The Blind Apex Podcast
The Blind Apex Podcast
Episode 48: Balance and Evolving a Race Program
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I sat down with Dillon (@EJ2_track_rat) to talk about his 2023 season... the balance he needed to strike in his race program (and life) to aim for his goal of being the H2 national champion... He didn't reach his goal, but I'm convinced he will one day... and we talked about some of the lessons learned and how he is evolving his race program to get there one day!
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Welcome to the Blind Apex Podcast. Where amateur club racers tune in to get faster.
SPEAKER_00:I'm your host, Conjon Turk, and on this episode of the Blind Apex Podcast, we're going to talk a little bit about balance, race program evolution, and anything else I can get into with him, with my guest joining me, returning, no longer the cheapest man in motorsports, maybe the most cost conscious person in motorsports. The bird man himself. Dylan, welcome back to the show, man. You there?
SPEAKER_03:Am I in the Oh am I oh cool, hello? Welcome to my uh to me. Enter the Dylan.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes. So uh you you guys in the Northeast have this thing where uh you guys seem to change your Instagram names all the time. So where can people find you first off?
SPEAKER_03:Uh I haven't changed mine since 2018, I think. It's um it's uh EJ2, so echo uh Juliet2 underscore track rat. So it's a EJ2 underscore track underscore rat.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. And that's on Instagram. You can search for his videos on YouTube. Uh he he balls on a budget. So um yeah, and you were I would say you were pretty successful this year. Um so for those people who don't know, let's uh talk about what you got into this year and how things went. And yeah, let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so I started the year out in a pretty rough spot with a personal life. So like I, you know, I was dating this girl who I was really into, um, and then like she dumped me. I was like, wow, that sucks. And then like I had a group of friends and we had a falling out, and um, that didn't go well. Uh and so I I knew I started this year, I heard that the championships were gonna be at pit race, and I wanted to go, you know, win championships this year. And when those two things happened to me, I was talking to my buddy Carlos Valenzuela, who's uh C VR underscore 49 on Instagram, and he does a lot of like uh hot shoe driving for reaction USA coilovers and falcon tires and stuff. And he was like, I poppy, it's your time to shine. Like you gotta go get championships, like that's what this is all about. He's like, screw all the other stuff. So yeah, this year was um psychotic. Um, I I literally just I put everything I had into um making a fast H2 car. So I, you know, I started in 2022, my first year in H2, and it was basically an uncompetitive, I started with an uncompetitive H4 car with redshift coilovers, which are pretty decent, but they're they're still budget coilovers, and then I built the car into a competitive, nationally competitive H2 car over the course of two years, and I think my reliability record kind of showed that um because the car had a lot of issues, but uh I fought them every step of the way. So yeah, and then I ended up, yeah. So I mean I ended up just making a run for championships. That was the entire year, it was just focused on that. Um but yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So shout out to Carlos for helping a friend in need. Uh anybody out there who's in need, your friends are there for you, man. So shout out getting you focused. Your race program was pointed at nationals this year. Uh, you were putting putting it down as far as I was concerned. Uh my only concern for you was your reliability um going into nationals. So uh I'm sorry I was right. Yeah, same. Um honestly, uh I know Jaime was like he was devastated uh when he found out you know being there and everything. Um and I have a hard time. I have a real hard time uh rooting for people in general. Um I was making sure everyone was coming around and we didn't come around again. I was like, oh crap. You know uh what happened.
SPEAKER_01:So uh the clutch failed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you had a clutch failure. You have a whole series of videos on it. Go check it out where he how he diagnosed what actually happened to him. You you talked about a couple of things. You evolved your H4 car into a competitive, nationally competitive H2 car in two years. Kudos to you.
SPEAKER_03:Jesus Christ, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I I mean I bought a car, uh, built a car, bought, bought the car, built it, and I'm still not competitive in two years. So kudos to you. It's a there is a struggle that's involved with that.
SPEAKER_03:But no, there was there, I mean, there was people like that, you know. I mean, like my like I I have people who help me, you know, like um Jackie was one of my sponsors this year, um, low buck motorsports LB coaching, and um she she's a guru. You know, I mean there are times where she and I have disagreed, and I've been right and she's been right, but most of the time she's right, she knows what she's talking about, so she was like a pivotal person in the program. And then um, you know, I I drive an older chassis than you, so so there's more data on it, right? Like, you know, you have to deal with more. So that I wouldn't say that, you know, it's apples to apples and saying, oh, Dylan, you know, put together a fast car and I couldn't do it. You know, it that's you're driving a car with limited data, and there's so much data on these old Hondas, which is great.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but but the evolution your car had to take to get from Honda Challenge H4 to H2, that's quite large, right? And in the past, I've been quoted as saying things like you gotta maximize the car to the rules mostly so you can only blame yourself as the driver, right? You don't want any other excuses about yourself, but also it's hard to be competitive when you don't have everything the rules allow you to have to for you to have them. And I think your campaign this year sort of proved me wrong or changed my mind. I believe I'm more in the the feeling now that as you evolve and develop a race program, you need to touch every area of the car you're allowed to. It doesn't necessarily mean you need the best, but you need everything to work together, and that's sort of a very difficult plan. And I think the way you've approached things uh with budgeting and upgrading certain pieces at certain times, you did it the right way. And uh, you know, I'm still on redshift, so Jackie says that that's probably not a good idea, but um maybe I'll listen to her one day.
SPEAKER_03:I thought the redshifts were good. I I I like the redshifts. I mean, I I had no like the the only when I only upgrade stuff in my car when I see a need to. Like um, you know, and and even when I see a need to, it has to be like a quantifiable need where the margin that I gain in terms of performance is worth the incremental dollar cost. Um I thought that the red shifts were good. I just the only problem I had, you know, the the coupe is a longer chassis than the Integra and then and the hatch um by like one or two inches, I think. I think it's two inches. And um, so there's more of a fulcrum effect. Like it's the the fulcrum effect is more pronounced when you're going under braking. And like one issue I had was I kept locking up the rear wheels on the car. Um, and then you know, I I thought to myself, okay, I think a little more rear droop would help me out. And so I played with some spacing on the top hat in the rear of the car. And uh, you know, I was like, okay, like, you know, I think that might actually hold some merit. And so I I I maxed out the red shifts for sure. Um, I found their weaknesses. Um, but they for the money, it's really, really hard to beat those coilovers. I mean, those are those are great coilovers.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, I'm I'm not upset with mine. I just there's other things that I need to look into other than shocks first, and I need more time in the car. Um, I was talking to Christopher Michaels a little bit, I believe, um, watching Shanfeld at Nationals, um, watching the lap times, doing all the research that I did in general on everybody who was driving there, that this car has a very narrow window to handle well. You have to find it, and then you have to drive it in there. Anytime you exceed that window, uh you take off the ability to go faster for longer. So um you and when you have to baby that car, you lose many seconds babying that car, versus um when you go into conservation mode in one of the golden era Hondas, you're you may drop a second off, right? Your normal pace. This one it looks like maybe two or three seconds.
SPEAKER_03:Maybe. Uh I don't know. I think a lot of cars are like that. It's um I'm learning that I'm still learning that. Um, you know, I I think that my crew chief Manny was there. Um, and it's funny because Manny has never raced before um competitively. He's he's drifted in Puerto Rico, he's from Puerto Rico, he's drifted there, and he's drifted here, um, and he knows how to run tandems and stuff like that. So he's got really great car control and awareness, and he's a huge fan of F1. And uh so he knows racing, but it's funny because like he was like uh tell giving me tips on conserving my tires and stuff, and I was like, that's funny because like he he's right, and he's never raced before. So you know, he was like, you need to conserve tires more. So I'm like, bro, that's you know, I'm like, I'm trying. I just you know I'm not I'm not I'm like uh I'm like a I don't know, I don't know how to phrase it. Uh I'm like a 95th percentile driver, or maybe in like the amateur world. I'm okay. I'm all I'm alright. But like if I were better, I think I'd be better at like conserving tires and strategy on track. So I I try my best.
SPEAKER_00:But I mean I I think everybody has um weaknesses in their game, right? Um yeah. So I I I'll be honest, I've never really gotten a car to be loose enough for me. So I don't know how to drive a loose car, you know, because all my cars have been so tight. So um, you know, that's gonna be a whole new world for me. Uh speaking of Manny and your race program, uh rumor is that he's going to comp school soon.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so he he was like extra so but for my for championships this year, um I I normally do everything at the track myself. Like I I have um and I know people say that and and a lot of people do things themselves, but like I I have a shrader valve on my um my brakemas cylinder to bleed my own brakes, and I do all of my own alignments. Um I don't do any work on a lift. Um I do most of my engine swaps on my own, and I have people that support me. Um, don't get me wrong, but like when I'm at the track, I'm normally it's a one-man show. And then if I do need help, someone in the Northeast Paddock is usually generous enough to help. Like Lee has helped me a ton this year and other years, and um uh, you know, Zephyr has helped me, Tony Robison has helped me, Jackie's helped me, uh, Alex has helped me a bunch. He's helped me a ton. There's so many names of people. Uh so if I'm forgetting anyone, I'm I apologize. You know, it's basically the whole Northeast paddock. Um, so I wanted to get a crew for Pitt. And so what I did was I reached out to basically as many people as I could that I knew I could create a cohesive team with people who could work with each other and work with me. And I found like five people, and I think two people dropped off. It was like uh I got Bookbinder, Nate Bookbinder, who's an H2 racer in the Northeast, he's helped me a lot too. I got Stan Pickford, um, who's a DE driver in the Northeast. I got Emmanuel Hernandez, who's a D uh instructor and DE driver in the Northeast. I got Mike Baldridge, who's uh uh he he's an adopted Mid-Atlantic driver for H2. Um, and then I got uh Diego Losa. And then of course Alex Herman was involved, Alex Herman. And so we created a Google Doc and uh did a bunch of organization. We can talk about that later in the chat. But Emmanuel was my crew chief, um, long story short. And so um Emanuel was I I couldn't have done he, I I I can't say how much that dude did for me. I mean, it was like it was insane. I I mean it was to the point where I would come off track and I'd be like, F, you know, this car is not doing this or that, and he would be like, sit down, I'm going to fix it. And he's like the the the guy from the green mile. He's like, I can fix that. And he would like he would like he would come over, that's my bird, sorry. He would come over and he would be like, uh, he would just get into it because he works at uh a shop called Total Performance Center up in uh North Jersey and he services like Porsche's and BMWs all day. Um so he he knows he knows race cars in and out, you know, and and he's uh very intelligent guy who knows racing too. So yeah, so what happened was, you know, again, long story short, I like these tangential things. He basically was like, uh, oh yeah, I want my comp license, and we're talking about like you know, ways for him to get into racing. And I was like, well, drive my car. And he's like, um, really? And I was like, yeah, I was like, you know, I I trust you. Like, I mean, if something happens to the car, it's unfortunate. And I hope that's not the case because we haven't, you know, we're gonna be doing it this weekend. Um, but I mean, you know, I I said, you drive the car, and you know, just help me put in some work to get it back on the ground. And um, you know, he helped me so much at championships, it was like kind of like the only thing I could do in a way. Um, so you know, I said, drive the car. Um, you're a talented driver. You deserve to have a seat in a wheel-to-wheel car. I want to see you out there. And uh yeah, so he's gonna be campaigning it this weekend. He's last-minute a bunch of stuff. Uh, you know, he's like, uh, what do I read for the CCR? And then I'm like, bro, he should have been doing this like two weeks ago. But uh he got his physical done, and uh he's gonna be wearing my my baggy suit, and he's like, I think he's like 30 pounds lighter than me. So he's gonna be even baggier on it. Yeah. I got my suit when I was like 210 pounds and no muscle, and now I'm like 190 pounds and I have muscle, and yeah, my suit is very big on Mesa.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Uh forward him the podcast where I talked to Steve Brown about how to get through comp school.
SPEAKER_02:But I'm Oh, that's a really good I bro.
SPEAKER_03:I have been so since championships, I have been so disengaged from like racing and the racing community. The only connection I've had really is like Northeast Honda Challenge, group chat, and Emanuel. Getting him ready for that's it. Like I've been so disengaged.
SPEAKER_00:So I mean, they were all in your corner, so there's no reason to disengage from them, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Um I'm not disengaging because I because you know of personal pre I'm just disengaging because like I need a mental I needed a mental break really badly after champs.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean we we were gonna talk about balance. So let me get into that a little bit. What does balance mean to you? Not just you with weights on the bosu ball when I see you on Instagram. Uh let's what does balance mean to you in in the racing world?
SPEAKER_03:Oh god, balance. So like I learned I learned it from uh chemical engineering school, actually. Um they they would give you these problems that you they would give you 10 problems for like you know thermodynamics or for mass transfer or for one of those advanced like third-year chemical engineering classes, and they knew there was no way you were gonna be able to do that. You know, they they they knew that, like the professors knew that they knew that you were going to be working with other engineers to try and figure stuff out. And so the reason I bring that up is because it taught me sacrifice, and sacrifice is sort of like the axiom for balance when it comes to racing on a budget, because you have to balance spending enough money to put the correct parts on the car to make it fast, but then ensuring that you spend the correct amount of time and money to make the car reliable as well. But then you also have to ensure that your brain is not overloaded with all of that by the time you get to the track, and while you're running all of the logistics to source the parts, figure out the schedules, things like that. Um, and then in addition to all of that, when you finally do get to the track, you have to be able to get behind the seat and you have to be able to perform, and you have to be able to perform under pressure. Uh, and so in order to strike that balance, you are sacrificing. I at least I found myself, I found myself sacrificing in every single area. So, like, you know, for example, Emmanuel would be like, Dylan, you're not driving well under this circumstance, you're missing an apex here or there. And I'm like, Emmanuel, I know, but like I also know that right now I have a lot on my plate, and I'm doing my best with the skill set that I have. And um there it was just it was just everything had a little bit of a sacrifice to it. And then part of like the weirdest part about the balance discussion is like you dedicate all your time to trying to win a championship, and sometimes part of trying to win a championship is doing nothing at all that has anything to do with cars. Like, you know, like I would be there would be one or two weekends within a four-month span where I'd be like, screw it, I'm not doing anything to the car. And I would go out to Philly to hang out with a friend, or I would go hang out with my mom, or you know, and I would just do something, not something that had zero to do with cars. I would go salsa dancing, something like that. And it that was balanced for me. It was a sacrifice everywhere and anywhere you could make the sacrifice without hurting the big picture. The big picture, in the big in the grand scheme of things, the trajectory needs to be slow, it needs to be positive, but it needs to be relatively unaffected by all of the sacrifices that you're going to make. And the the net the net result has to be positive every single day.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. So to me, instead of going on a full boil to uh cook up everything and get yourself to uh uh champs and to be competitive, I feel like you need to be more like a slow boil or a simmer, right? Because you don't want to scorch the pan, you don't want to burn yourself out. So you need to incorporate those things into your program. You have been evolving your programs year after year, right? You evolved through H4, you went you had to evolve how you attack things in H two, and then you set your goals from not just being competitive in H two in the Northeast, but going to try to win the national championship. And in that attempt, you learned a lot. Lot of lessons. And that balance is a big one, right? You need to make time for yourself. The car, yes, and this is one of the reasons I'm over the top with my logistics sometimes. Uh, I'm over the top with my planning, is because I know I need to make sure that I have free time for myself. Not just myself, but yeah. I'm married, luckily. I'm not sure why she puts up with me, but I need to make time for her, right? Like I can't I can't go, you know, 365 race car only. Um there's a lot of things I enjoy about racing that I don't mind doing. I actually don't mind being in the garage. Um especially now when the car is you know relatively behaving itself. Um I don't have emergencies to tackle. So yeah, being in the garage is great. With my old car, I was miserable in the garage because I was always chasing the dragon, you know, what's what's gonna go wrong next, right?
SPEAKER_03:I actually I actually um I farmed out some work this year that you'll be proud of. I can't believe it. Um I I well I like it was part of the thing. So, you know, um what H2 taught me this year was that, and this is the same thing that the MA people have been parroting to me, you know, over and over and over again is racing's not cheap. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, they're right. Racing is not cheap. Racing is expensive if you want to do it right. And um, I got that this year. I understood it. And so part of that balance, part of the sacrifices was okay, if my savings are looking really, really good right now, right? But I have assets here or there I can move around, whether it be stocks or whether it be something I can sell from my basement from like, you know, the Hondas that I part out, or whether it be uh crypto or whatever, right? Um, if I can sell something and my savings and my net worth is impacted a little bit, but I can take the work that I was otherwise going to be spending in the garage for hours and hours and hours and hours, making myself hate this hobby, and then farm it to someone and have them fix my crap, then is it worth it? And so I it happened twice, actually. I took it, took my car to um the guy who works on Tony Robeson's car. He works on one of the instructors, Matt Bookler's car in the Northeast, and he works on Alex Herman's car. His name is Ben D'Angeli. Um he works at a local performance shop, but they're pretty well known. Um, they're pretty well known across the country, but they're local to PA. They service German cars. And uh so he does uh so I brought him my car when I had electrical issues at NJMP, and um he found loose grounds and terminals on my kill switch, which I never would have thought to look for. And he redid the harness underneath of my uh my intake manifold, and then he tightened up some grounds and other he tightened up a battery ground. Um I never would have found any of that um because I'm not good with electrical, I'm good with mechanical stuff, but I'm I'm really bad with electrical. And so he found it all, and it cost me like a couple hundred dollars, yeah. And I had to tow my car up to to an hour away from Jersey to go get it fixed, but I got to go on a uh, you know, I got to go on a date with someone I was seeing, I got to spend a good night in New York City, I got to have fun, um, I got to eat food, you know, and it gave me a break. It gave me, you know, I was so it was the same the weekend that had all those electrical issues that prompted the farming out of that work was NJMP, I think in May or June. And it was the same weekend that there's this reggaeton artist that I really like. His name is Fade, and uh he was in Philly, and I I couldn't see him because I was at this weekend, but it was also the worst weekend of my life for racing. So I was so mad. So I said, you know what, the savings, the money, sure, it may have been impacted by this champs run, but it doesn't look catastrophic. Let me take the money and just felt you know farm the workout, and that was part of the the balance conversation was okay, Dylan, you want to win championships this wear this year, you're gonna need to spend a little bit more, you know, and I did. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's and it's good that you spent it. I mean, you spent it strategically, right? So in your plan, you knew well, maybe not at the beginning of the year, you knew you needed that time, but you you need to make time for yourself, you need to make time strategically to do what you can with the car, and if you need to farm it out, farm it out. Um, I I'm personally not against it. I do most of the stuff myself or with my uh friend Jason. He helps me on my car all the time, but uh yeah, if if we if he's busy, you know, he's he's got a life of his own. He's not you know living in my house and you know my my garage gnome, you know. So he's got personal life too. So if he's taking personal life stuff and you know, living his life and I can't get it myself, well it's gonna have to go to somebody because it it ha it still has to get done. And I think it's a realization.
SPEAKER_03:I think I think a big I think a big part that people miss out on when it comes to racing and spending, which makes them seem more lavish, because it is, um, is they don't have focus on what they need to do and why they're spending the money, right? So I go out and I spend a couple hundred dollars on someone to service my car because I know it's something I'm never gonna fix out, fix myself. And if I do, it's gonna take me days and days and days, right? Or I spend thousands of dollars on some shocks, right? But I know these are the best shocks I can get, right? Um it's it that at the same time, that means that I'm not I I can't buy a spare motor. I can't buy a spare transmission. I can't, you know, so I have to I have to put those things together from stuff I have, you know what I mean? So it requires a ton of discipline, you know, like to be able to have that mindset. It's all about discipline. The whole thing is about discipline, you know. I and that that's kind of like how I try to live my life, is I try to live a disciplined life, you know. So I try to transfer that into my racing program when I can. And this conversation is making me excited for next year now.
SPEAKER_00:Um because yeah, but uh but yeah, so you've got plenty of time to plan, stay regimented, but give yourself time for yourself uh and for your family. We have time, it's it's November 1st when we're recording this, you know, November, December, January, February. It's four months. So if you plan accordingly, it's plenty of time. If you get your logistics in order, there's still plenty of time. Um, you know, there's I know guys who thrash from January 2nd on, you know, because there's two hungover on January 1st. But they thrash and they make it. Now they have different goals. They have, but if you have big goals, give yourself more time. If you have smaller goals, personally, I like to front load, that way I don't have to worry. I'd get everything wrapped up and then hang out, or maybe go help other people that need my help. Because I love racing against other people. So if they're not gonna make it.
SPEAKER_03:So with my program with my program, I I would probably be I would be in the garage five days out of the week every single week for March, from March until September, for the most part, yeah. Five days a week, I would say. Um, I recorded 75 or so videos each 10 minutes long, um, documenting the race season itself. Um and it's along the lines of what you just said, which is the front loading thing. So I know that I could have gone out once a weekend and just spent the entire day in the garage. But I to be quite honest with you, I like to go inside and drink a beer or two before bed or like watch some TV, you know, with my bird and and hang out, you know. So like I I made it a point, all right, we gotta go to the gym because that's gonna keep me sane. We gotta go work in the garage. And then eventually what happened was the car was breaking, and I was like, okay, now we have to sacrifice the gym. And the gym took a sacrifice and which sucked, but it was like, you know, it was again, it's discipline and sacrifice. What do you want? You want to go racing, do you want to win championships, or do you want to be do you want to be in shape? Because both are great goals, but one is it depends on what you want, you know, so it was tough.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so you have to plan for a level of flexibility. So uh I have grand ambitions next year, not not for anything great, big, huge trophy. I don't have any of those ambitions, but I want to race at least all of the summit point VIR NASA Mid Atlantic schedule and do a test day every month. Okay. So we talked about farming out work. Well, if I have a problem between my test day and my race day, I've got to evaluate hey, can do I have time to do it? Do I have time to sacrifice to do it? Right? Yeah or do I farm it out? Okay. Um I have to worry about logistics, all these other things. And still, you know, make sure my wife's not mad at me, make sure I spend time with my nephews because they're important to me.
SPEAKER_02:Not not that she's not that she's happy, but that she's not mad at you. I like the way you phrase it.
SPEAKER_00:Set the bar low.
SPEAKER_02:No, I don't know. That's my relationship. I'm not making sure that my wife I'm not making sure my relationship is in good health and and everything is uh jovial. I just want to make sure she's not mad.
SPEAKER_00:She's very understanding and I've been there. She's very understanding and supportive. She's she's actually somebody who reminds me, hey, maybe maybe you need to change your tactic. So there was a time uh where just to get just to get this new car ready a couple years ago, she was telling me I would come home, she'd be like, I'm gonna cook dinner. I don't even want your help. Go into the garage, spend an hour, spend an hour and a half. Wow. Whatever it takes, right? If I did help her, I I never got that. Well, yeah, I I mean I met her at the racetrack, so she understands what she was signing up for. But at the same time, you know, even if I did help her, as soon as we were done eating, she'd be like, You need to get outside. I don't want to see you until whatever you need to accomplish is done, or this time. Because I wake up at three in the morning, so she's like, You have to be at bed by this time. And she she would come hunt for me, you know.
SPEAKER_01:So um the contact. Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_00:She's she was a she was just out there, she'd just be like, Are you done yet? And I'm like, five more minutes, and she's like, Okay. I would be cleaning up, you know, my mess when five minutes was coming around, and she'd be walking into the garage going, Okay, your five minutes is up, let's go. You know. So she she's she's really a huge asset to my race program because I don't think I would get half the stuff done that I needed to get done anyway. But it that's all test gonna get tested next year, right? Um adding an extra day or weekend to my normal race schedule, it's doubling the wear on my car, right? It's doubling the amount of consumables I'm gonna go through, essentially. So uh it's doubling the chances for things to break, right? So I have to be aware and I have to be ready and flexible, and I need to make sure my schedule's that way. Now, it might might make for some really crazy podcast weeks, so um you know, who knows? But my goal is to develop my chassis, you know, because nobody has a lot of data, people have data on this chassis, they just don't share it very well. And then to be honest, the way I think they have the car set up is not good enough. It might be good enough for them, but I don't I'm not sure it's sustainable, nationally competitive setup. So I'm looking to change, you know, I'm looking to go a different direction and try to make it work. So we'll see. But um being sure you can evolve your program, evolving your program on the fly. Um I I'm sure this time, you know, before the season started, you were uh, you know, happily in a relationship, you had your group of friends you were with, and things devolved, right? And you stayed, you were able to stay focused on what really mattered for you for that year, your goal for that year, specifically racing goal, and you were over to you were able to overcome some things, and to be honest, you did really well at nationals. So kudos to you for that. Um you were putting down the times you needed to put down. Um really the to be honest, the only person I'm more proud of is uh Jay Noek, because he he did what he needed to do and got himself in the right position. It was sort of at your expense, but he did it.
SPEAKER_03:No, no, it wasn't at my expense. J Dob a smart race, and Jay Jay is a great driver. Um, I I told him myself, I was like, I'm very that like you did an awesome job. Like that was we called him we called him the people's champion. I I didn't, but like in the northeast, that's what they were calling him in the northeast chat. Um but that was awesome. Like we were I was really happy to see him on the podium.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, me too. So uh, you know, one of his one of his weaknesses was this lap consistency issue, right? So he could put down some flyers and he'd put something down consistently for the next two laps, but it wasn't actually consistent because it'd be two, three seconds slower, right? He even during because I was spying my wife, it was my wife's birthday weekend, we were out running around in PA anyway. Um, I was spying race hero all the time. And he was each uh time he went out, it still looked like he was struggling with that consistency. But then I would talk to people who were there and they'd be like, oh well, it was weather, it was traffic, it was this, it these sessions sucked, the track went away, whatever. Okay. But during the race, he stayed very consistent in it a little bit more consistent, like 0.2 seconds, and he'd have been a little further up in the on the podium.
SPEAKER_03:So I I I mean, that's not even his car. I I think Jay's a better driver than me. Um, he he uh it's his first second year racing, yeah. And um he had never been to Pitt. So wow.
SPEAKER_00:I mean I didn't even know that.
SPEAKER_03:Great driver.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:No, he had never been to Pitt. He's he's a very good driver, yeah. He normally drives an S2000. Oh, okay. So and he's also he also he smokes Marlborough Reds. So if you smoke Marlborough Reds or like maybe Newport 100s, maybe. I then then then you'd be really fast. Um I I'm only kind of fast because I smoke cigars, but I think if you smoke six, it makes you faster. I hope kids are not listening to this. I'm joking, by the way. Yeah, full disclosure. This is this is this is the Northeast sense of humor. We talk about Newport 100s and trading Xboxes and B18B ones, so that's our we're weird.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so so I get a new racer excuse. This is a new racer excuse for me. I I'm not fast because I only smoke cigars, also.
SPEAKER_03:So you don't you don't smoke cigs, exactly? You need to smoke cigs.
SPEAKER_04:No, I don't.
SPEAKER_03:Senna, listen, uh uh Nikki Lauda, come on, those guys, they were SIG heads. They just they they they like to smoke SIGs.
SPEAKER_00:It was it was uh how do I say it? It was more acceptable during their time, and it was easier for them to be more ignorant of what the health and science community says about smoking cigarettes. Don't smoke cigarettes, kids.
SPEAKER_03:Well, well, uh, I think in the 70s, I'm you know, I was born in the 90s, but I think in the 70s they had like an ad campaign that said doctors doctors smoke camels. Um, so yeah, that there was not a lot of not a lot of information about cigarettes and how they negatively affect your health, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00:Philip Morrison them don't sue me, but it's not like they weren't paying people to to advertise in a certain way or gain the right kind of endorsements.
SPEAKER_03:I mean listen, I I listen, listen. If if if if uh if anyone okay, I'm just gonna stop talking. I was gonna say if anyone wants to sponsor me, sponsor, but that's not true.
SPEAKER_02:They're definitely I'm just gonna stop because I'm joking and somebody's gonna somebody's gonna hear this and they're gonna be like, oh Dylan Dylan uh likes Siggs.
SPEAKER_00:I just I don't need that.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um I doubt your favorite cigar brand is uh listening, but you should shout them out and see if they'll sponsor you. I mean. Oh, you like my father's too? Okay.
SPEAKER_03:My father's good, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, all right. Um anyway, now that we completely devolved. Yeah, well, my podcast tends to devolve, so it's fine. Um now that the podcast devolved, how do you think your pro race program has evolved from the rate H4 days?
SPEAKER_03:Um it's it's been a slow concerted effort year over year of allocating what expendable income I had to the hobby to move up and up as as consistently and sustainably as I could. So I would say that nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things. But with respect to this year, um, I have learned a lot about the money thing. Um, so for example, um, you know, I've learned to accept that racing is expensive, uh, and I'll tell that to people now straight up. Um, and I've learned to accept that if you are on a budget, there are only so many things that you can fix. Um I I I've learned too much, honestly. It's it's kind of hard to say it all. I I've learned um I've learned for the big races, you bring lots of spares. You know, for the small races, you don't need to bring so many spares, especially if you're closer to home. Um I learned that having help is immensely helpful, um incredibly helpful. Um I learned about strategizing an effort with help. So like I learned about like running the logistics and like making it a formal thing to the point where it's like you make a to-do list and you make a and you you basically label things like buy pack do before events, and the buy pack do basically says like for each line item, you either have to buy it, you have to have to pack it, or you have to do it. Um I've been doing that for years though, but like I actually started doing it with a team. So like we would make a shared Google Doc and I would say, hey, this is what I'm working on for full transparency. And then my team members would read it, you know, periodically, and they would say, Okay, I can help with this, or I can help with that, or hey, Dylan, I saw you're missing that. Um I learned a lot about teamwork. Uh, one of the biggest things I learned this year is teamwork. Um, you know, we racing is an individual sport, right? Um and I kind of came up playing hockey and stuff, and uh I've never been good at team sports. Because I've always liked the individual sports. Like I always liked skateboarding or site or uh you know BMXing. Um and then racing was another individual sport. I learned this year that to be humble, like to put myself in my place, so to speak, and to accept help, to give help, and to have the tough discussions that need to be had so that you can maintain that community around you. Because like I it you don't realize how much people help you until they're gone. Like uh, you know, Alex and I had a fight um before champs, and we were supposed to stay in the same Airbnb. And you know, he actually reached out to me and he's like, you know, we need to be cohesive and we need to be a team if we're gonna make this work. And I was like, you're right. And we talked it through and and we got over it. And you know what ended up happening? My truck ended up blowing up two hours from pit race, uh towing to championships. And guess who saved me? Alex. So yeah, the big one that's one of the biggest things I learned this year. Doesn't matter who, you know, like Bookbinder went and picked up a spare bottom end for me. Um, Tony Robison let me borrow a spare transmission that he had. Um, if you don't make connections and like put time into the people around you, not only just for your own selfish needs, but so that they can go further and go forward, like you're never going to get anywhere in this hobby, um, let alone in life. You know, like like that's kind of why I want Emmanuel to drive my car. Like, I see his talent, and I'm like, dude, like you need to be in a wheel-to-wheel car. Like, you're like, we go karting all the time. I go I go electric carting with him, and uh we go wheel-to-wheel on electric carts and stuff, and his talent is just, I'm just like, dude, you need to be wheel-to-wheel driving, and it has no benefit for me. Like, if he crashes my car or something, there's no benefit there. Um, and Lee Lee Wambold is the same way. You know, he he he let he let Jay, Alex, Jay and Alex, and Brandy, I think, drive all of his cars. So it's like, it's just all the successful people, you'll see them, they're making teams, right? They're they're helping people, they're supporting people. So that's one of the biggest things I learned this year. Be a team with with anyone who supports you and anyone you want to support, give without expecting, receive without shame.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's that's really good advice. Um, I learned this year, uh I don't do the at track things very well. I don't do tire temps and pressures and all that stuff very well at all. And where I'm immensely organized in my preparation and logistics parts, I'm horribly unorganized when I go to the track. And I sort of just wing it.
SPEAKER_03:Ah, yeah, you gotta step that up.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:You definitely gotta step that up. And it's it's I think I think it's it's hard. Most again, this is the thing. Most people say, okay, I do it all alone. And it's like, okay, but are you taking your temperatures after each session? Are you taking your pressures after each session? Are you reviewing the data after each session? Most people will say no.
SPEAKER_00:I I do review my wrong.
SPEAKER_03:I I will but most people like all those things, right? Like if someone says they do that, do it alone, are they doing most of those things? That's my question to you. They're not right. So, so right. So I I I am doing a lot of those things. Like, I am looking at my data, I am looking at the tire temperatures and the pressures, brake temperatures, right? I'm looking at all of it. And it's really, really exhausting. It's really exhausting.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Super exhausting. And and so I need to formalize that procedure and processes. Uh, maybe even how I collect my data, how I store my data, look at my data, and use that data in the future. Not the performance data on track. You know, we have gadgets that memorize that stuff for us, and we can look at it whenever we want. It's it's the stuff that you physically collect on your own that I need to formalize and get good at and get practiced.
SPEAKER_03:The biggest thing that helped me, the biggest thing that helped me with doing that on my own um was honestly it started out with a hunger for being fast um and having people around me who inspired me. Like I had TJ Yard, who used to volunteer with the Northeast, and he he called me during the night of championships and gave me some really great advice actually the night before. But TJ Yard um kind of like showed me the ropes. He was from a dirt racing background and showed me like, why aren't you measuring tire pressures and temperatures? Why aren't you doing this or that? Why aren't you? You know, he gave me all this stuff, and uh it started with that. But what really helped me maintain that was actually like doing research as weird as this sounds, doing research into like old philosophy and like history and learning about like stoic figures or like people of the past that I really admired, and like learning how to endure suffering and pain because when it's a hundred degrees outside, you know, a hundred degree heat index, and you're wearing a black suit and you get out of your car and you're taking tire temperatures and pressures. Most people are they're like, This is a hobby, screw that. I'm not doing that. But when you have that mental toughness and you learned about people before you who are fighting and dying and all this crazy stuff, it's like, you know, maybe I can endure the sun for a little bit if I'm gonna go a little bit faster, you know, it's not really suffering at the end of the day. And um the endurance aspect of it is really what solidified it, you know. Started with curiosity and went to endurance, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um and some of that some of that endurance that we're gonna need specifically for those things to endure the heat and all that stuff, it starts in the gym. So you you can sacrifice gym time from time to time, but it does pay off. So don't forget to go to the gym.
SPEAKER_03:That's when I yeah, when I was during the during the champs run, um before champs, I actually had a uh debilitating sciatic nerve issue where I mut you know from probably August to December, I'm not joking, I couldn't walk. Like it I had to take, I was taking two extra strength Ibuprofens in the morning and two at night, and um, you know, so I got that rehabbed, and then I was I needed to go to the gym to stay healthy, but then the racing program caught up with me, so I still made an effort to go out for runs. Uh, so I would go for a 20-minute run um, you know, if I couldn't go to the gym. And I was gaining weight, I was getting, you know, flabby and like I wasn't being as lean as I was before, but I still had that that cardiovascular performance and ability, you know, it helped me to sit in my race car after it broke for 10 minutes at the end of the championship race and not die without a cool suit. So that was good.
SPEAKER_00:So I don't even want to know.
SPEAKER_02:It was bad. It was it was bad.
SPEAKER_00:So here's a here's a little sideways question for you. And uh and I don't want to spook you with it, but I I think we have you have time to think about it. But since Manny's gonna be racing, I I'm gonna assume he's gonna be in the inner circle of that team uh part, but who's gonna replace him as crew chief? Because like you said, uh uh first off, I think you're gonna make future runs at championships, okay? I don't think it's like you to make one run and not reach your goal and then just give up on it. So I'm gonna assume that you're gonna make a future run at a championship again. Who's who's gonna be the next up for you to be your crew chief? I think that's gonna be important for you.
SPEAKER_03:We're gonna we're gonna have to figure it out. Uh Manny technically was only my crew chief for champs. Um he's uh busy dude. Um, you know, he works I don't I don't know how many works hours he works. So he probably has to work, he probably works minimum 55 hours a week at his job uh as a as a as a racing tech. He has like eight cars that he personally oversees. Um he's a he's going for his pilot license, like his commercial pilot license. Um yeah, he's a busy dude. So um I I don't know if he's going to be, he would be, he we would even have been a consistent crew chief for the rest of like 2024. But I you know, we we have that that third H2 car that we're putting together, and um the plan right now is to sort of like Alex Herman has logistical skills that look he has logistics and planning skills that I don't think I've I've ever seen anyone have. Like he's the guy who figured out the Airbnb for pit race, he's the guy who figured out where we were gonna be eating, he was the guy who figured out where we're gonna be mounting tires, he's the guy who figured out you know what amenities were at the track. He's it like it it all sounds like kind of like it's not important stuff, but when you get there and you don't have something to eat or you don't have a place to stay or you don't have spares, he brought like his whole house worth of spares in his truck. And uh so he's he's like the logistics guy, he's like a brains guy. Manny is is you know, he's one of the the most he's a very talented mechanic. Um, he's very a very good driver, he's very good strategy-wise on track. And you know, I guess I'm just on the third guy, you know. I I don't know. Really, like I I mean I I I I guess my brain is broken to the point where I can't extra actually like explain my purpose, but I I do have a purpose, and I think I've shown that this year. Um, but yeah, we the goal is to just kind of like see if we can run together next year, see what we can do. Um kind of like uh like like Lee has done with with his people, honestly. Um that's kind of like he was like the inspiration in a way for me. Um and I was just impressed by that, you know. And I felt like, okay, well, Alex has all these traits. I have all these traits. I'm I'm pretty good at setting up a car. And then Manny has all these traits, and what if we can come together? So I I think the help will come and go. Um, we're definitely gonna help each other out. I mean, Alex helped me at the track, I helped Alex at the track. We were wrenching on each other's cars. Um, so I don't think there's gonna be one answer for a crew cheat going forward.
SPEAKER_00:And uh what about what are your plans for next year? Because I know at one point you were talking about maybe instructing only, maybe not racing, maybe just doing track days when you feel like so.
SPEAKER_03:Right now I need a tow vehicle. Um my uh my forerunner blew up on the way to championships, and then I had to tow it home. I had to get it towed home with AAA and use a U-Haul to take my trailer home. Um, so that blew up. So I need a new truck. Um and saving is going well. I built a runway um for my budget and the savings going according to plan with the runway, but uh in alignment with that, you have to ensure that you have discipline. Like I said, so I've seen several spare motors come up for sale, shells, blah, blah, blah, that I could have used for my racing program, but I passed up on it all because I need safer a truck.
SPEAKER_00:Can't race if you can't get there, and then exactly.
SPEAKER_03:So get another, get a reliable tow vehicle, um, and then um probably go racing again. Um, so working with to see who we can partner up with um to get funds for the racing effort between me, Alex, and myself, or me, Alex and Emmanuel. Um, and uh, so the goal is to just I'm gonna keep my car with a with um a B series in it. Um, just I just want to run something that's reliable. Um, that's gonna be the focus for me. Uh, I just want to have fun and have a reliable car and just run, you know, in the Northeast pretty much. Um, I did have uh Pat Brunson offer to help me get to Utah for Champs, and I was like, nah, I appreciate it, man. But you know, I I think I had to focus on you know just the regional effort for now, and then we'll see what happens in 2025 for champs. But um, I know that H2 probably isn't gonna be my whole life forever. Um, Honda Challenge in general probably isn't gonna be my whole life forever, just because I don't know if I have interest in developing a newer Honda. Um, but for now, the the EG is a pretty good car. Uh it's just you know, we'll see how bad the parts availability gets over time.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. It's it's gonna be a challenge, but you seem pretty resourceful, so I think you'll you'll make it in the long run. So you'll be able to hang in there longer than most. So well, Emmanuel, good luck at comp school. Uh hopefully when this goes out and hits the street, you have your competition license. And I think that's gonna be a wrap, my man.
SPEAKER_03:Cool.
SPEAKER_00:I really appreciate you coming on.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I appreciate you uh well, I appreciate you reaching out. Um you know, like I said, I've been a little bit disengaged. I've just been kind of uh focused on rebuilding other aspects of my life after a really draining and concerted effort. Um so I I appreciate you reaching out. It's nice to I I I don't ever want to lose touch with this community. I think it's something that it goes back to what I was talking about with teamwork. Um, you know, this community is pretty important to me. Um, so I I don't ever want to lose touch with it. I I went salsa dancing for a year and then I realized I like racing too much.
SPEAKER_00:And I came back to racing so I mean you you mentioned him earlier, even uh Booker, you know, he's still an instructor up there in the Northeast. He used to race Honda Challenge.
SPEAKER_02:No, that's Bookbinder. Uh yeah, Booker.
SPEAKER_03:Bookbinder is a still racing. Yeah, the other book. Yeah, but book Booker. Yeah, Bookler used to reach, he raced the first Honda Challenge race ever in H5. Um it's funny, we were having a conversation and he's like, Yeah, I used to race an H5, and I was like, Oh, my car is like an H5 car back when I had the D15 B7 in it. He's like, No, my car was slow, and I was like, No, my car makes 75 wheel horsepower. He's like, Okay, so your car is an H5 car. I was like, Yes, yes, very slow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they were running cra they were running first gen EFs with the carbureted motors and stuff still. Like it was wild times back then. But awesome, man. I really appreciate it. Never uh disappear on us because you know you've got that kind of personality that everybody loves, you know.
SPEAKER_03:I'll be somewhere posting bird memes or something.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you still got a couple years worth of good driving in that EG left anyway, so we don't have to worry about that.
SPEAKER_03:But making weird, weird, weird bird content.
SPEAKER_00:All right, my man.
SPEAKER_02:All right, dude. Thanks for thanks for hitting me up.
SPEAKER_00:No worries. Thanks for coming on.
SPEAKER_01:Until next time, keep working on yourself, keep working on the car, and let's get faster.