Dries Vanthoor had a stellar start to the 2025 IMSA GTP season by winning the pole position for the first three races of the year in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW. The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring were grueling endurance contests that led into the 100-minute Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend where we met up with him just after his pole-winning press conference. Vanthoor would go on to earn a third-place podium finish at Long Beach, third in the next event at Monterey and finally getting to Victory Lane at Road America. This guy is impressive in that he had not raced at Long Beach prior to this event. How did he get pole and what was his preparation?  Tune in and find out here. Enjoy!

NOTE: It was announced that the BMW GTP program would be moving on from RLL racing after the conclusion of this season. Belgium based, BMW M Team WRT has been named the team that will be taking over the IMSA program with a new team shop in Charlotte, NC. Will DriesVanthoor continue in the new team? As of press time, no official announcements have been made.

John Morton will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on March 10, 2026. This is a fitting place for a driver who started his career working at Carroll Shelby’s shop, went through driver’s school, and eventually would go on to win some of the biggest races in the world including the 24hrs of LeMans, 12hrs of Sebring and more. Although most of his career was spent in sports cars and prototypes, Morton also made his Indy car debut at Long Beach in 1984 and scored a top ten finish. He would compete at multiple Indy car races over the next few years. We met up with Morton at the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where he was just informed that he would be inducted into the MSHFA. He’s a humble guy that is in much demand today to drive vintage race cars at a myriad of events and private tests. He’s super cool, super fast, and super nice. Enjoy!

NOTE: For more information on the MSHFA, please visit: www.mshf.com.

Colton Herta is a nine-time winner in the NTT IndyCar Series including the youngest ever at the Circuit of the Americas track in Austin, Texas. He has also dominated events like the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. It was recently announced that he would be leaving his Andretti Global Indy car team and moving on to become the test and reserve driver for the new Cadillac Formula One team. In preparation for that role, Herta will contest the entire F2 championship season with the Hitech racing team. Herta spent 2015 and 2016 racing and winning in Europe in the junior formulae there, so that should also help ease his transition a bit. We caught up with him at the AGPLB media day where he filled us in on the intricacies of getting the most out of the Firestone primary (black) and alternate (red/green) tires for qualifying and racing. This knowledge will be beneficial to him in F1 as Pirelli also uses different tire compounds during race weekends. Enjoy!

NOTE: For more information on Herta’s F1 exploits, please visit: www.cadillacf1team.com

To hear an earlier raceschool.com podcast interview with Herta where he talks about testing a McLaren F1 car, please visit: https://raceschool.com/raceschool-com-podcast-colton-herta-interview-part-two/

Charmayne Geier has been a fire marshal in racing for more than 20 years, working with both the NTT IndyCar Series and NASCAR.  We practically ran into each other at the Thermal Grand Prix back in March. After our initial meeting, I wanted to make sure that we could get her on the www.raceschool.com podcast for our Women in Motorsports month of September. A subsequent meeting with her at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach sealed the deal and we recently sat down for our first, female-focused, Zoom video podcast interview with her. She’s a top professional at her craft, yet has a warm and engaging personality. Just the type of person you want working alongside you. Enjoy!

NOTE: This is the fourth of four, female-focused interviews during our “Women in Motorsports” month of September. For more interviews with other women in motorsports as well as the top motorsports industry professionals, please visit: www.raceschool.com and click on the Podcast tab.

Emilie Amante is the sales and marketing chief for AVCO Art. This company specializes in unique automotive and racing artwork that is customized to the owner’s car (plane or boat) and puts it into a unique background. The sky’s the limit here with what they can come up with. I met Emilie at the 2025 San Marino Car Show where she showed me some of AVCO’s interactive artwork. This company’s work is so unique, we decided to go more in-depth with a formal interview which we did a few weeks later. In this interview, you can follow along with the photos below to learn about these artistic renderings and the inspiration behind them. There’s also a short (1 min. 7 sec.) video that covers these photos, but has the benefit of sound and light for the special effects portion of the artwork. Enjoy!

NOTE: This is the third of four, female-focused interviews during our “Women in Motorsports” month of September. Stay tuned to www.raceschool.com for our weekly podcast. Our women interviewees this month have job titles with nothing in common, yet they are all drawn to the four-wheel machines we love and have fascinating roles in the exciting world of motorsports.

Julia Price is a front-end mechanic on the Rahal Letterman Lannigan NTT IndyCar Series team. She’s new to the position this year and in this interview on race day morning of the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend, she takes a few moments out of her busy schedule to tell us what she’s responsible for on the cars and also how she got into the sport in the first place. She’s very petite, yet very strong, and driven to do an excellent job. She’s a hard-working mechanic who thoroughly enjoys what she does. You can hear it in her voice. Enjoy!

NOTE: This is the second of four, female-focused interviews during our “Women in Motorsports” month of September. Stay tuned to www.raceschool.com. Our interviewees’ job titles have have nothing in common, yet they are all drawn to the four-wheel machines we love and have fascinating roles in the exciting world of motorsports.

Jennifer Symington leads the marketing division for both the Honda and Acura brands. During the media day for the 2025 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, we had the opportunity to sit down with her and hear how she has made a successful career for herself doing what she loves. You can tell that she is a strong supporter of the brand and tells us how that came to be. She also gives advice to young girls (or anyone for that matter) on how to craft the career you want. We did this interview shortly before she was going to get a ride in the Acura Integra Type S pace car and she was gracious enough to grant us a part two interview (included here) so she could tell us what that ride was like. Enjoy!

NOTE: This is the first of four, female-focused interviews during our “Women in Motorsports” month of September. Stay tuned to www.raceschool.com. Our next three interviewees have widely differing and fascinating roles in the exciting world of motorsports.

The Martin Auto Museum is a fantastic place to visit if you’re ever in the Phoenix (Glendale), Arizona area. We took a road trip and marveled at the extensive and amazing collection of such a wide variety of vehicles there. Cars from the very beginning of the automotive age to today are displayed along with a nice selection of race cars, movie cars, custom cars and classics. Additionally, there are trucks, micro cars and a cool collection of model cars too. For those interested in researching vehicles, or are looking into doing their own restoration, there’s a small library with shop manuals available to peruse in addition to getting the opportunity to gaze under the hood of a car similar to what might be of interest. A fine example of classic automotive tools and diagnostic equipment is also on display. For the young, and young at heart, there’s even an arcade to play free video games! Finally, if you’re looking to host your own automotive event/wedding reception/business meeting or other type of event in such a cool place, the museum has plenty of options for you with small to super-large rooms. If you’re ever in the area, make it a point to visit, you’ll love it!

NOTE: Joe Bridgewater is the general manager of the museum and he was nice enough to spend some time with us to not only show us around, but also engage in our podcast interview, where he talks about some of the highlights of this fantastic venue. For more information, please visit: www.martinautomuseum.org. 

Conor Daly has enjoyed a long career in auto racing from the USA to Europe and back. Although he’s jumped around to numerous teams in the Indy car paddock, you’ll usually find him running up front during the Indianapolis 500 (he led the most laps there in 2021). In this interview (taped during the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend), we go into a deep dive of what it’s like to race at the “500,” the details about the preparation for what the car needs, and what Daly likes for his car set-up for qualifying and the race. It’s a fascinating look into some real insider information that most race fans don’t get a glimpse of. A bonus question at the end has Daly sharing what it’s like to race with Type 1 diabetes and how his new sponsor helps with that. Enjoy!

NOTE: Conor Daly hosts his own podcast called “Speed Street with Conor Daly” on YouTube and wherever podcasts are found. He does a really good job with these as they are also short form interviews and very timely with his guests and recent events.

Tim Coffeen enjoyed a long career with Newman-Haas Racing as a mechanic on their Indy cars. We caught up with him at the 50th Anniversary Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach where he was reunited with, and working on Newman-Haas machinery that graced the streets of Long Beach, and for that matter, the entire season. In this interview, he tells us about the legendary drivers and champions that he worked with and what set them apart from the others. He also tells us about his progression into higher roles and responsibilities at the team. Being able to hear about these famous and successful drivers is a real treat – especially from a guy that was an insider at the time. Enjoy!