Tracy aims to make Racers Unchained podcasts both ‘personal’ and ‘fascinating’

Former IndyCar ace Paul Tracy is confident that his “Racers Unchained” podcast, announced earlier this week, will prove a hit with listeners and viewers. Addressing the media at this weekend’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the 2003 Champ Car title winner said: “Last week we recorded a couple of podcasts, and while I was researching, there was a lot of stuff I knew about the guys and a lot of stuff I didn’t that was really fascinating – their own personal life stories.

“When you race against guys, yeah, you get to know them but you don’t want to get too close because you want to be able to slit their throat on the racetrack and not feel too bad about it! So, looking into people’s lives and looking into their histories before they got to an IndyCar, Formula 1 car, sports car, whatever, is pretty impressive.

“I was with NBC for almost eight years, but I was never what I would call an analyst. I called the races with Townsend but never really sat down and did interviews with the drivers. I’ve had great relationships with a lot of drivers over the years, and some not great relationships! We have Michael Andretti on tap to do a sitdown, and while we were driving, we did not like each other one bit! So that’ll be an interesting conversation. But a lot of time has passed since then.”

Asked where his focus lay for Racers Unchained, Tracy replied, “I did think about that quite a bit. Do people want to focus on race results? I think people want to focus on the more personal side. There’s a lot of people I have a very close relationship with and a lot of funny stories out there that have never been told, and I think I’m the guy that can pull those stories out because I’m a race driver and I’ve raced against these guys, versus a journalist asking questions and the driver won’t open up.

“I think the first two episodes we’ve filmed, they were quite personal. The first two are Max and Bobby . Max and I have been friends for a very long time. Bobby and I raced against each other, but I didn’t know him that well. I came into Indy car racing as just a kid when he was at his pinnacle in ’91-’92, and there was an age gap. So I was a little bit nervous and intimidated about how this conversation would go, but it went really well. We talked about his history in the sport and I didn’t know until I started to research how much racing he’d done in Canada. He finished second to Gilles Villeneuve in Atlantics in only his second year of racing.”

C.J. Olivares, president of RACER Network, said: “The most exciting thing for me is what we’re doing with Paul – bringing out the stories from within the sport. As a racer and as someone who was on television, and the relationships he had with people, is such good fuel for storytelling, and some of the things we see as our tasks are to develop more fans, give them more of what they already love and create a pathway for new fans. The podcasts with Paul will do that.”

RACER’s founder, president and CEO Paul Pfanner, addressed Tracy directly, saying: “Paul, you’re someone who I saw here race spectacularly, one of the most naturally gifted and brilliant racing drivers I’ve ever seen, and your ability to bring this sport to life through your commentary was obvious to me, as were your relationships with the drivers you raced with.

“You’re a racer from the heart and to the core, and that’s what we are as a brand, so it’s great to have someone who lives it and breathes it onboard.”