In Wheel Time Podcast: Your Go-To Automotive Talk Show

From Grocery Stores to Racing Legends: A Saturday Morning Car Talk

• In Wheel Time • Season 2025 • Episode 201

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Roger Penske's integrity-first approach rocks the racing world as Team Penske faces unprecedented sanctions just days before the Indianapolis 500. We break down exactly what happened—modified attenuators on Josef Newgarden and Will Power's cars sent both championship contenders to the back of the grid, while three top Penske executives were fired. The technical violation might seem minor to casual fans (smoothing an edge on a safety component), but as we explain, it represents a significant breach of trust from racing's most respected team owner.

The timing couldn't be worse for Newgarden, who was pursuing a historic three-peat at the Indy 500. We discuss how this follows another technical violation discovered in April regarding improper access to push-to-pass systems, creating a troubling pattern for the team that owns both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series itself.

Beyond the racing scandal, we explore Mercedes-Benz's strategic expansion in Atlanta, where the German automaker is doubling down by relocating 500 jobs and opening a multi-million dollar R&D center—a counter-intuitive move as they slash costs globally. We also dive into Ford Motor Company's explosive lawsuit against California lawyers allegedly running a massive billing fraud scheme under the state's Lemon Law, costing the automaker approximately $20 million annually over five years.

Our "This Week in Auto History" segment highlights fascinating milestones, including Team Lotus entering Formula One in 1958, the founding of Buick Motors in 1903, and the establishment of the first auto repair shop in the US in 1899. Whether you're a racing enthusiast, automotive history buff, or simply enjoy hearing candid conversations about cars, this episode delivers insight, expertise, and entertainment in equal measure.

Be sure to subscribe for more In Wheel Time Car Talk!

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Show Introduction & Birthday Celebrations

Speaker 1

Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast From Studio A inside the Sugar Shack Studios in Texas, usa. This is your place for all things automotive the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show Coming up. We hope to talk to Rick Neely as soon as we get him on the line here with the Lone Star Street Lot Association and the upcoming state run in three weeks Later. Jeff has the racing calendar. Mars has this week in auto history and I'll get you caught up on stories making automotive news headlines. Howdy, along with the missing Mike out of this world, mars, he got up and left us. Yeah, he's done. We always need more. Jeff Zekin, our chief engineer. David Ainsley, I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us today and I'm sitting next to our birthday boy.

Speaker 2

Oh, that's right.

Speaker 1

You notice that we have.

Speaker 2

And Mike made cakes last night. Stayed up until like 2 in the morning. He did not.

Speaker 1

And made these. No, that's from what do they got over there? What kind of grocery store do they have?

Speaker 2

over there. I have no idea. I'm not sure they have it. I have no idea. The usual Kroger's and H-E-B's you think they got that? Oh, I'm sure.

Speaker 1

Yeah, whatever the case may be.

Speaker 2

Can you smell the alcohol in it? You can smell the alcohol.

Speaker 1

Really it smells like sugar to me, but that's just me.

Speaker 2

It's potato alcohol.

Speaker 1

I have to tell you, while we're waiting for Rick Neely, I went to see Frankie Valli on the Four Seasons last night. Laugh, if you will, I don't care. Yes, he's 90 years old, he's 90,000 years old.

Speaker 2

He's really 90 years old.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and you know what I assume is years of facial reconstruction. It's kind of left him looking a little gaunt and it's hard for him to move his mouth. And you'd think, well, is he lip syncing this? No, he's not. There was a thing circulating on the internet that kind of scared me. I thought, oh my God, he's lip syncing it. Now, somebody had taken a soundtrack and made it off just a little bit so it looked like his lips were moving behind the actual words.

Speaker 2

Yeah, no, that was not the case Like an old monster movie from Japan or something?

Speaker 1

Yes, that's exactly right, but what a great concert that was. A lot of people there, a lot of old people there, like me, but every once in a while you see a granddaughter scattered throughout, where they've brought the granddaughter to see this icon and all of the hits that he has had since the 1960s. And he's still singing and he still sings in key, in the high octave, in the high octave. It's truly amazing. And the show the band has been together for decades and the four seasons have changed. But I'll and the show the band has been together for decades and the four seasons have changed. But I'll tell you what the harmony is truly incredible. If you ever get a chance to see him and the time is ticking I can promise you that go and see him. It's well worth the money. Okay, what do you think there, mr Mars?

Speaker 3

Rick's not going to be able to join us. A little family emergency came up last night involving hospitals, and I'm not going into all the details on that oh, okay, great, and so he just found that out. Well, he just called whenever I sent him a text and reminded him and he said anyway, he apologizes several times to everyone.

Speaker 1

So, in other words, we've got a butt to kick when we get up there.

Speaker 3

I told him we would definitely be talking to him when we get to Granbury.

Speaker 1

Yeah, we're going to be talking to him, not on the air. This is going to be one of those things that's going to be off the air behind some buildings in the back alley of Granbury.

Speaker 3

I'm going to let you talk to him first because, he's a lot younger than me.

Speaker 1

Well, you don't think that I'm going to lead this tribe down the no, that's not going to happen.

Speaker 3

We'll let David, we'll get David.

Speaker 1

Let David take care of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I got 20 bucks on Rick.

Speaker 3

That's good. Yeah, thank you, Jeff. You're a vote of confidence.

Speaker 1

Jeff, the birthday boy, you know.

Speaker 3

Did you tell everybody it was his birthday?

Speaker 2

He just did while you were out, and that's you know it. I did while you were out, and that's you know. It's just a birthday.

Speaker 3

It's cupcakes in your honor.

Speaker 2

It's another birthday we were talking about your cupcakes. Thanks for making those. You made those.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I did. I worked really hard on those. We were telling the folks he worked really hard to get to. What grocery store was it?

Speaker 3

I didn't even do that. Becky got them for me. Where?

Speaker 1

At.

Speaker 3

Market Basket there in Nederland, h-e-b-c-o-v-e-r Market basket. No, it would have been better to get them over here.

Speaker 1

But wait a minute, what is?

Speaker 3

market basket. Oh, it's like a local chain.

Speaker 1

A local chain, yeah there's like 10 or 12 of them, because he used to have Gerland's Food Fair. Did you ever have?

Speaker 3

one of those over there.

Speaker 1

There was one in Beaumont for a while.

Speaker 3

There were a couple of those.

Speaker 1

Yeah, back in the day.

Speaker 3

Back in the day.

Speaker 1

We had Farmer Jack, farmer Jack.

Speaker 2

Farmer Jack.

Speaker 1

That was in the Detroit area.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Yeah, farmer Jack Madding's Drugstore was one of those that we also had back here in Houston back in the day. There's a Meijer up there.

Speaker 2

Meijer.

Speaker 1

Meijer Grocery.

Speaker 3

Meijercery oh yeah, yeah, I've heard of that.

Speaker 1

Actually my cousin Penny and Steve. She worked for Woodman's, which is a big grocery store chain. It wasn't at the time, but now it's grown exponentially. Kind of like an HEB. They actually sell liquor in there too. That's a Wisconsin thing. Hell, they sell liquor everywhere.

Speaker 2

Even in the grade school they sell liquor everywhere in Louisiana, louisiana, even at the grade school. They sell liquor everywhere in Louisiana.

Speaker 3

Yeah, they got into the vending machines and everything.

Speaker 2

Churches.

Speaker 3

You talk about wine gardens. One of the guys I was going to school with actually worked with he was always smiling in math class in the afternoon and we had this guy. He was very strict, very knowledgeable teacher, but he was kind of strict.

Frankie Valli Concert Experience

Speaker 1

Anyway, what was your friend's first name? Never mind, go ahead yeah.

Speaker 3

Phil, but Phil always one of those guys that left campus every day at lunch.

Speaker 1

Smoking a big fatty out and about.

Speaker 3

Nope, nope, but that's how. That's why I learned about Mogan David 2020 from him.

Speaker 1

You with Mogan David over there.

Speaker 3

This is in 1969.

Speaker 1

I hear you For me. For me it was Boone's Farm, apple or Strawberry Hill.

Speaker 3

One or the other. We gradually moved up to that.

Speaker 1

Good Because I took a sip of the church wine. It isn't even like good church wine, it's bad wine.

Speaker 3

Mogan David. Well, but the Mogan David bottle fit in his coat pocket on his way out the store.

Speaker 2

How old was the age?

Speaker 3

18. 17, 18. 17, 18. Yeah.

Speaker 1

We didn't care about that back then. We just hid it. We didn't let anybody know, well he stole it. That's the reason we didn't let anybody know, well, he stole it.

Speaker 3

That's the reason.

Speaker 1

These are the kind of people that Mars hangs out with.

Speaker 3

You don't go in 90-degree weather and you're wearing your peacoat.

Speaker 2

We were trying to figure out quantum physics and things like that. We had no time for that.

Speaker 1

Quantum physics. You could ask Katie about that.

Speaker 2

I only take physics when you're constipated.

Speaker 3

Who Sheldon, who Sheldon, who's Sheldon? Tv show Big Bang Theory, Sheldon A good friend of mine named Todd Sheldon.

Speaker 2

He's up in Denver. He's probably listening. He's from Houston too Spring.

Speaker 1

Okay, so you want to do recalls here.

Speaker 2

Yeah, we could do All Mercedes and all Fords.

Speaker 1

Okay, that's the recalls.

Speaker 2

That's all we've got for you today For.

Speaker 1

Memorial Weekend. You know, I think that I would like to talk. Actually, I want to kind of save that for the next hour, but I guess you heard about the big brouhaha at the Indy 500 with Penske yeah, Roger Penske.

Speaker 3

So if you haven't heard, I heard there was something going on, but I ain't heard.

Speaker 1

Team Penske parted ways with IndyCar Series team president Tim Sindrick, managing director Ron Raczewski and general manager Kyle Moyer on Wednesday amid the discovery of a violation of IndyCar rules by the team Quote Nothing is more important than the integrity of our sport and our race teams, according to Roger Penske. He said we've had organizational failures during the last two years and we've had to make necessary changes. I apologize to our fans, our partners and our organization for letting them down. Penske owns Team Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series sanctioning body.

Speaker 2

Yep, he owns Michigan International too.

Speaker 1

The news comes in the wake of the discovery that the cars driven by two-time defending Indy 500 winner, joseph Newgarden, and teammate Will Power, had modified attenuators during the second day of qualifying on Sunday. We'll get into that in a minute. Indycar announced Monday that New Garden's number two and Power's number 15 will start 32 and 33 in the field respectively. Last April it was discovered that Penske drivers were allowed access to the push-to-pass system when they should not have been Right. Okay, that was the first one. So do you know what an attenuator is? I do.

Speaker 3

I know what it is, but I don't think it means what I think it means for this. I've never heard it.

Speaker 1

There's two different things. One is an electronic thing. Right, that's what I'm thinking. That's one of them. Another one is basically basically a crushable bumper. Yeah, it's a bumper in the back and it's a box is what it is. And they're made by Dallara, the people that make the carbon fiber tub and all that stuff, all that.

Speaker 3

And it is to reduce the impact if a car gets hit in the back or backs into a wall or whatever Kind of like a crash zone. Thingamajiggy Correct, okay.

Speaker 1

It's an attenuator is what they call it.

Rick Neely Update & Grocery Store Talk

Speaker 1

You'll see it in the back you have to look for it and you have to be told that that's what that is. It's a box, but you don't know what's in the box. There's nothing in the box. It is a crushable box. It slows down the rate of the impact to the back of the car. It disperses the energy. Okay, it makes sense. Well, apparently there was. These boxes are not necessarily smooth. There are two pieces to them. One of them, you could see the fiberglass, not the fiberglass, but the carbon fiber in it. The other one, it just looks like black plastic or black something, and they put the two together. Well, where they put the two together, there's an edge. Well, if you're an IndyCar, every single edge is smooth. And what they did they had with all of their cars. They had a bunch of these attenuators and they traded them out amongst the cars. If a car gets into a wreck and it doesn't really affect the attenuator, they'll strip it. Basically, take the attenuator out and then put it in another car.

Speaker 3

Yeah, used car parts.

Speaker 1

So that's what they did Once the rules were discovered that you can't do anything with the attenuator. That is against the law. Can't do anything, you can't modify it, you can't smooth it over. You can't modify it. You can't smooth it over, you can't touch it.

Speaker 2

Well, that was one of the things that they were questioning, because they smoothed the edge out. That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 1

They smoothed the edge out and it made it illegal because you can't touch it, you cannot do anything to it. So that made the box and the car illegal, and they did it after the first round of qualifying was when they inspected the car and they found it. And then they went uh-uh because they were going for the top 12, right, they said no, no, no, you can't be in the top 12 anymore, you're at the back of the field. You're lucky that we don't throw you out.

Speaker 3

That's the headline I heard was there was a rule violation in qualifications which sent him to the back of the pack. But that was all I ever heard. Yeah, well, that's it. But it was okay to take it out of one car and put it into another car? Yeah, but you just could not do anything to that?

Speaker 1

Right, and apparently prior to this year I'm not sure exactly what year. They said no, no, you can't touch it. They didn't throw away the boxes and get new ones, they just traded them out amongst the cars. Most of the parts of the cars are interchangeable, so if you've got a car that's totally destroyed in the front end, the rear wing is okay.

Speaker 3

You go and repaint it and put it on another car. Yeah, you've got a million-dollar car sitting there. You salvage what you can More than a million.

Speaker 2

No, they're about a million. $750,000, I think is what the car. Little under a million, I think is what they are. But the Joseph Newgarden, he's going for a three-peat because he's won it two years in a row. Yeah Well, good luck.

Speaker 3

He's in the back of the pack now, so that's kind of impede his chances to get up there and win it A little bit yeah.

Speaker 1

It's going to be interesting, but I will say this. I had a chance to meet Roger Penske in an elevator. He didn't know me from Adam. Amy, my oldest daughter, was with me at the time. We went to the IndyCar race here in downtown Houston. I remember that.

Speaker 1

And I met him on the elevator and I had Amy's ticket. I had a press pass, amy's ticket. I said, mr Penske, would you mind signing the ticket? Oh no, not at all here. Very nice, thanks for asking me. Appreciate it. Very approachable, nice guy. This guy is the cream of the crop when it comes to race car teams owners. He deserves to have the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, because it was about to go away, yeah right Because it was so mismanaged and they didn't bring it up to current times.

Speaker 1

And same thing with his team. And what did he do? He bailed out the IndyCar Series, as the manager of the series itself Bailed that out. I mean, he's a multi-billionaire for a reason.

Speaker 2

I understand the people that do know him. He's got a very. He can remember names. Yeah, he can meet you once and then, two years later, hey, mike, how you doing.

Speaker 3

A lot of people that are real I don't want to say rich, but are real good at things like that that involve other people. They're like that.

Speaker 1

Successful, successful people.

Speaker 3

They have almost a photographic memory to people I can't even remember who you are, much less somebody that I met a year ago.

Speaker 2

No, I met Roger years ago and I also met Petty Richard, petty, richard, petty. And you shake hands with him and the two things that I know. When you shake hands with a person, it's a firm grip. Sometimes you're going to try to battle it out. It was like shaking hands with Plato, who Petty, petty and Penske Really yeah, it was squishy, really. They weren't giving a handshake, handshake. It was more like Plato to me. I'm a manly guy, so I've got to shake. Well, I don't know.

Speaker 1

You're a manly man. That's in his mind. Yes, it is his mind. Yes, it is his own mind.

Speaker 3

They probably don't want to hurt somebody.

Speaker 2

I mean they, you know Especially Patty. It was like squish, squish, squish.

Speaker 1

Well, my dad taught me how to shake hands and I appreciate that Nice firm grip. You don't need to kill anybody doing it Just make sure that you're sincere about it.

Indy 500 Penske Team Violations

Speaker 1

Speaking of memories which I have none I will tell you that I had the opportunity to meet Casey Kasem twice, really yes, and the first time I met him I had no clue who he was. Turns out, at the time when I met him in the early 70s, he had just started American Top 40, and that's why he was in town to promote American Top 40 at whatever radio station was carrying it at the time. And a friend of mine, chet Hancock, who was in the sales department, says hey, man, I'm having drinks with Casey Kasem, why don't you come down and join us? I didn't know who Casey Kasem was. I said, okay, I'm not doing anything. So I went to a bar up in the north side of town and Chet was there with Casey Kasem. I sat down and, casey, how are you doing, don Armstrong? Don, it's a pleasure to meet you, just the nicest guy, just like your next-door neighbor. Well, needless to say, he wound up becoming a superstar. Superstar, mainly radio, but he also did acting stuff and obviously the voice of Scooby-Doo and all that stuff.

Speaker 1

Well, years later, probably 20 years later or thereabouts, I went to a broadcasting convention and back in the day there was NAB Radio and NAB TV Now they're together National Association of Broadcasters. And I went to LA there was NAB Radio and NAB TV Now they're together National Association of Broadcasters. And I went to LA and it was a radio thing, big tent outside the hotel and at the time we were teamed up with ABC Network. So we went to the ABC tent. A lot of people, a lot of movie stars and stuff like that. I didn't know any of those people. I didn't want to wait around.

Speaker 1

There was Casey Kasem, I told Lisa. I said I want to say hello to him. He probably won't remember me, but say hello. So a couple of people talking to him. They finally left and his great, big, awful wife. She was there and I went up to him, opened my hand Casey, you probably don't remember me and he went wait a minute, I met you in Houston, texas, and your name is Don Armstrong. Oh boy, oh wow. And he died of Alzheimer's disease. Oh no, what the hell. Unbelievable. But I was floored, shocked. You were dressed, hurrah, I met him one time, had drinks with him. So, yeah, I remember we went to a bar up in the north side of Houston. He had one of those photographic memories. Truly amazing man Anyway.

Speaker 2

That or you didn't behave yourself. One of the two.

Speaker 3

Something impressed him.

Speaker 1

It was a combination of both, I'm sure. All right, why don't we take a break? Take a break Just ahead. Jeff has the racing calendar, mars has this week in auto history and I'll bring you automotive news headlines. The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show continues in a flash.

Speaker 1

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Speaker 1

The Unwell Time Car Talk Show thanks you for 14 wonderful years. Yep, our first show aired May 7, 2011 on a local radio station. Then it was a move to the digital world and social media and you followed. Thank you, we continue to build and grow our fan base and it's all because of you and your auto enthusiast friends. We appreciate your support. It's always great to see you at our remote broadcasts and we hope you'll continue to stop by and say hello. It's been a great ride and we hope to bring you more fun and adventure right here on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show. Hey, looking forward to seeing you at the Lone Star Street Rod Association Straight Run in Granbury June 12th. If you can't be there in person, join us for our live broadcast 9 to noon on June, the 12th Bonus hour, and we're going to start early and get out of there before it starts to roast everybody.

Speaker 2

Roasty toasty.

Speaker 1

All right time now for the Racing Calendar sponsored by Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge.

Speaker 2

Thank you for that. We've got Formula One is in Monaco Grand Prix. They had the actual practice going on this morning early. You can watch that on one of your cable networks. Nhra is off this week, but May 30th they will be coming back. That's going to be the New England Nationals. Jack Beckman won for Funny Car and Tony Stewart won Top Fuel last week, so congratulations to them. Craftsman Truck Series ran last night out of Charlotte. You've got the Xfinity guys going off today and that's actually going to be on. I think it's on FS1. Nascar is tomorrow. The big boys they're in Charlotte also and of course it's the 600. It's the duel for Kyle Larson.

Speaker 1

Is anybody going to run the Indy and then go to Charlotte? Yeah, kyle Larson, kyle Larson, yeah. He's a Hendrix driver. He's still employed. Yeah, Hendrix driver.

Speaker 2

And then you got Indy, of course, the big one. I will be there, I'm going to be there in front of my TV.

Speaker 1

There you go, but I'm going to be there in spirit.

Speaker 2

There you go. Thank you, mike. I'm going to be drinking some spirits too. And then, of course, may 31st is the Detroit Grand Prix. How about that? So that's always fun to do out there. One sporting event is event. It's not necessarily tied to cars or automotive, no, but the PBA championships are on Fox today at 1.30. Pro Bowlers Association it's on Fox at 1.30,. So tune in. That's my sport. There you go. I love bowling. I'll be watching something and I'll see it on TV and I'll text on. Hey.

Speaker 3

Absolutely. Do you bowl?

Speaker 1

I've always been a bowler. You are, yeah. At one point in my life I bowled in three leagues a week. Wow, yeah.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I think the last time I went bowling we got drunk and I was bowling between my legs. And I injured myself and quit.

Speaker 1

I don't bowl anymore, yeah Well can't imagine what it would be like today at your age. I can think of something. Anyway, that's what I said. Okay, this week in auto history, mr Morris.

Racing Calendar & Auto History

Speaker 3

Yeah, this week in auto history we found some interesting things to talk about. This week in May the 18th in 1958, team Lotus entered the Formula One World Championship at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix. I remember it well? I'm sure you did. Founded by your buddy, colin Chapman, lotus became renowned for its engineering innovations. Colin, colin.

Speaker 1

Let's go with Colin C-O-L-I-N. Yeah, Colin Colin.

Speaker 3

Became renowned for its engineering innovations and lightweight designs. Over the next four decades, the team secured multiple constructors and drivers championships, influencing race car design and technology to this day and May the 19th in 1903, buick Motors was founded, david.

Speaker 1

Dunbar Buick, there was a guy named David Dunbar.

Speaker 3

Buick yeah, buddy Established the Buick Motor Company in Detroit, michigan, and became one of the founding cornerstones of the General Motors Company. Their early innovations included the overhead valve engine which gave it superior performance to its competitors, and it got the attention of William C Durant, which led Buick to being absorbed into General Motors in 1908. Then in 1959, ford secures the rights to the Falcon name, which I never knew was disputed, but it seems a legal dispute over the Falcon name. Ford got it and solved out in 1959. Chrysler had previously used the name for a concept car and intended to put it into production, but Ford filed the legals and they got the name and they kept it and used it for their compact car that we all know real well. 1914, the Greyhound Bus Company was founded. Carl Wickman and Andrew Anderson started in Minnesota using a 1914 Hump Mobile to transport miners. That's not a hump.

Speaker 1

It's a Hup H-U-P.

Speaker 3

Oh, you're right, it's a hup.

Speaker 1

H-U-P. Oh, you're right, it's a hup mobile, not a hump mobile.

Speaker 3

I can only imagine it's not Wednesday, is it no?

Speaker 1

But wait a minute. I think greyhounds and humping kind of go together, so it's a hump mobile. Don't forget your colon and the colon You're driven by colon.

Speaker 3

So it started out as a modest operation. They devolved into the Greyhound Bus Company, the largest intercity bus transportation company in North America.

Speaker 1

This is going right down the toilet.

Speaker 3

Then in 1969, the film Winning was released. Now, this was the movie that starred Paul Newman as a race car driver, and that's really what got his passion going for motorsports and it was kind of a realistic portrayal of racing and that's where he sent him off into the racing world. 1899, the first auto repair shop opens in the US, and it's gone downhill ever since WT McCullough established the Back Bay Cycle and Motor Company in Boston and it's recognized as the first auto repair shop. And then, last but not least, pennsylvania avenue closed to traffic. Now, this was a security measure that president bill clinton ordered, the closure of pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house.

Speaker 3

I did not know that. When I actually had a chance to go there and I went over there, the road was blocked, all kinds of barricades, you couldn't drive in front of it, and it was done for a security reason. And the reason this is significant is because it was prompted over the concerns over potential threats and altered the traffic patterns, of course, but it sparked discussions about urban planning and security and it's a significant example of how security considerations can impact transportation infrastructure. There you go. That's a few of the things we found this week in automotive history.

Mercedes Expansion & Ford Legal Battle

Speaker 1

Thank you, sir. Infrastructure, there you go. That's a few of the things we found this week in automotive history. Thank you, sir. Mercedes-benz doubling down on Metro Atlanta, the home of its US headquarters, german luxury automaker will locate its North American headquarters in Georgia's capital region, moving 500 jobs there and open a multi-million dollar R&D center. The move, which will make Mercedes-Benz' Atlanta corporate workforce two-thirds larger, comes as the automaker slashes costs globally in response to slowing sales in key markets, including China and Europe. About one-third of the 500 jobs relocated to Atlanta are tech-related and will move from offices in Michigan and California, according to a Mercedes spokesperson. According to a Mercedes spokesperson and Ford Motor Company has sued several California lawyers and law firms, accusing them of fraudulently inflating their legal fees.

Speaker 1

Say it's not true Under the state's Lemon Law, including one instance where a lawyer allegedly billed 57.5 hours in one day. In a complaint filed in US District Court in Los Angeles against nine defendants, Ford called the alleged improper billing a magical mystery tour of bogus work and time entries spread across thousands of cases against several automakers. So they would go undetected. Undetected, ford said. The law firm Knight K&I GHT Law Group anchored the scheme, regularly bringing in other law firms to overstaff cases sometimes 10 to 15 lawyers deep. The automaker said it lost at least $100 million from the scheme over five years. It's seeking at least $300 million in damages for alleged violations of the federal anti-racketeering law known as RICO.

Speaker 3

That's $20 million a year. You don't watch where $20 million a year goes.

Speaker 1

No, you know what? I think that they need to have their own doge going on over there and figure out hey, you know, we just had to increase the price of that Ford Mustang by $3,000 to make up for these lawyers that have raped over the Ford Motor Company and it's not just Ford, you know as to all of them, I think they're doing it with auto pen?

Speaker 3

Well it's, yeah, they're no different than the government. They're so big they can't keep up with what they're doing.

Speaker 1

Yeah, they need to look inside. All right, they can't keep up with what they're doing. Yeah, they need to look inside. All right, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email. The address here is info at inwheeltimecom. More of our show right after this.

Speaker 1

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Speaker 1

The award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show now reaches 5.3 million folks each year. Check us out on inwheeltimecom, the Odyssey Radio app, youtube, facebook and just about every other entertainment source out there, including our live broadcast every Saturday 10 to noon Central Time. The In Wheel Time Car Talk Show has informative automotive guest interviews, new car reviews, along with popular features, including Jeff's Car Culture, the latest new cars, cruise ins and racing dates. It's InWheelTimecom. Join us. That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show. I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website. Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify Stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast Addict TuneIn, pandora and Amazon Music. Keep listening and we'll see you soon.

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Don Armstrong

Host
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Jeff Dziekan

Co-host
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Michael Marrs

Co-host