Alexis DeJoria started the NHRA Funny Car season in a brand-new environment with new people, resources, and cars around her. But as the NHRA Countdown has arrived, DeJoria explains how all the work has the JCM Racing team on the verge of something big; how scary it was to start over at this point in her career; seeing it all come together so quickly; how this compares to other changes in her career; what went into building the team chemistry away from the racetrack; what each side wants from the other; the amount of fun she’s had this year; outlook on the Countdown and realistic expectations; having three straight races to start the postseason; having a four-wide race in the Countdown for the first time; chasing a championship before the end of her career; the evolution of the Funny Car class and competition; hopes to end the season.    

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Alexis DeJoria feature story: https://racer.com/2021/07/27/insight-dejorias-second-act

B.J. McLeod has it all right now between the success of his race team on the NASCAR track and the opening of his new roller coaster. McLeod returns to the podcast to discuss the best season Live Fast Motorsports has had since its inception; being a competitive Open team in the Cup Series; the dynamic of driver to driver to driver on the radio with McLeod, Katherine Legge, and Tommy Joe Martins; insight on the NASCAR testing policy; the feeling of the team running more races but not being in the seat as much; having the Pigeon Forge Racing Coaster official open; the designs and detail of the coaster; attracting race fans versus general coaster enthusiasts; the speed component to the coaster; the slogan of competing and trash talking; the unique way McLeod has solicited feedback; the plans for Live Fast Motorsports to end the season.  

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Ida Zetterstrom finally had her dream come true this time a year ago when she made her NHRA Top Fuel debut. She returns to the podcast to discuss what it has been like since; the struggle watching racing go on without her; being at the track for her teammate Alexis DeJoria; working through the emotions of being out of the car; doing work for NHRA.TV this year and getting comfortable in the role; the many media and public opportunities Zetterstrom has embraced outside the car; becoming integrated in the NHRA community; the outlook for the end of the year, and hope for 2026.  

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Ty Dillon has been the belle of the ball with the NASCAR in-season tournament. Dillon joins the show to explain how he and Kaulig Racing have capitalized on the attention; staying relevant in the series; the fight for relevancy in his career; the path his career has taken; the type of person it takes to stick it out in the Cup Series; how racing has played into the type of person he’s become; not driving for Richard Childress Racing; landing at Kaulig Racing; how Dillon has been impacted by the people around him; clicking with crew chief Andrew Dickeson; being pushed by those around him when needed; having fun in racing; being a reminder there is more to racing than what is happening at the front; the work behind the wheel after not running the full 2024 season; comfortability with the Gen7 car; looking ahead to Indianapolis; the Gen7 car at Indianapolis versus previous versions; expectations for the remainder of the season.  

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Will Brown, the reigning Australian Supercars champion, makes his NASCAR return this weekend on the streets of Chicago in a third entry for Kaulig Racing. It’s a course Brown has never competed, so he explains the work he’s done in the simulator to prepare; simulators not being a tool for Supercars drivers; thoughts on the course in Chicago based on what he’s learned in the simulator and seen otherwise; comparison of the Supercars to the Next Gen car; what he’s like on iRacing and why he’s in disguise; his tailgating experience in Atlanta; takeaways from the NASCAR experience; doing a Vlog; why he’s not used to running a visor in NASCAR; who else he’d like to see try NASCAR and from NASCAR try Supercars; how things are going for him in Supercars; being the guy who took SVG’s seat after his departure; making the decision to take the seat; his sales pitch for fans to watch Australian Supercars racing.  

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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It’s a jam-packed episode that highlights girl power, diversity, and various aspects of working in racing. 23XI Racing brings us inside Airspeed to meet some of its leading ladies, and we learn not only what they do but also the great stories of how they got here.  

Kerri Berryman (director of finance and accounting):   The woman with the spreadsheets; working closely with the competition department on cost; seeing the evolution of cost in the sport through her career; why she chose this perception and the misconception of the field when it comes to women; memories of working for Germain Racing for 15 years; the draw to coming to 23XI Racing when initially thinking of being done with the sport; seeing something be built from the ground up; overseeing the organization’s community relations and why it’s important for both sides; the diversity of 23XI Racing.  

Cherokee Hall (junior project engineer):   A job with a broad title; working in the shop but getting the chance to take in what happens at the racetrack; how it feels to be a part of the success without touching the car; entering the engineering space but not coming from a racing family; restoring a Ford Mustang for a high school project; landing at 23XI Racing; expectation versus reality of the job; insight into failing inspection; working from the Xfinity Speed Center (war room); diversity at 23XI Racing.  

Evanna Howell (senior partnerships account manager):   The role of working with the partners; being a liaison between partners and the team; serving different needs with more than one team partner; the track presence of partners; the balance of serving both a race team and the partners; always doing something different; her journey to 23XI Racing; blinding applying for the job without a racing background; the parameters of marketing; working for Feld Entertainment and the live events experience from Disney on Ice to Monster Jam; the crossover between the two; adapting to a racing lifestyle; doing community outreach for the team; the diversity of 23XI Racing.  

Jamie Ruiz (vice president of marketing):   A job that encompasses many branches and what that looks like; explaining the 23XI Racing brand and how others view them; expectations versus reality at the organization; getting comfortable being uncomfortable; getting into NASCAR for the first time; blindly applying for the job; working from California before moving to North Carolina; taking on unexpected projects at Airspeed; working in the entertainment business in Hollywood; bring that to the NASCAR space; how brand guidelines work; social media approach; finding enjoyment in the role and the NASCAR life; diversity of 23XI Racing.  

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Elon Werner is the creator of Drag Race Bracket Bonanza (DRBB), a game that has qiuckly taken over the drag racing world. Werner is here to tell all as he explains finally taking the leap to create the game and how it works on the backend; the most important thing he wanted to incorporate in DRBB; the retention rate from week to week and keeping people playing; being a data resource for fans and not just a game with all the information incorporated; a run-down of the many prizes available to players; the range of the game reaching other countries; getting the industry to buy into a new game and have it sweep the sport; always thinking about what is next and continuing to evolve the game.  

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Charles Denike has Bubba Wallace off to the best start of his NASCAR Cup Series career, and he’s done so as a new crew chief in the series. Denike dishes on settling in at 23XI Racing; how it feels to get off to a strong start this season; impressions of Wallace from afar and now working with him; why the time was right to make this career move; the positive reviews about him before the season even started; the adjustment from the Craftsman Truck Series to being in the Cup Series; if he’s been able to enjoy the fast start to the season or had the pressure that comes with it; finding the same structure in NASCAR as in the military; why he went into the military after high school; his background and experience in the military; going into racing as his second career; the crossover from military into racing; the engineering crossover from one to the other; his NASCAR start being in the K&N Series and then going Truck Series racing; memories from Truck Series racing and his unconventional first career win; seeing his former truck win at at Martinsville Speedway; things that translate from the truck to cup; the balance of how he wants to lead the team but not changing things to change them; what Charles wanted from Bubba and want Bubba wanted from Charles as they paired together; the No. 1 thing the team needs to have accomplished by the end of the year.

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Lyn St. James is an icon in the motorsports landscape and now as the co-founder of Women in Motorsports North America. We’re digging into how St. James view the growth of motorsports by encouraging more inclusion of women; the non-existent NASCAR ladder system and women trying to break into the sport; not being surprised by the current landscape of women in racing in the year 2025; the future of WIMNA in the motorsports space; WIMNA opening the door to a new generation learning about who St. James is and her career; the emotion of being inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame; recommendations for reading material and learning for women in racing.

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

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Antron Brown is off to another solid start to an NHRA Top Fuel season, and we’ve got him fresh off a win to reflect and look ahead. Brown starts, however, with his takeaways from a visit to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for NASCAR racing and getting a different perspective in person; looking as good as a chocolate bar joke; the pedal fest at Gainesville where Brown won to start the season; explaining what pedaling the car is and the easiest mistake to make; what he learned about his team during a tough weekend; the boost of winning the first race of the season after ending the previous year as champions; how a team prepares for a new season after winning the championship; his optimism for a very competitive Top Fuel class; being up for a new challenge in competition; chasing prize money for being regular-season champion; the impending departure of Toyota from the sport and if a team can go without a manufacturer partner; the many hats of being a team owner; what keeps him going after decades of success of in the sport.  

Original music created by Tony Monge. 

Follow me here: https://linktr.ee/kellycrandall