Paul Newman in a Race Car

It's Not the Car

What happens when famous actors go fast? Not just Cool Hand Luke. Also Tom Cruise, Patrick Dempsey, and many others, including that guy I can’t remember from that one show. (You know—that dude with the hair and the face?)

Spoiler: There is crashing! But that’s not the point.

Ross has coached Hollywood celebrities. Jeff once worked with Paul Newman himself. Plus, we dip into the weird and wonderful story of the 1977–2016 Long Beach Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race. Which was basically Formula 1, except the part of Max Verstappen was played by Carlton from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Ross Teaches Sam a Thing.”

Related Trivia: Jeff and Sam were at the VIR IMSA race last weekend, working and slapping INTC stickers on children and livestock. So many people found us in the paddock to share how much they enjoy this show! Thank you—we really enjoyed meeting all of you!

(Except you, Tom from South Dakota. You know what you did.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

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Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think!

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Check out Sam's new book!

⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠

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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 an internationally renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a championship-winning 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.