102

When Car Magazines Test Race Cars

103

Listener Q&A: Rain Driving and You

104

Ten Hours, 1000 Miles, and 170 MPH — (Moss 1955 Mille Win)

105

When is a Driving Sim Worth Millions?

106

At the Wheel in a McLaren F1 GTR

107

Unpacking the 24 Hours of Le Mans

108

The Indy 500 is Harder Than You Think — (Rossi 2016 Win)