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00:00Alright everybody, welcome to Auto Racing Digest, my name is Dylan Spaulding, happy
00:04to have everyone here on the website today.
00:07We've got an exclusive interview this afternoon, or I should say this morning, my times are
00:13all out of whack with this week as we get approaching the holidays, but we're joined
00:18with the incoming president of Trans Am, but a guy who is no stranger to the sports car
00:23world, five time Rolex 24 winner, a former class champion in IMSA, or I guess in the
00:29Grand Am Rolex Series, Mr. Andy Lally.
00:33Andy, just for one, thanks so much for your time, and obviously congratulations on the
00:37new venture.
00:40Thank you, thank you.
00:41Definitely a little bit of a bittersweet process here, just winding down the auto racing career
00:49that's been going for 32 years, but at the same time, I'm extremely fortunate to have
00:56something like this, because I didn't realize until after, literally like moments after
01:04the retirement announcement, that there would have been like a sort of a melancholy feeling,
01:11I don't know why I never thought through the process, I think just because there was so
01:14much leading up to this Trans Am gig that I'm glad I've got something to jump right
01:21into, almost an overwhelming amount of learning that I need to do with this new challenge,
01:29and to be honest, I haven't been this energized for a program in a long time.
01:37I love it, I love it.
01:38And overall, what just, what made this the right time for you to just step away from
01:42racing and then kind of move into this new venture, what made this kind of the right
01:46timing in your career?
01:50It was as much logical, it was more logical than it was emotional, there wasn't anything
01:57that I saw in me that was like, hey, you're getting tired or slowing down or anything
02:03like that, it was really just taking a look at the big picture.
02:10When we roll into the paddock at Sebring, February 22nd, for our first Trans Am race
02:17of the year, I would have just turned 50 a week before that, and if I kept pushing
02:24on the driving side, if I imagined myself, and I had looked at this in the past a lot,
02:31that I looked at the guys that pushed the sport the most with the latest into their
02:40age, and those three guys are Scott Pruitt, Bill Oberlin, and Mark Martin, where they
02:47stayed at the peak fitness, top of their game, we're super sharp, we're still winning races,
02:55and I'm like, okay, and Bill's actually not that much older than me, so he's like a recent
03:01add as I've been like, okay, man, he's still doing it, I can do this kind of thing.
03:06Scott Pruitt went to, I think, 53 or something like that before he stopped, Mark Martin was
03:1253 or 54 and still kicking guys' butts on the cup series at that level, which is amazing,
03:21and I thought to myself, man, it'd be, not a lot of people get to have a career as long
03:28as I've had, but I'm like, man, maybe it'd be cool to get to 51, 52, 53, if I'm still
03:36fit and sharp and haven't lost my vision or haven't, you know, whatever, but this opportunity
03:43that came along, Tony and I started talking at the All-Star Race back in July when Trans Am
03:50and IROC came together to have an IROC revival at Lime Rock Park in July of 2024,
03:57and it was just small talk initially with Tony Perrella at first, and then
04:06when he kind of, he sprung the idea, to be honest, and I had never thought about
04:14myself in that position, but the fit of it being Trans Am and my love for
04:24huge horsepower and no driver aids made a lot of sense. You know, I've always said in
04:32every talk, interview, you know, closed circle friends thing that my favorite kind of driving
04:38on this planet, my favorite kind of racing battles, fighting, is stock cars on road racing,
04:45is on stock cars on road races, and that is the epitome of Trans Am, you know, it's really the
04:55only full-time stock car road racing series, what I would refer to as TA2 as stock car road racing.
05:03Trans Am is obviously a GT-based thing, but, I mean, the raw power of Trans Am cars,
05:11upwards of 900 horsepower with some of these guys and what they're allowed to do with the motors,
05:15no traction control, no ABS allowed, it's such a blast, and then the closer spec version with
05:23the crate motor LS3 6.2 liters that we run in TA2 series, same thing, decent amount of power
05:30with a smaller tire, less downforce, so, you know, that power to grip ratio is similar to
05:42an XFINITY car, so it's great for some of the young guns coming in that are too young to get
05:47into NASCAR, or maybe don't have the experience to get into NASCAR, but want to brush up on their
05:54road course skills since there's so much going, you know, we've got three truck road course races,
05:59seven or eight XFINITY N Cup races, so you've got, you know, you're nearing a point where there's 20
06:05road course races on the NASCAR schedule in the big three, and the TA2 field goes to a good
06:13portion of those tracks, so it's great, I'm stoked on it, I, again, I never thought I'd see myself in
06:23this role, but I also never thought I'd embrace this as much, you know, if this was a different
06:29series, I don't think I'd jump on it, but I genuinely love the history of the Trans Am series,
06:37the way the cars race, and that's why this was a no-brainer, plus, you know,
06:46I know I went off on a tangent here a little bit, but the, you know, the timing of it,
06:52you know, maybe, again, I could get away with another one, two, three years of trying to race
06:59cars at the top levels of IMSA, but this opportunity doesn't come along that often,
07:08might never come along again, and for me to think, okay, do I sacrifice a potential one,
07:15two, or three years, and that's not even a guarantee, you know, a potential one, two,
07:19or three years more on the auto racing side, and whatever victories we can tally, or do I,
07:26do I take a direction that could possibly, if I do this well enough and apply myself well,
07:34lead me into a career that's another 10 or 15 years more on the longevity side, and so,
07:41just logically, it made sense to give this a shot, but also passionately, it's the first thing
07:47that's really lit a fire under me in a long time, obviously, my time with IMSA has been awesome,
07:55love the series, it's been my home for a long, long time, and decades, and it's definitely,
08:05will always have a special place in my heart, and appreciate the times and the opportunities
08:11that I've had with the John Potters of the world there, and my teammates along the way,
08:18as well as what the series has done to grow that series to massive levels, but
08:25I think it was just time. As you go into this new venture, and having the experience in stock car
08:30racing, and also a little bit in Trans Am as well, I mean, how important is that in terms of bringing
08:37that prior knowledge into the series, and being able to help kind of grow Trans Am, and kind of a
08:43series that maybe not many people know about, there are people who don't know about Trans Am,
08:50or don't know about the racing in that series, so how important is bringing that kind of background
08:55knowledge, if you will, of stock car racing and Trans Am racing into the series like this,
09:00as you go into this kind of presidential role? Well, there's a lot of levels to this,
09:06and there is going to be a need for a little bit of refinement, and it's just a little bit,
09:13it's fine-tuning a great crew of people that is already working hard and working well
09:21in a series that they've made grow and grow. I think having
09:30someone in my position that has been racing, driving his whole life, it's going to make it
09:36easier to communicate with the teams, drivers, team managers, whatnot, on ways that we can
09:45improve our efficiency in the series, you know, to kind of, you know, I've been tasked with some
09:54really tricky things, you know, cutting costs as we go into a point of life for every single
10:01one of us, not even just in auto racing, but everywhere where costs are skyrocketing out of
10:06control, and we need to make this, you know, palatable for the veterans that have been in
10:15Trans Am and love Trans Am, as well as the, you know, the more we can bring costs down, the more
10:22it opens up more doors for the young guns that are coming in to even have the opportunity,
10:29so that's a monster challenge, and then tightening up just some of the procedural stuff so that,
10:35you know, I know that I'm going to be breaking chops on the racers themselves in this series to
10:44to shape up, and not that they're not now, but I've got such a tiny tolerance for people that
10:53can't follow a procedure, and that's IMSA, that's NASCAR, that's Trans Am, that's every, that's a,
11:00you know, so there's, I finally get to put my fist down and ensure that these procedures will be
11:10pushed through and followed through, and we're going to have a very clean looking grid, we're
11:17going to have tidy starts, we're going to have the right things done on restarts, and we're going to
11:24have some incredible racing, I know this, but then again, on the tech side, I get to work with these
11:30guys, we've got two really good tech directors in Doug Nagy and Eric Caldwell, and there's
11:38not a lot of work to do, again, it's all refining stuff, it's fine-tuning stuff, it's
11:45listening to the many voices and many opinions I've found so far on the Trans Am series of
11:54what directions people want to go, and trying to find out what that majority is, and then again,
11:59weigh budgets and reasons for how and why we would do things, so,
12:07you know, from the tech side to maybe giving Tim Richter, our race director, a hand
12:16on the officiating side there, to have, you know, to have a racer backing him up,
12:23you know, on his decisions and whatnot is, I think, going to be important, you know,
12:31there's making calls and then there's explaining calls, and, you know, I'll take a lot of basically
12:39time off of his hands, I think, with some of this, because he's one guy that's got, you know,
12:46a lot of hours worth of work to do on a weekend, and that's basically what I'm there to do,
12:51I'm there to lead, to support as much as I am to lead, so I'm looking forward to helping a
12:58little bit in every action, every section of our team and taking action here. Andy,
13:07you mentioned about laying down the, kind of laying down the law, if you will, we may have
13:11to get you like a sheriff's badge or something to enforce the procedures, but I like to hear that,
13:18I like to hear that. As you go into this, kind of, your final race is going to be at the Rolex 24,
13:24I mean, obviously, we know that Magnus Racing is, and John Potter is going to be, kind of,
13:29halting things after the Rolex 24, but, I mean, what made the Rolex 24 kind of the perfect race
13:36to close off your racing career, if you will, what kind of was that decision in deciding,
13:42yeah, the Rolex 24 is kind of the perfect time to step away and then, obviously,
13:45head into this Trans Am opportunity? It was a tough call to do either the Rolex 24 or the
13:53Six Hours of the Glen. Watkins Glen is my favorite racetrack to race, but Daytona
14:01is the world center of speed. It is, as it says right there on the building when you look up,
14:11Daytona is the Mecca, for me, and I think for most people in the United States,
14:19for auto racing. You've got the Daytona 500 there, you've got Speedweeks there, everybody
14:25is a pilgrimage to Daytona. It's this travel where everything kicks off at Daytona, so
14:32that combined with five wins, 12 podiums, and 22 or 23 straight years, which I was told last
14:42year is a record for most consecutive starts, it makes sense. That's sort of the track that,
14:52you know, when people are giving me any credit, it usually, right after my name,
15:00you usually hear five-time Daytona winner. You don't hear the six-time second-place finisher,
15:06I'm very confident, which that one stings a lot because we could have added a lot of
15:10victories to that deal and a bunch of nice watches, but yeah, so it makes sense there.
15:15It's our biggest race, it's our crown jewel of sports car racing, and it's where just about
15:21everybody visits, so it's a pleasure to kick the year off there, and then literally two weeks later
15:29I'll be walking in the paddock to Sebring for our opener in the Trans-Am Series and
15:38put that race behind me and start a whole new venture. And to do it with Magnus as well,
15:44that's got to be pretty special, obviously with John Potter, you've been involved with Magnus
15:48racing for a very long time now, and I imagine to do it with him and kind of their almost
15:53swan song race, obviously we're not sure what's kind of that next step for Potter and for the
15:58team, so I imagine to do it with him and kind of almost this last run here, if you will,
16:03I imagine that's got to be pretty special to be able to do it with a team that's
16:06given you a lot of success and also has given you two Rolex 24 wins as well.
16:13Yeah, and to be honest, John is, it's super unusual that you've got a team owner that
16:21turns into one of your best friends, and he's been a good friend for a long time,
16:27and I love Magnus, I love the mentality of the crew and the attitude that we've had,
16:34and for a driver to be with the same team for 13 or would this be 14 seasons,
16:42you know, as we start here, it's unheard of, you know, if you tell any driver, hey,
16:49this is your first year on the team, you're going to be here for another 13 more,
16:54that would be, you know, it's incredible, you know, there's such changes non-stop on the auto
17:03racing side, you see guys skipping around, and I actually, funny enough, I remember having a
17:07conversation with John our first season together, while I was in CUP still in 2011, John and I did
17:15a deal that I was going to switch back to sports cars in 2012, and we made that happen before I'd
17:25even run my last CUP race, and before I even told anybody, and we were friends for a few years
17:32before that, so I was looking to get back on the sports car side, and after the first year,
17:40we were negotiating the next year or whatnot, and I said, hey man, I love it here,
17:47at that time, I think, so it's 2012, so I'm 37, 38, or something like that, I said, man,
17:57I'll sign a 10-year contract with you right now and finish out my career here, you know,
18:02sort of tongue-in-cheek, you know, but like, it was a bit serious, because I really did like the
18:07atmosphere, and liked how John and I worked together, and probably would have never thought
18:13that I had another 10 years left at that point, you know, as a racer, you're always nervous and
18:17wondering what the heck is going to happen next, or, you know, is a guy like John going to just
18:22get bored with this, and, you know, or mad about something, and move him back, screw it, I'm going
18:28to get a boat, you know, this isn't worth the money, and go on, but he stuck with it, and
18:34persevered, and here we are, 13 and 14 seasons later, and it's pretty wild.
18:41Yeah, you talked about 2011, you mentioned that season, that was your first kind of full season
18:47in the Cup Series that year, and you got to make a start in the Daytona 500, you know,
18:54being a part of these big events, like the Daytona 500, like the Rolex 24, I mean,
18:58how special is it, as a driver, to be able to be involved in those kind of
19:03events that are kind of bigger than life, if you will, and then, you know, mentality-wise,
19:08like, how do you go into those races, I mean, I imagine those are different races,
19:15they're very unique in terms of the importance of them.
19:22So, emotionally, it's the recognition of literally a dream come true, you know,
19:31how many toy stock cars did I hold in my hand as a four and five-year-old, and zoom around in
19:38circles, and watch the Daytona 500, and wish and want to be in that place, and how many times,
19:48as a go-kart, did I, you know, angle a number panel for a little more, you know, aerodynamics,
19:53or tuck myself down, and I think, you know, thinking I'm at Daytona, and doing all this stuff,
19:58and to be able to walk out on that stage, and on the driver intros, and get the chills of,
20:08like, holy cow, you're actually going to do this. I remember, you know, we got caught up,
20:15unfortunately, in the big one, Waltrip and Rudiment, his teammates were tandem-drafting,
20:21that was the tandem year, and, like, they were sitting, like, 12th and 13th, or something like
20:29that, and spun each other out, and we got, I thought I was through it, and Biffle tagged me
20:34in the right rear, just as I was hitting the apron, and thinking I was clear, and that was it,
20:38and we were wrecked, and then drove around the rest of the day, with torn-up body work,
20:45um, way back in the pack, but, um, the first handful of laps of that race, and I've done a
20:53lot of, I've done a lot of crazy things in my life on, you know, my hobbies are a little bit
20:58out there, but I have never had an adrenaline spike, maybe one other time, um, no, probably
21:07still, the adrenaline was still higher here, the, the first few laps, when we went three wide,
21:14door-to-door, around Daytona, um, the noise, and the pressure changes in the cockpit,
21:23with the air moving around like that, and, like, a quick glance to my left, and it's Mark Martin,
21:29I, you know, quick glance over here, and it's, it's, it's Jeff Gordon, and it's like,
21:33oh my god, this realization, yeah, um, of, of what's going on, as we shuffle through, like,
21:41the crazy three-wide drafting that's, that's happening in the beginning of this race, my
21:45adrenaline was spiked through the moon, it was insane, uh, and, and I will never forget some of
21:54those, those pictures in my brain, and those moments of that sound, and that feel, so, yeah,
21:59the Daytona 500 was, was up there in, uh, amazing experiences of my life, and that whole cup series,
22:06um, you know, we ran such a tiny gig, we ran, we ran a, we ran a one-car deal, we had a crew chief,
22:13no engineer, unheard of right now, and to do that, uh, we bought three cars from Roush,
22:18one was a Biffle car, one was a, uh, Carl Edwards car, one was a Kenseth car, so they were all
22:24different, they showed up with the pickup points cut out of them, I, I think we, we might have
22:29brought it down to, how, I can't remember who we brought it down to, but, um, had to put, like,
22:35basic pickup points in this thing, you know, did our own bodies, it was, it was, um, no pull-down
22:41rig, if anybody knows what, you know, the pull-down rigs and the, it's, it was a, it was a tough deal,
22:47we, we showed up, we were dragging the splitter across the floor a lot, you know, our guys hustled
22:52their butts off, but we just weren't enabled enough to, to do it right, but it was, uh, I,
22:57it was the best time I've ever had in my life, being completely miserable and getting my butt
23:02kicked. And, I mean, yeah, just looking, you were talking about, like, just driving it past and
23:07seeing Mark Bart, I mean, Bill Elie was even in that race, that was his last Daytona 500,
23:12I remember from that race, like, that's, it's wild, the amount of guys who were in that race who,
23:18you know, are, are Hall of Famers, NASCAR Hall of Famers, maybe have came through, like,
23:22the ranks, like a Michael McDowell, who's now won the Daytona 500, like, it's crazy to see
23:27just some of the names from that race alone and, and, and where they are now in terms of,
23:32kind of, NASCAR aura and in terms of their, their, uh, what they've been able to achieve
23:36in the sport, it's, it's got, that's got to be a pretty cool thing. It actually, it's pretty funny
23:41because, um, Michael McDowell had, sort of, taken Trevor Bayne under his wing that year,
23:48as Michael does with a lot of guys now, and, you know, Michael's still relatively new with it,
23:52but he's still, he's got, kind of, that attitude, always a nice guy. And I remember we were in the
23:57Motorhome lot and, uh, I came walking out and Michael was next to me and, uh, he's like,
24:04hey, let's go up on the roof, roof and watch the Busch Clash. And I can't remember,
24:08I think it was the Busch Clash, which is the, you know, the pole sitters from the year before.
24:11So it was the night race. And as we go walking out, he's like, Trevor, come on. And so it was
24:17just me, Michael and Trevor Bayne. Uh, and so this is, you know, early 2011. And we went up
24:25to the spotter stand and just, you know, stayed away from the spotters, but it was a smaller group
24:29because there's only like 14 cars in that race and just leaned over the top of Daytona International
24:34Speedway in the night race. And it was just the coolest VIP view of this. And I'm sitting there,
24:42I'm standing there leaning over the rail with Michael and Trevor, you know, Trevor is, you know,
24:48four days away from winning the Daytona 500. And as a, as a rookie after doing, you know,
24:54two or three cup races the year before and, um, about to, you know, light the world on fire.
24:59And Michael is a decade away from it, you know, and, uh, they're both end up being Daytona 500
25:06winners. And what was a, a cool memory of, uh, and an amazing view from the spotter stand,
25:13especially for a night race, uh, turned into an even cooler memory, uh, a week later when, uh,
25:19when Trevor wins the race and then, uh, another even cooler memory when Michael wins the race
25:25a decade later. So, uh, yeah, a lot of cool things that, that whole week, a lot of realization
25:31of childhood dreams, uh, and, and crazy things. I gotta ask, you know, you got to run the next
25:36gen car. What was that experience like getting to learn that next gen car and people have kind of
25:41compared it to a sports car, if you will, in some, in some aspects. So what was that kind of like
25:47learning that car and getting a chance to drive that here later in your career?
25:51It's, um, it's, it's okay. It's, um, they, I'm not sure the exact numbers,
26:00the, um, it's like a really heavy GT three car. Uh, I, I enjoyed,
26:08I get why we did what we did. Uh, I get why I say we, I get why NASCAR did what they did.
26:15They, they needed to, they felt like they needed to take a step forward in the technology side of
26:22things. Um, maybe they were getting pressure from Goodyear to run the bigger wheel, uh,
26:30stuff like that. But, um, I liked the, the big sidewall. I liked the yaw that you could put
26:38those, those cars into, uh, I liked H pattern. I liked four speeds. Um, you know, when you,
26:46when you go to the sequential and you go to five speeds, uh, and you go to a diffuser and you add
26:52the downforce and the bigger tire and whatnot, um, you lose a little bit of the old school
27:00feel. You know, my, my, my favorite cars used to be cup cars on road course races.
27:06Now my favorite cars are Xfinity cars on road course races. Uh, I'm not sure, again, I don't
27:12want to speak out of place here. Um, but either, either the amount of grip that they added, uh,
27:20or they, and I think they did, I think they turned down, especially cause I got to run it in the
27:25first year. Um, the amount of horsepower that they have, uh, is, is less or feels less, uh,
27:33because it it's so that, that made it, uh, that made it a little, a little bit tricky on that
27:42side, uh, to, to, or not tricky, but just, um, you get to a point where like there was this amazing
27:50raw power where fourth year pulled as hard as first year. Um, and, and that's not quite the
27:56same anymore, but like for last year or I say last year, it was last year, technically 2023,
28:01when I got to learn with grip wear racing and camping world, I got to do those things. Um,
28:06they turned it up a little bit and, and, and, and, and Rick's cars were, were actually pretty
28:11darn good. And we had, uh, we had a blast there. So like running those cars at Watkins Glen,
28:16amazing, running them at Coda. Um, it was, but yeah, there's still the, uh, the big sidewalls,
28:24the yaw. Um, I, I, I called it right away when, when that tire came out, I said, man,
28:30this tire is going to bite guys. Cause this is tires like the tire I run on for the last,
28:35you know, 20 something years in GT cars, it's, you know, small sidewall.
28:39You've got to, you've got to know that grip level, and then you've got to react so quickly
28:44when that grip level breaks and, you know, doing that at the exit of turn one and Sebring or, you
28:49know, in, in medium slow speed corners is one thing doing it coming off of turn four at Charlotte
28:56is very, very tough. Um, with, especially with a car that heavy that much momentum, but, uh,
29:05yeah, no, it's, it's, it's awesome stuff. I prefer the old school stuff. I like the Xfinity
29:10car, but I think you're just going to hear a grumpy 50 year old dude complaining about how
29:14things were always better in the past. So take that with a grain of salt. Anybody that's listening,
29:19it's not, it's not, it's not a, uh, it's still the best, uh, racing on the planet. I love it.
29:27And, uh, uh, yeah, I understand we got to evolve. I'm just a grumpy old dude.
29:34Andy, well, Hey, they still have a, what is it? HSR NASCAR classic just debuted this year. So if
29:39there's some old stuff in the HSR NASCAR, I got it. I got it. Correct you there. We've
29:44got stock cars in the SVRA. That's true. Hopefully I will actually get to you. I'm
29:56going to hang up the helmet on the competition side, but man, if there's anybody in the SVRA,
30:00that's got a cool car with a rad old paint job, I'd love to hop in and pretend I'm that guy for
30:06a few laps and then cruise around. So that, that maybe, uh, would be a cool little side thing where
30:11maybe I do bring my helmet or keep a helmet on the trailer, uh, on the Trans Am side there.
30:17I love it. I love it. Um, I'll close out with these final two questions. Uh, my first question
30:21is, you know, again, racing coming into your final race here next season at the Rolex 24
30:28and seeing the, the way IMSA has grown, you kind of mentioned about it briefly. Um,
30:32what has it just been like, you know, seeing the growth of this series and seeing the GTD
30:39class, especially going up to 20 plus cars in some of these endurance races and, and seeing
30:44kind of a, uh, an exciting grid and, and people are excited. The fans, it seems like are really
30:50driving in droves to these races. I mean, what, what has it been like to, to be a part of this
30:55kind of, uh, growth of IMSA over the last handful of years? I think, you know, if we,
31:03if we split it up into GT and prototype, GT has always been sort of the lifeblood, uh,
31:09or the consistent thing that, that, uh, IMSA could lean on because we, we constantly draw
31:16really good teams and good cars and manufacturers across the board. You know, as the prototype,
31:22uh, blueprint of all through the years from, um, you know, from, from open cockpit prototypes to
31:29the evolution of the DP to LMP 675, LMP 900 to DPI to GTP, uh, across the board here. Uh, it's,
31:40um, GT cars have been the, the, the rock that, that, that we have. Um, I was for 2012 was our,
31:51was the 50th celebration there. And when we just had two classes, GT and prototype, we had,
31:58we won a race that had 35 GT cars in it. Uh, but through the years you do see, you see the
32:05biggest classes always GT and you get, you get some of the best guys from all over the planet,
32:10um, to come to that race. But a lot of them are, are, are in that GT car, you know, uh, and, and,
32:15uh, it's, it's really cool. Uh, on the, on the prototype side, this newest evolution of, of the,
32:25uh, GTP car, uh, is, is pretty incredible. Uh, again, I'm, I'm on the, on the driver's side,
32:34I'm a little bit of a purist where I'm not a huge fan of the, the, um,
32:41driver aids and stuff like that. But on a, on a technical side, you really do see where IMSA is,
32:48um, is, is playing a part in some future development with, with, with these guys.
32:53So, uh, as, as a racer and as someone that likes to help young drivers develop and whatnot, I don't
33:00want ABS, I don't want traction control. I want you to learn the raw feel of a car, um, which is
33:05why, like, I'm such a big Trans Am and TA2 fan. Um, but, uh, it is, you know, props to IMSA for,
33:14for moving the needle and helping the, uh, you know, or influencing the manufacturers to,
33:19to come in and, uh, and, and play the game. Yeah. Speaking of moving the needle and I'll,
33:24I'll ask this before I get to my final question is, um, you know, recently they just, uh, DX,
33:29DT racing announced the addition of Robert Wickens. How cool is it to see a guy like
33:34Robert Wickens getting his opportunity in GTD racing and, and to see him in the field for the
33:39Rolex 20 or for next season, I imagine that's gotta be pretty cool to see
33:44somewhat where the technology is going at least. Absolutely. And very cool. And I've, I've been a,
33:51a huge fan of Wickens on his comeback and, uh, I got to race against him at Sebring, uh, last year
34:00and we were banging doors. It was, it was awesome. And he races, he races every lap, like it's the
34:06last lap. And I absolutely love that, man. That's my style. And, uh, we, we had a really fun battle
34:12there, uh, for the podium there in the, in the, in the TCR class. And so to get to see, uh,
34:21him have a chance here with DXT, DXT is, uh, is, is awesome. Uh, I'm stoked. I'll be following it.
34:27I'm a fan forever. And, uh, it's, it's so cool to see the technology come along to that point
34:34that, uh, that it lets him, uh, shows his, his true talent. And I'm sure it's still, you know,
34:42gosh, it's, it's, it's gotta be, it's a challenge. It's gotta be, it's gotta be tricky. He's got so
34:48much to do with his hands, but, um, he's such a, uh, you have, you have to be not only like
34:54a daredevil and talented and driven, but you've gotta be intelligent to, to be able to, to do
35:01that and adapt to that. And so it's really cool. Uh, and I hope he, I, you know, I hope he kicks
35:07butt. Yeah. It's really exciting to see. And, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does this
35:12season. Um, Andy, I really do appreciate the time. Thanks so much for talking. I'm going to close out
35:16on this, you know, as you approach this kind of final race here of your career at the Rolex 24,
35:22although you did say that you might have the helmet around you. So maybe we'll see you back
35:26behind the car here soon. Uh, and maybe next year at some point, but nevertheless,
35:30um, as you go into this final race of your career, this final Rolex 24 race, um, you know,
35:36what do you, what do you look back on in your career and, and, and how do you hope to be
35:40remembered in terms of inside the emcee paddock? Let's see, you know, that just like, just like I
35:49hadn't thought about my emotions on what it was going to feel like when I said something like
35:53that. I hadn't, I hadn't contemplated that too much. I think basically just a fierce competitor.
36:00Uh, there's, there's no reason to show up just to run in the field, you know, and do whatever and
36:06enjoy a sunny day driving around, you know, I'm there to kick everybody's butt. And, and that's
36:13the only reason to, to wake up that morning and walk into the paddock and exert that much energy
36:20risk and, uh, and, uh, focus is, is to, is to win. So, uh, it's, uh, I, I, I guess I hope I'll
36:30be seen as fierce, but fair, logical, passionate about it. Um, and, um, yeah, I mean, I'm cool
36:39with everybody drawing their own conclusions. Uh, it's, it's been a real, this process,
36:47the announcement, what I put out on my Instagram, uh, my Facebook and stuff like that is, um,
36:54it has been surreal reading the comments. Um, and I guess I just never paid attention to the math.
37:05There's a bunch of, you know, late twenties and 30 something year old people that were commenting
37:11that congrats. I've been watching you since I was a kid. I look at the pictures of these guys
37:19and I'm like a kid. Yeah. All right. And, um, so, so that was really cool. Uh, you know, some of my,
37:27some of my peers from IMSA, some of the officials that reached out, uh, as, as well as the, uh,
37:34you know, the reassurance from, uh, Tony Pereira and Michael Prentup and my team over, uh, on the,
37:41on the Trans Am side, it's been, it's been a pretty crazy week. Uh, so, uh, yeah, what,
37:49what they say about me, I don't know. I guess I'd, I'd have to think about that more, but I just
37:53want, I want them to think that I was, uh, uh, fair, but fierce. I love it. I love it. Well,
38:01Andy, from myself and from everybody here at ARD, we just want to congratulate you on everything.
38:06I mean, you, what you've been able to do in sports car racing and, and in other disciplines,
38:10it's impressive to see. And, and obviously I'm excited for you and what's to come in,
38:14in your future. And I hope for all the best and hopefully we'll, we'll see you take home a nice
38:18Rolex 24 watch by the, uh, by the end of, of January there. Thank you very, very much. I
38:25appreciate it, Dylan. And, uh, good talking with you. Awesome. Thank you so much, Landy and, uh,
38:29Andy, thank you so much. Sorry. Uh, and everybody thanks so much for tuning in, uh, and have a great
38:35rest of your day.