Bruce Martin- Host of Pit Pass INDY Discusses the Latest Racing News

PJ Doran

Welcome to Pit Pass Moto, the show that keeps you up to speed on the latest in motorcycling and brings the biggest names in motorcycle racing right to you. I'm T.J. Doran. And I'm Dave Sulecki.

PJ Doran

This week, we welcome the host of Pipas Indy, Bruce Martin, to the show Moto America, the home of the AMA Superbike Championship featuring one hundred and ninety mile an hour. Superbikes is the official sponsor of Pit Pass Moto nine rounds on the season of the best racing on two wheels. All 20 Superbike races came the Badgers and the like Junior Cup all going to air on Fox Sports. Super Sport races are going to be live on Matvey. So don't miss a minute of the action.

PJ Doran

If you can't be at the track, get on Moto America Live. Plus, that's where I stream it when I can't get to the track. It's amazing. Go to Moto America dot com for tickets. We look forward to seeing you at the track. Follow Moto America on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Dave, what's going on in the off road world?

Dave Sulecki

We have results from the AMA Outdoor Motocross in Lakewood, Colorado. That was round two for that series. In the 450 class, Ken Roxann takes Noémie SWEEP's with double moto wins, followed by Dillon Verandahs. And in third, Adam Spencer alone is Factory Kawasaki. So you're 450 point standings so far in this early series. Ken Rocks and leads. He's got the red plate with ninety points followed by Dillon verandahs with eighty nine. And then in third sitting is Aaron Passenger, who is Dillon's teammate on the Star Racing Yamaha.

Dave Sulecki

So we've got a real battle going there in the 450 class. In the 250 class, we've got Justin Cooper bringing it home, followed by Jeff Lawrence, the Australian rider, and his brother Hunter. Lawrence finishes third on the day. So really great to fifty racing in your 250 series six right now. Jeff Lawrence takes the lead with ninety points, followed closely by Justin Cooper with 80 points and sitting in third is Jeremy Martin. But news on Jeremy for the day.

Dave Sulecki

He was injured at that round, but still kind of not sure what's going on with him. We hope to see him at the next round. We've also got Jancsi results from the Mason Dixon held at Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, this last weekend in EXI one, you had Stewart Baylor bring it home on his Yamaha, followed by Ben Kelly on his Katmai and Jordan. Ashburn brings up third. So your point standings and exi one. Ben Kelly continues to lead with one eighty two followed by Stewart Baylor sitting on one seventy eight and sitting in third is Grant Baylor, his brother with one hundred and forty points.

Dave Sulecki

So that's it for off road racing. PJ what do we have in road racing.

PJ Doran

We've got results from a couple of weeks ago we had the Afte American Flatrock Twins. That series raced over in Chicago. On top of the Super Twins was Brian Bowman over Vander Coy and Jared Mease. Pryor is currently leading the overall point, standing in the Super Twins class with seventy seven points, followed closely by JD Beach on sixty six and Jared Mease at sixty three points. The big news from the weekend was the motor of Catalunya, with Miguel Olivera on top with his Katmai header, Johan Zarko and Jacques Miller, the overall Moto GP class currently led by Fabio Court Tororo on one hundred and eighteen, with Johan Zarco sitting at one on one.

PJ Doran

Jacques Miller not out of it at all. On ninety points in the Moto two class, Remy Gardner, Sunda Weingartner took the win in the motor to class ahead of Raul Fernandez and Xavi Verga overall points currently after the number of races we've had this season. Emoto to Remy Gardiners leading the series with one thirty nine Fernandez on one twenty eight and Brzeski on one oh one. We also had World Superbike from Portugal a couple of weeks ago in race one.

PJ Doran

It was retting over. Rós got the oglu and Jonathan Ray raced to Sawrey on top of Davis and rascally oglu current standings are Jonathan Ryan one ten with Raas Gartley oglu on seventy five and retting on seventy four. That's it for Moto Needs.

Dave Sulecki

This week's bit past trivia question is name the Hollywood actor known to sign up secretly for race events under the name Harvey Marshman. More on that after our interview with Bruce Martin.

PJ Doran

We want to welcome today to pass Moto, the host of Pippa's Indy, the extraordinaire of the show, Bruce Martin. Welcome to Pit today.

Bruce Martin

Thanks for having me. It's been quite a hectic month for for both in any form of race. And glad I could join you today.

PJ Doran

Well, we look forward to talking to you about what you're up to on your show pit pass Indy again. What's the latest haps in your world, sir?

Bruce Martin

Well, just trying to keep fans up to date with the latest news and interviews with the biggest names in the Indy car series. Last week's episode, we had it well covered with an exclusive interview the day after the race for time, Indianapolis 500 winning driver Elio Castroneves and also had the previous four time Indy 500 winner on the show, Rick Mears. What we try to do is just come up with an interview heavy format, where we're kind of introducing a lot of the big name drivers to our audience.

Bruce Martin

A lot of the people who listen to podcast are already very diehard race fans, and this kind of helps feed their need for information and to get to know these drivers a little bit better.

Dave Sulecki

Bruce, it seems like there's a load of things that fans can do to interact with the Indy car series these days. Is that changed a lot over the years? You've got to witness a lot of that yourself.

Bruce Martin

It's definitely changed. And what you see right now is a bit of a battle between the traditional media that we're used to having things done a certain way. And the new media, which is what today's society pretty much demands. It's trying to find a happy medium and both to satisfy both. I know that in a lot of ways, some of the things that they've changed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an Indy car, you know, to some of the older people, I hate to put myself in that category, but to some of the older people, it's a lot different.

Bruce Martin

They're catering toward a younger audience. Unfortunately, in auto racing, in some series, it's an older fan and how racing series and sanctioning bodies are able to best address those is going to be something that will be interesting to see how that all evolves. But I think that's what makes our shows so good, is because a old time hardcore fan can listen in and hear his favorite driver in an in-depth interview. And the new fan can have a fast paced format where they can catch a lot of different things on a podcast as they go about their day to day activities.

PJ Doran

And how is the world of open wheel racing changed in the last year and a half? So with the motorcycle perspective we have, we've see what's happening at racetracks. How did the Indy go? One of the historically the most attended motorsport events in the country? How did it go off with presumably limited access during the hopefully the end of this pandemic?

Bruce Martin

Well, there was limited access unless you were vaccinated, if you were vaccinated and had a vaccination card that showed you had been vaccinated twice, those fans were still able to purchase silver badges, bronze badges, which allowed them into the paddock or at the Speedway's, it's known gasoline alley. So they had that access. And I think a lot of ways that caveat led encouraged a lot of people to get vaccinated because without the vaccination, you were stopped at a certain checkpoint.

Bruce Martin

But if you had a certain sticker on your hard card or your credential or for the spectators who bought the silver badges, they're backing that the silver badge was on. If that sticker was there to prove fact's vaccination, they were allowed entry just like they always were. And I think in a lot of ways that really worked out quite well at this year's race. The other thing is, I think we're going to see in the future that a lot of these venues and facilities are going to be a lot cleaner than what we may have seen them in the past.

Bruce Martin

You know, with hygiene, they're going to keep an eye on hygiene a lot more. And I think we're we were used to back in the day, the first time I ever went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield for the nineteen eighty one Indy 500. The facilities they had in the infield aren't exactly what I would call facilities. They were more like I think an army latrine would have probably been a step up from what they had out there. What was funny was Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles came up with an idea of something unique to put on a special limited edition T-shirt to a lot of people.

Bruce Martin

When we saw what his idea was, we scratch our heads wondering how he ever got this one passed, Roger Penske. But it was actually a artist's rendition of one of the old how do I describe it, an old urinal trough from that used to be in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway restrooms. And I thought it was kind. Interesting that Doug Bowles was able to get that one by and Roger Penske to sign off on it, but hey, they were so popular, those T-shirts sold out well before any state.

PJ Doran

That is awesome. And it reminds me of pretty much every racetrack I go to. We talked about the upcoming events that we have rode America, and they absolutely had brick houses scattered around the facility, same type of deal. And they are going the way of the the buffalo, so to speak, at facilities all across the country. Let's go dirt track and dirt track. And you can still get the the true ambiance of middle America.

Bruce Martin

Well, I think that in today's society, you've got to do that for several reasons. People want to be entertained and they also want to be entertained. And a first class way, it's a little bit different. I mean, when I was a kid, I remember going to things like packing up my dad, packing us up. We might travel a couple hours to go watch an air show at some airport airfield. That was a big deal today.

Bruce Martin

I don't think that fans, if they're going to put that much effort into going to an event, they want to make sure that it's clean, that there's plenty of food and options for them, that there's other entertainment options while they're there kind of leads. One of the reasons why Streak horse racing and rode horse racing in Indy Car draws more spectators these days and say a regular oval track race is because of a lot of the oval tracks. They don't have other entertainment options for the spectators to participate in, whereas you go to a street race, it's kind of like a weekend street party with all kinds of, you know, beer gardens and restaurants, cafes, food, tents all over the place.

Bruce Martin

It's kind of a business model that the ovals really need to jump on to if they want to continue to be a viable option in auto racing. We've seen NASCAR move away from the mile and a half ovals. Indy cars only got five oval races on the schedule this year. The one over where they do use that model is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, because it's such a massive facility that not all of your crowd for a practice are qualifying. We day is going to be located in the grandstands.

Bruce Martin

They'll be located in different parts of the facility because it is so large.

PJ Doran

Absolutely. And what's the latest in the the actual racing news from the Open Wheel series? Is there any are there watershed things that as a motorcycle fan I maybe wouldn't be aware of?

Bruce Martin

Well, one of the things is going to be the fact that Ariel Castro and Chavez wins this fourth Indianapolis. Five hundred. He's not even a full time Indy car series competitor this year. He's driving a limited schedule for Meyer Chank racing. There's a lot of people that want to get him signed up for a full time deal. And team owner Michael Shank is trying to make that happen. But as you well know, in any type of sport that's driven by sponsorship dollars, it's not always that easy.

Bruce Martin

There has to be funding behind an effort in order to be able to do it. Now, a lot of these guys that were big names during the month of May and Indy, such as Elio Castroneves and Tony Cannon, who this year was splitting the number forty eight ride with Jimmie Johnson, the chip, Ganassi racing. They're driving in the Tony Stewart Ray Evernham series, the S.R. series that's going to begin on June the 9th. And that's going to be televised live.

Bruce Martin

It's going to be six Saturday night races in a row and they're all going to be live on the regular CBS network. So it's interesting to see that IROC model being brought back to life, only taken with some of the dirt tracks on the schedule, like Eldora and places like that. So that's kind of an interesting thing for even the big name Indy car drivers that aren't running the full season anymore.

PJ Doran

All right. Well, I look forward to talking to you more on your show. As we know, today is a crossover episode for us. So we're getting a little bit of you on our show and you're going to get a little bit of us on yours. What's the show name and how can people find y'all want to rap with that? I think that's probably best to get your name out there.

Bruce Martin

Well, it's bit past Sunday, and I'm the host, Bruce Martin, and I've covered Indy car racing and NASCAR for the better part of nearly forty years. The show can be found on any of the major podcast platforms. Just go right on down the list and you know, they're available and. You know, whether it be eternities, whether it be Google, whether it be heart radio, it's widely available. And for those who want to follow me on Twitter, it would be at Bruce Martin.

Bruce Martin

One word, uppercase B uppercase. Sam underscore. Five hundred, right, Don? Well, thank you again for joining us, Bruce. We look forward to listening to your show and checking out what's going on over there.

Bruce Martin

Thanks for having me.

Dave Sulecki

We'd like to thank Bruce for being with us today and this week's bit past trivia question was name the Hollywood actor known to sign up secretly for race events under the name Harvey Marshman? And the answer is, of course, actor Steve McQueen. He was a former Army pro license holder and film license holder and was known to enter events across all spectrums of motorcycle racing under the name Harvey Marshman in order to avoid being noticed. I think I don't think he got away with I think a lot of people figured out who he was.

PJ Doran

Absolutely they did. The whole reason he was doing it was less about media, although certainly McQueen was absolutely famous enough that he might want to hide from the dooring masses. It was more about not letting the recording studios know what he was up to. And if his name appeared and results are on entries, insurance guys would start taking a notice because they didn't want to lose him for movie recordings that they'd already written insurance policies on. I did a bit of research about this when I was in high school because I found it fascinating that he had a and also known as that he went by is pretty awesome.

PJ Doran

In upcoming photo news, the big one, Moto America, this coming weekend, June 11, through 13. I'll be there. Come find me. I'll be the idiot on a monkey wearing a helmet. Also, we have World Superbike coming up from Marsano, Italy, June 13th. Afte has taken the Flat Trek series to OKC Oklahoma City. There's a doubleheader June 18th through the 19th and Moto GP will be back in action in Germany at the boxing ring June 20.

PJ Doran

What have we got in the dirt world, Dave?

Dave Sulecki

We've got mixed chip beginning in Almanack, Russia, June 13th, and I hope I pronounce that city properly, but make sure to check that out. We've got upcoming amay outdoor motocross at a high point raceway in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania. That'll be June 19th. And we've got Genack racing at the Snowshoe Snowshoe, West Virginia. That'll be June. Twenty sixth and twenty seventh.

PJ Doran

Thank you to Bruce Martin for joining us today, and thank you for tuning in if you enjoyed this episode. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. If you have a moment, please. Rate and reviews as well. We really appreciate it. Make sure you're also following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and visit Pict past Moto Dotcom, where you can check out our blog. This has been a production of Evergreen podcasts, a special thank you to Tommy Boy Harverson, Chris Bishop, our producer Leah Longbrake, and audio engineer Eric Colt.

PJ Doran

Now I'm p.J.

Dave Sulecki

And I'm Dave.

PJ Doran

Have a good weekend.