Dave: Hey John! How are you man?
John: Good, Dave how are you doing?
Dave: Just fine, good to talk to you.
John: Thank you.
Dave: Nice article on NASCAR.com last Friday I believe it was. Talking about your excursion into the Winston Cup Garage in Michigan. And how you were greeted quite warmly, tell us about that.
John: Yea, it was a little bit odd. I thought I would walk into the garage and they would treat me like I had SARS or something (laughing). It was a really, really good experience. In the sense that, as bad in the situation as I felt and as much as I wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. Because it is tough to deal with, but the people came out and really supported me. I am in the garage, so the fans are there somewhat, but it is the peers, the people you have been working with, the people that know what is going on in the sport deep down inside. It was really, really good and the media has been very supportive. Everything, I don’t know….. It’s different than what I expected. It is still difficult to deal with, and still difficult not to be in a race car. But also it is good to know that…. I almost have a new outlook on things and I got to go to Michigan and watched the teams work. I have never done that before, and boy do they work differently from one end of the garage to the other. That was enlightening to see how other teams work. It was a good weekend for me in a lot of ways and a bad in one way.
Dave: You didn’t race?
John: Yes, I didn’t race.
Dave: At least you got to get out of Michigan before the race was over and missed all the traffic.
John: I was the assistant nanny. I took Jeff Burton’s, Jeff and Kim’s son and daughter to the airport, so that we were there waiting there when they arrived. I was sitting there at the beginning, Jeff was doing really good and I was like all right! We are going to hand out and get to go to Victory Lane, I am going to stand in Victory Lane. Because I can do that and carry one of the kids, then tell Matt I was in Victory Lane so I can push him out of an air plane. We didn’t say it had to be me I guess. (laughing)
Joe: Stand next to that Winston girl, you will get on TV for sure!
John: Unfortunately he didn’t, but that will be right around the corner for him. Hopefully things, things are really looking good and I have a great positive outlook. I feel great about everything, so we will see where every thing lands.
Dave: Angel, the president of the fan club sent me an email that said, please let John know something please. I have gotten a lot of emails that all say the same thing, all John’s fans are 110% behind him, we know with his dedication and talent he will land in victory lane soon with a quality ride. All his fans will go where he goes. Thanks and see you at the Race for Riley for sure. I tell you when I was in Colorado for the IRL race every time I walked in the garage, Is John coming to the IRL?, Is John coming to the IRL? It was pretty funny, every time I turned around someone was asking if you were coming to the IRL. So, there are a lot of people that would love to see you come back and open wheel race. I know you have a lot of decisions to make, but I know your main goal in going to Michigan was to talk to some car owners.
John: I think the world of the IRL, I think it is a great series. Obviously I have been in NHRA too, so people are sitting there going "what are you going to do?" and I say, right now the world is a wide open place. It was unexpected, so I am going to stand back and look at it to get a good focus. We will see. Really we have made the move to NASCAR, the family and myself and that is where we will hopefully get something that will be what we think it should be and look forward. I never anticipated, never woke up thinking anything other than the 43 car and Petty Enterprises the last several years. So, we have to wake up thinking about something else. I am looking forward to that, I think it is going to be great. I hope Petty Enterprises has the success they want happens, but I hope to be out there racing against them soon and everyone else.
Joe: You said you got to go to Michigan, were you the invited guest of someone? Or do car owners woo you like that? Or is this now a necessity of the job that you now have to go and start pounding on doors?
John: It is funny because we were actually… Jeff Burton and our families were going to go together to go see Lion King. Of course that was pre-planned, so I am in the perfect state of mind. (laughing) Are they going to give you guns to shoot these animals with? I know they are people, but at that point you are not thinking too clearly. I asked Jeff, I know it is tough, but I need someone to step back out of my shoes in this situation to see what is best. He said I think you need to go to Michigan, I think you need to be out there and I think you need to be talking to people. You can’t just hide. I said I was not thinking about hiding, I was thinking about a vacation. Also, knowing I had to face things too to be honest with you. He said, you don’t want to go to California just to be out there hanging out there and then you have a weekend off, so that is three weekends of being heard but not seen. He said be at the airport at 1:00, that is when we are taking off and I said OK. So I listened to my agent and walked out and went up with them. They were kind enough to give me a ride, so it worked out really good. I am glad I went. I thought about it all the time through Lion King, what I was going to do and that was the right decision.
Dave: I don’t know if you read the email yet where I sent the job offer to you.
John: I didn’t see that. It is Matt’s job I want, because I can do that from here. (laughing)
Dave: that’s true. I tell you what the deal is, if you do not have anything by Brickyard time. Let’s say or maybe a deal where you take over the car later in the year, whatever. If you do not have a ride for the Brickyard, I know you are coming back for the Kroger Race for Riley presented by Cheeios, but while you are in town the Indianapolis Racing Radio Network wants you to do the color commentary for the Brickyard 400 broadcast.
John: That would be cool.
Dave: Like I said in the letter, it doesn’t pay like driving, but you don’t have to worry about the crew not hooking up your air fans either. (laughing)
John: You know the good thing, is we are standing at the airport and all the pilots are sitting there just discussing the race. And they are like, you can almost see the guys that had good races and the ones that didn’t. Because how the driver shows up is important and I said shoot I won. And they said how do you figure and I said I have never lost a race that I watched. (laughing) So, nothing like winning the Brickyard!
Dave: We have the greatest seat in the house in the 9th floor of the pagoda.
John: So, I will have to push the guy out of victory lane and tell him, man I won!
Dave: We’ll send you down there, you can do the Victory Lane interview. How is that? Well just put that on your deal there, in case nothing else pops up in the mean time. That will pay 15-20 dollars.
John: That is more than I was going to get. I look at the job Scott Goodyear does for the IRL and I think his color commentary is….. there are a lot of good commentators out there, don’t get me wrong. I don’t get to listen to Scott all of the time where…… when you listen to different series you get different ideas. For someone who has been out of Indy car I feel really into it, just like Darrel and Larry probably do for Winston Cup. Because I am so close to it, I don’t see it as well, but I think that Scott does an outstanding job. I am going to have to go to the DW, Larry Mac Reynolds, Scott Goodyear, commentating school, before I do something.
Dave: Let me tell you who else is doing a great job, Davey Hamilton on the Radio Network on the Indy car stuff. Davey is just a natural about it, and he has an easy way of explaining things and putting the spectator in the driver’s seat and explaining things. You do the same thing on our show. Plus we have a lot of fun we tell some stories and I think it would be right up your alley. You will be fantastic, you don’t have to go to school…
John: I will be like, Aw man that had to hurt!
Dave: Yea, I’ve hit the wall there.
John: Like my dad says, I know what you are thinking, I am just glad it is not me.
Joe: I was out at IRP with DW today and I got to talk to him. He had some very nice things to say about you. Once again, I think with everyone we talk to about you, integrity, good guy.. all these things come to mind, so you have to be proud of that. I know better thing…
(Matt groans)
Joe: I am Serious! It is a tough situation with a team that is spinning their wheels anyway. You want to be the good guy and stay there and help them out. I think this is going to work out great.
John: I would like to them to add race car driver in with that, so maybe we will get into a team and get the results we use to get at the front.
Dave: That is what you will be doing. John take care and we will talk to you next Tuesday. Enjoy….. Are you going to California this weekend?
John: At this point I am not planning, but at this time last week I said I am definitely not going to Michigan, and I ended up going, so we will leave our options open.
Dave: I hope you have a great weekend.
John: Thank you, I appreciate it.
THE END