Episode 139 Recap: Man City Derby Rout, Malukas to Penske

You stroke like it's a wonderful day.

I know you hate me, but I'll ask anyway.

It's lights out and away we go. Won't you come with me to a place in a little town?

The only way to get there is to go straight down.

There's no bathroom and there is no sink. Gonzalo Montiel, 25 years of age, his first ever World Cup. He was a starter in the Copa America final a year and a half ago. Podcasting from From Studio 2520, somewhere near Akron, Ohio, bringing you all the latest in motorsport and soccer from around the world. This is Tackling the Chicane.

For some reason, uh, this song will not pot down.

Pretty loud. Silverchair, uh, Australian rock band from the early '90s. I just remember that these guys were like 17 or something, uh, probably jumped on the alternative rock wave that was being slung around the world at the time. Song's not bad. Don't know much about the rest of the catalog, but I do remember this got heavy airplay on the radio.

As did anything that had this sort of, uh, feeling to it. So yeah, sorry, I should have cut it so we don't get sued. We'll just see. We're always testing the algorithm. But yeah, good song actually.

I guess they won a national demo competition in Australia, um, on some big radio station And that's what broke him. So interesting. Yep, that's one of those, uh, uh, I always know the melody of the song, but I've— I never remember what the hell that song is called. So, and that, that would have been a song that would probably resurface on Rock 106.9 sometime after midnight, just in the random rotation. So that could be where— yeah, maybe you picked that one up.

Yeah, that's definitely a radio staple. But yeah, so good intro. Uh, here we are, I believe— I think this is 139 of Tackling the Chicane. We're gonna be talking, uh, a lot of IndyCar news has come out since The last time we recorded, we talked a decent amount off air, but now that we have a dedicated hour to talk about it, we can go into more depth. And then of course, a lot of soccer to get into as well.

Um, actually kind of want to start there in the Prem. We'll be talking about the weekend that was in detail. I've also got a little bit of color from The weekend that was in the Scottish Premiership, quite a bit happened as well, including a 3-all draw between Hibernian and Dundee United, which was easily the best game of the weekend north of the border. One of the things that I've noticed in general about Scotland this year is while your, your typical old firm of Celtic and Rangers have very clearly regressed, uh, the rest of the league has actually, um— there's a ghost down here. Did the lights just get dimmer?

They did. Interesting. Anyways, um, the rest of the league has really kind of stepped up in terms of quality. There's no real team that's like Jesus Christ, this team is bad. And I've seen a lot of great games this, this year already without Celtic and Rangers involved.

In fact, I'd actually say the games that I've watched involving both of those teams have been worse than the games not. So I guess we can kick it off with our Scottish Premiership coverage here. A fantastic match at Easter Road. Obviously, like I said, 3-all, so we had 6 goals, um, split between evenly between the 2 halves. So it wasn't like a big flurry of goals, um, and then nothing.

Um, Hibernian continued to be a team that I think if you're a neutral or not even you're someone that just kind of wants to dip their toe into Scottish football, this is definitely a team to check out. Their games are always entertaining. They, they score a lot of goals this season, at least. I— so they've played 4 matches and they have 1 win. 1 win but no losses, 3 draws, um, and of course a game in hand on the rest of the competition.

North of them. So, um, the table is a little misleading, I would say. Um, yeah, the one of the things is they, they've tended to dig holes when they don't really need to, which is what they did in this one. Dundee United take the lead actually twice in this one, and to Hibernian's credit, they answer back both times. Probably should have watched that one.

Sounds like it was a good match.

Yeah, it was, but that's okay. There will be plenty more.

A couple of players to note. I said this early on in the year, but if you're not paying attention to Kieran Bowie in the midfield of Hibernian, you need to be. He's a goal-scoring threat constantly. A lot of bangers. He's always due for a banger.

And he just got called up to the Scottish national team as well last international break, so it seems like he has a pretty bright future ahead of him. I would actually look to him probably moving away from Hibs at the end of the year, uh, if he continues this trajectory. But both of these teams are, are certainly clubs that you're going to want to pay attention to the rest of the year. They play entertaining soccer. They, they don't just sit back and absorb pressure all day.

Um, so keep those teams in mind. 3-all draw between Hibernian and Dundee United. Uh, Lucas Stevenson, a name I had not heard of for Dundee United, he bags 2 goals in this one. Um, and then we had Kucharanko, an own goal for Dundee United. That got the scoring going.

And then Kieran Bowie, of course, scored, and Jamie McGrath, as they say it. Um, just looking at the table, it's— this is— and maybe you already might have dipped into this already, but this has been— this is a weird start. I mean, for Rangers to have, have 4 draws and a loss What's going on over there? Is, are they struggling? I mean, listen, I, to see Celtic at the top of the table after the performances that I've witnessed this year, even though it's early, I understand that.

But that's, I wouldn't say shocking, but I'm a little surprised by that. No, I think that, like I said, I think the Scottish Premiership table right now is a little misleading because it, It's not really showing— well, for Rangers it is, but, uh, it's not really showing the quality of a lot of these teams where I think Hibs have played more, uh, entertaining soccer and maybe have been slightly unlucky not to have more wins. And Celtic are probably lucky to have as many wins, uh, the way they're playing. Well, I think also it should be noted the number of draws seems high to be this early. Yeah, uh, a lot of draws have happened in the league.

Or like I said, I think a lot of the teams have stepped up this year in quality. The thing with Scotland is you always have your big 2, but after that it's very, very, very tight. It's very tight from there on. So especially this year where it looks like Rangers might— you know, it's September, but they might not even finish second, which would be insane. Um, that means there's someone there that could step up potentially.

I look to a Hibernian or, um, a Hearts to be that team. Let's talk about Hearts here. They beat Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox, mind you, this past weekend. So it's, it's reached the fever pitch over there on that side of town.

5 wins— or excuse me, 5 games into the season, no wins. That's unprecedented. I don't think they've ever started a campaign like that, ever, that bad. So that's, that's a historic low. We're talking 140-plus years of history here.

No wins, 4 draws, and a loss now to Hearts at home. Russell Martin, the Rangers manager. I don't know, it's probably— here's the thing, like, you give them a month, which isn't a lot of time, but that month has been so terrible.

So what do you do if you're the board? Because does, does someone come in and really clean it up that well, or— I, I don't know. Yeah, I have no clue because I'm still trying to understand the dynamics of these leagues, I guess. There was some mention during the Celtic match of perhaps there weren't a lot of supporters in the stands for Celtic because they're under, they're in some kind of protest mode for. Yeah, that's another storyline from this weekend.

The big storyline, that what stole the show was Rangers losing. Yeah, anytime that happens, it's a big deal. But yeah, I— so the Celtic board has never really been fan favorites because quite frankly, they, they don't spend money when they should. Celtic are in at about an £80 million surplus, which you should, you should basically never ever ever ever be at a surplus as a professional football club because that means you're not spending money, right? So how do you make that change?

Well, you have to get rid of the board, which is, which is the reason for the protest. So the first 12 minutes of the game most of the Celtic away end were not in the stands, um, as a form of protest. Big banner, it said, sack the board. The board were there, they, they panned to them. TV always finds a way.

Um, that's how you would in theory change the trajectory of the club, because yes, while Celtic is the top dog in Scotland and has been for a while There is an entire European competition that they should be a lot better in based off their stature, and they're not because they don't spend money. Yeah, they don't spend any fucking money. There's no excuse to have that kind of reserve. What's the point? There is no point because they don't even reinvest it like into the stadium or into other shit.

They just They're stockpiling money. I don't know for what reason. The whole point is to win. Yeah. And to have a decent venue to win in.

Yeah. Which Celtic Park is historic, but it's, it's, it's fallen behind the times. So I, I don't know. The only change that could happen is the board gets shunted or they leave at some point, but who knows? That's been a battle the Green Brigade and many of the Celtic fans have been fighting for a decade now.

So that'll continue. Celtic won 2-1. It wasn't exactly an amazing performance, but they got the win. Tough place to win in Kilmarnock. New signing Kelechi Iheanacho scored the winning penalty.

He had a cool celebration literally in the— with the fans, which was cool. So we'll see. I hope it's a leaf turned over for this season. But yeah. And either no one cares or there is no more kille pies at Kilmarnock because when I first joined this league, every other advertisement in Kilmarnock was for kille pies.

Well, that's because their shirt sponsors not the bakers anymore. So yeah, I was disappointed to see that. I mean, the killie pie is still a thing; it's just they're not sponsored by the bakers anymore. And I still am making some progress in purchasing said pies. Yeah, I don't know about that.

You've been saying that for three years. Oh, it just can't happen. They won't send them. Yeah, well, there you have it. So that's Scotland for now.

We'll go into more detail next week on a game, mark my words. Well, maybe— I don't know, you got your big trip, so we shall see. Oh, I'll be back Monday. True, true, true. So more to come from that, but right now it is actually Celtic and Hearts at the top of the table, Rangers way down there.

No wins. I would.

Yeah, I was shocked. I haven't looked at the actual standings, but I mean, they just don't, they don't appear to be playing as well as what their, their stats are showing. Yeah. I think the table flatters them a little bit. That could be.

But I mean, like I said, when you have this number of draws in the first 4 weeks or so of the campaign. Like you said, teams are getting better.

And I guess it's not unfortunate that we can't have a win or a loss because that's not part of how this works. But, you know, some of the matches that end up being draws are the best ones to watch because there's at least some goal scoring. Yeah, yeah. I think right now Celtic are in a weird spot where even if they win games, it's, it's not ever that interesting to watch. Um, who knows?

I, I, like I said, I hope this win against Kilmarnock kind of is— we turn the page on the first little section of the season, but I guess only time will tell. So more to come from there. Let's, uh, transition now to the English Premier League. Um, sort of the keynote match here for us this past weekend was of course the Manchester Derby, uh, which had a lot of questions surrounding it because both of these teams, uh, some more than others shockingly, have not started the season well. Um, Man City lost their first 2 matches.

United had 4 points through 3 matches. And, um, safe to say the jury was out on both these teams. Yeah. And I can tell you from having watched this one full time, um, this was a much-needed win for Man City. And I don't have a dog in the fight.

I know you're a Man City fan. Um, I, I've yet to choose a team. Uh, maybe Spurs. I just— makes sense to me, but I'll have to take a second look before I buy any kit. But, uh, this felt like a necessary win, um, and you could tell, uh, after this match that there was a little bit of, uh, pressure lift.

From Man, you know, from Man City's performance. Uh, we can get into it, but obviously, uh, Haaland was a big key player in this one and yeah, played like Haaland plays. I don't think that happened in the first few matches of this year. No, it did not. And really, for big stretches of last season, it was not the same Erling Haaland that we've seen in previous campaigns with Man City.

I think Man City were just so out of sorts last year, it was very surprising. I don't think anyone predicted that they would have, let alone lose the title, finish 3rd. Are they under the same management this year as last? Yeah, Pep Guardiola. Yeah, yeah.

And the year before, probably. Yeah, Pep has been there since 2016. Oh well, there you go. Yeah, so he's one of the most tenured— he might be the most tenured in the Premier League now. So news report, Man United are still way down bad.

They still suck. Let's give them a shot here. They took the win against— well, okay. You said Man. I'm sorry.

I'm already confusing Man United, the red team. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, let me, let me look at my notes.

I don't think they, they played with some enthusiasm. It's, it felt like, I mean, especially in the second half. Yeah. Let's just, well, so we can outline this. So in the 18th minute, Doku to Foden or Daku, Doku to Foden.

Phil Foden is a favorite, right? So born and bred. Mancurian. Yeah. Correct.

Nice header. Yeah. So that was an excellent goal. And then basically that was your first half. There was a lot of ticky tack after that, which I was a little disappointed with.

It didn't feel too ticky tack watching it. But just a minute stoppage.

It felt like I have a note here that they got off the gas as soon as they scored that goal. And that to me, I hate that strategy. I know it's, you can probably speak of about it. I hate that. Well, I don't think it's even a, it's, it's not a strategy that Man City employs.

I think Man City still are trying to figure out what they are going to be this season with their system. They've brought in quite a few new players. I think some of these new players have not gotten to the mentality that this is the— first off, this is the Premier League. Second off, this is Man City. It's not about winning 1-0 and— or scoring a goal and then sitting back and we'll just park the bus.

We need 2, 3, 4, 5 goals. We— there's no brake pedal with Man City typically, and you're still seeing the hangover from last year's terrible season for them into this season.

Well, and some of the finest played matches that I've seen, goals will beget goals. So it's a momentum thing, but it just kind of felt like they went flat after. No, they definitely did. I mean, and you know, that was 18th minute. So we, we had a lot of, we had a lot of, of ball to play.

Yeah. Only a couple of chances here and there. And I mean, I think United had a few shots here and there too. They weren't, they didn't lay down.

Necessarily. Um, yeah, the first half was the promising half for Man United. A couple decent chances. Um, Bryan Mbeumo still is looking to be their, their biggest bright spot in the attack. The problem is they get so overloaded in the midfield that they very rarely can actually get their attack in a good position.

Because they're losing the ball so often before it even gets to the attack. And I don't know, frankly, their striker position still seems to be kind of a mess even though they brought in Benjamin Šeško.

Uh, Amorim, their manager, I don't really know how much longer it can persist. Because he talks about how he has a— he has tactics, he has the strategy, this style of play that, that he's not going to move away from. Guys, he's been at Man United since November of last year. In that time, and I'm pretty sure I'm right, he has 8, 8 wins in the Premier League. Yeah, that is, that's not horrible.

It's, yeah, that's not impressive. I mean, a fool will tell you that that's not going to cut the mustard.

Man U, I felt pressed early in the second half. They kind of had a little bit of gas behind them, just as most teams do when they're down by a goal or 2.

And it felt like, again, Man City just kind of hanging around a little bit there.

But then we had a 53rd minute Haaland goal.

He almost scored again a minute later. Really quick. Like I said, these goals kind of make more goals. Um, it feels like anyhow Holland has this tendency to, to not really be involved in a game until he is, if that makes sense. Like, he'll kind of be a ghost for 30 minutes and then he'll just explode onto the scene.

And that's exactly what happened in this one. Uh, great ball supplied by Jeremy Doku. I think he's not going to show up on the goal scoring sheet, but he played a hell of a game on the left side for Man City. Um, supplies that ball into Haaland in the 53rd minute to make it 2-0. That was kind of game, set, match, you could tell.

Um, but like you said, Haaland nearly scores a minute later, and that really would have put the icing on the cake. Luckily, you know, I guess for him, he only had to wait 15 more minutes to score the third, which wrapped up the scoring in this one. There was, yeah, there was a shot by Berbeau in, uh, the 61st minute that was saved, but it was a good, uh, good attempt. Um, and then like you said, after that, uh, 3-0 sends, uh, the other team's fans out the backside. Yeah, yeah.

For this being a derby, I, I, you always hope that it's not going to be so one-sided. I think that second goal especially took a lot of the steam out of this one. Gianluigi Donnarumma, by the way, Man City goalkeeper, new signing from PSG, spent a lot of money on him. Uh, Man City's goalkeeper setup at the beginning of the year was not good. Um, he, like you said, makes that great save on Mberma's shot.

Um, so I think he had a, a fine debut, which did— not to interrupt, did one of these teams have a new, new keeper in waiting, or was that a different match? Um, well, I mean, Man City started a new keeper. Uh, Man United did have— they signed— they just signed a guy who they thought is going to start the next Yeah, yeah, 20 million from, I believe, somewhere in Belgium. So Man United's young. Yeah, very young.

Man United's goalkeeping has been pretty terrible for about 5 years and they still haven't figured it out. So you would hope that that, uh, eventually works out for them. Um, but yeah, uh, it, it does end fairly one-sided. The stats will not tell you that story. 13 shots from Man City to United's 12.

Shots on target, okay, Man City has you beat there, 6-2. Man United have 55% of the ball, more passes, more better pass accuracy, so, and more corners. So while it ends 3-0, some of these stats will tell you that maybe Man United actually not controlled the game, but they had a little bit more control of the game. And if they were just more clinical in front of goal, maybe didn't have some defensive errors— like on the 3rd goal, they were so high up the pitch, their defense, that all Man City had to do is ping a couple passes around them and it was see you later. So they're still just a wreck, you know.

I don't know what their system is. Amorim talks so much about his system that he's not going away from And I watch Man United, and I, I know on this show I guess I'm the, the tactics guy for soccer, but I can't even decipher what the hell they're trying to do. Yeah, more often than not. And let's, let's face it, I mean, at this point neither one of these clubs are, uh, setting the world on fire here. You know, Man City in 16th position and Man United in 11th.

You know, I see Crystal Palace, but did I? I think so. But regardless.

Oh, well, no, Man United's 11th. Unless I'm looking at— Man City are 11th. They have 6 points. Let me— Man United have 4.

Regardless, doesn't matter, but that is, that is the case. Liverpool are top of the table with 12 points. Arsenal sitting second on 9 points. Tottenham Hotspur second place on 9 points. Man United are in 14th on 4 points.

Yeah, so I apparently this just Actually, I just backed out and back, back in and it refreshed. So I'm hearing— I'm seeing the same thing that you are now. Yeah, I don't know what— it might have been a stale, uh, page or something. Not sure. Whatever.

Uh, you were making a point about Crystal Palace before this tirade. Well, it was based on my erroneous— well, yeah, but Crystal Palace still sit 9th. Your point was that there's teams that are traditionally not— yes, near the top. So we have Bournemouth in 4th, for example. Yeah, correct.

9 points. Everton in 6th. Sunderland in fucking 7th place through 4 matches, which no one could have seen coming, which is kind of awful and awesome at the same time. Why would it be awful? Well, I don't know.

I suppose if you're a Man City fan or Man United, a Man United fan, that you're probably not real happy right now. But here's another thing in this, you know, okay, Man City win comprehensively, but generally speaking across the league, there is not— there's one team, Wolves, 4 losses, but the relegation battle is unbelievably wide open right now. So a lot of— okay, the last 2 years have been kind of an anomaly, but it's been a worrying trend that people have predicted is going to continue, where the 3 promoted teams just instantly get shit on and relegated back down. Here we have, admittedly, through only 4 matches, 3 teams who are not newly promoted occupying the relegation zone. Burnley sit— promoted Burnley sitting 17th, but they have a win under their belt and they really should have gotten a point from Liverpool, but a like literally last-minute handball derailed that.

Um, we have Leeds United who have 4 points under their belts, they're newly promoted, and then Sunderland's up in 7th. Meanwhile, Wolves, who have been a mainstay for a while 4 losses. They look dreadful. Aston Villa, a team that made it into European competition and was in the quarterfinals of the Champions League last year, 19th, 2 points. West Ham, 18th, 3 points.

So I, I can't really sit here and tell you with any real clarity who's getting relegated this year, which the last 2 years I could have at least gone 2 for 3 each year. Before the season even started. Yeah, I think obviously we're fairly early here, but, um, I mean, to be a fan of some of these clubs and have them sit where they do now is— that's kind of what it's all about. Uh, I don't know, just looking at the table, like you said, Crystal Palace We're very, we're early, very early. Everton, Bournemouth.

I mean, these teams, we'll see how it plays out and it may, this thing could shift. Yeah. 100%. It will. But it's just right now it's a, if, if you're a follower of this league to see this table is kind of fun.

Yeah, it'll be interesting. So, uh, notable results from last weekend otherwise: Chelsea-Brentford drew 2-2. Tottenham 3-0 winners over West Ham. Hey, let's, uh, let's see, check in on Ange Ball over at Nottingham Forest. Uh, didn't start well, 3-0 loss to Arsenal.

That was sort of a baptism by fire though. Arsenal are damn good. Bournemouth 2-1 winners over Brighton. Um, Crystal Palace 0-0 with Sunderland, and then like I said, Liverpool getting that very late win. They're starting to get into a very serious habit of late winners, which people will tell you, oh, champions win late, but also teams that are under— maybe exceeding expectations in terms of underlying statistics.

What I'm saying is they're not playing that well, but they're kind of lucking in the wins. Um, kind of feels like what Liverpool are doing, but they are perfect so far, so they are certainly your favorites to repeat the title. Coming into this weekend, Liverpool-Everton in the Merseyside Derby. Uh, always one to pay attention to. Your, your kind of box office match is Arsenal-Man City, so it's kind of hard not to say we're not going to talk about that one.

But, um, Man United-Chelsea, that would have been an insane match 10 years ago, but Man United are terrible, so maybe not. But we'll see. But, uh, Arsenal-Man City, definitely your headliner there. So that's the Premier League for now. Do you want to, uh, switch over to the world of racing?

Yeah, sure. Um, where do you want to go first? Let's do IndyCar news. Uh, there's just a little bit to talk about, not a ton of stuff. Uh, and then we can— I mean, Azerbaijan is coming up this weekend.

Um, so yeah. Uh, yeah. News coming out of, uh, the IndyCar series. Um, Team Penske announced, uh, today. Yeah, this morning that it has signed David Maloukas to a multi-year agreement to drive the number 12 Verizon Chevrolet, uh, for the 2026 season and beyond, which not terribly surprised by that.

Uh, I will say this, I'm a fan for 2 reasons. Number one, because you discovered racing the same year that you decided to hitch your wagon to this guy. Yeah, we had a nice experience in the pit lane, uh, 2 to 3 years ago with some of the team members that kind of solidified your Um, fandom, fandom for this particular guy that, uh, strangely enough, I think it was last year, um, David's mother saw you in Gasoline Alley as we were exiting the race and said, nice shirt. Yeah, that was Indy, I guess, this year. Yeah, the most recent Indy.

Um, yeah, that was a very— those are, those are moments that will never— they won't ever leave you. Yeah. And I have moments like that going back 15 to 20 years. Um, one was on practice Saturday. We were in Gasoline Alley and we were standing outside the Foyt pit and they were practicing tire changes.

And one of the tire changers had gotten a little bit too gabby with one of the fans, and AJ emerged from the garage and said, are you going to change tires or bullshit all day? Wow. I mean, and that's the kind of stuff that you just remember forever. And I mean, it was AJ 8 feet away, and the whole, the whole gallery of people just went— they just went nuts. Weirdly, Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things with IndyCar is you get so close.

So it's interesting to hear those stories, and feel free to share more. But what I was going to say is, weirdly, this past 500 kind of not rubbed elbows, but I got close to a lot of figures. Jamie Little from Fox, we were inches away from. Mike Pence We— Governor of Indiana and former fucking Vice President Mike Pence. Yeah, Mike Pence, uh, Donald Trump first go-around, um, was inches away from us.

Um, and then, yeah, the, the, the— I don't even know how the Maloukas family thing even happened because after the race we walked out from our seats into Gasoline Alley with the whole giant crowd. That was when Bailey was for some reason trying to do a speed run of how fast he could get through the crowd. I was like, okay. Anyways, but yeah, that was weird. So I, I've really developed into an IndyCar junkie at this point.

So I, I watch practice sessions, I watch qualifying, and yeah, this is so during the practice sessions, essentially— especially, sorry— is when you— they'll just spew information out, and if you can log it, you start to remember just random shit about IndyCar. But some of the thing is like they'll show drivers' girlfriends or wives or moms or dads. And so I happened to know beforehand what David Malouk's mom and girlfriend looked like. I also follow him on Instagram, and he, he's my age, so he posts a lot. But, um, yeah, that was weird because we walked out of our seats into the crowd, and like you said, yeah, I just— someone just poked me on the back and was like, nice shirt.

And I didn't even look at first. I was like, oh, thanks. And then I looked up and it was just David Malouk's mom. Yeah. And his girlfriend, you have to be prepared.

If he would've said, can I get a picture? She probably would've done it. Um, but some of that speaks to, and this isn't being braggadocious, some of it speaks to the location of the seats that we had. Yeah. In proximity to Gasoline Alley, which if you're out in turn 3 in the stands, which is a fine place to watch the race.

But you're, you're so far removed from that area, that real core area. I mean, we were, we were close to the tunnel to Gasoline Alley. So, I mean, that's what I love about the place is after going, going there for so many years, I know where I want to be. Yeah. And I, I didn't mind those seats at all.

I think I might even try to seek him out again. Um, it's obviously, it'd be nice to be a little higher. Yeah. Um, but at the same time, you have a front row seat. Yeah.

So Malukas Topensky, the least surprising offseason news you'll hear for IndyCar this year. Uh, we'll see how he adjusts. I think it'll, I hope it'll be a home run and I think it will be, but time will tell on that. Uh, the other highlight from IndyCar this week was the release of the 2026 schedule, um, which is from my view looking quite fruitful. Of course, there's always the, the, uh, Negative Nancys of the world who will nitpick it to hell and back, but it's a lot.

More comprehensive than last year. There's no giant breaks in the season anymore. Um, but I'll read the first chunk of IndyCar's official press release. Um, IndyCar has announced an action-packed 17-race schedule, which is the same as last year in terms of number of races, for the 2026 NTT IndyCar Series season, highlighted by multiple new events and several exciting showcases for the stars of racing's most exhilarating and competitive series. This includes a supercharged set of races on 3 consecutive weekends to kick off the season, including new events at Phoenix Raceway and the streets of Arlington.

So the Phoenix one was what I was talking about earlier. It's the doubleheader with NASCAR, which is weird to see those series actually cooperating with each other. Or mostly NASCAR not being douches. Well, that's, that's a Fox. Yeah, I mean, that's, that is, they want to get, they want to get viewers for what will essentially be 9 hours of TV.

Yeah. And then Streets of Arlington is, is essentially Dallas. Uh, that's that promotional, uh, sort of event with the Dallas Cowboys Entertainment Group and Texas Rangers and all that good stuff through the streets of Arlington. So not technically Dallas, but new street event which fills a gap in the calendar that was much needed. Remember folks, the last 2 years it was St. Pete and then a month off, which is not a way you ever want to kick off a season, especially last year on Fox.

When it was a new broadcaster, you're trying to get hype around the series, and, um, you know, you, you can't, you can't maintain interest for a month when there's nothing to watch. That's not how good sporting leagues operate. Imagine if, imagine if the NFL kicked off week 1 and then said, okay, we'll see you in October. That's basically what IndyCar has done the last 3 years because they couldn't find events and dates to fill the beginning of the calendar. So now they have 3 straight weeks of racing to kick off the campaign.

And I think that is a— again, that, that's people behind the scenes at Fox saying the same thing that you just said. We can't kick the season off and then be gone. Yeah. Because it, it, you lose everyone and then people forget. Yeah, you know.

Yep. So, uh, let's see, a massive showcase at Nashville Superspeedway with Fox's telecast of the FIFA World Cup 26 final serving as the historic lead-in. So if you're not privy to television speak, Fox is the the rights holder to the World Cup. The World Cup final, of course, will be on Fox, but the lead-in— meaning if you turn on your TV to the World Cup final, which I would say about 40-ish million people will probably do in June, um, 40— sorry, 40 million or so people will be watching that. And then the next event on TV is going to be an IndyCar race.

Yeah, I mean, it makes— I suppose it makes sense if you think that people are gonna stay tuned in. I mean, if it's allergy season, sorry.

Even if 75% of the people that are watching that game tune out You do realize there's going to be like 10 million people still watching, which they don't even get that for the Indy 500. Yeah. So that's a potential— maybe I'm probably being ambitious, but that is potentially the biggest TV audience that IndyCar has seen in the modern era. So that's huge. Well, that's Fox teeing it up.

That's huge. We— this series has largely been at the behest of whatever network wants to show it, and NBC did a horrible job. And before that, ABC did an even worse job. Wild— Wide World of Sports was the only time you would— you would see, other than the 500, Uh, any IndyCar racing. So we're— we live in, uh, salad days of racing.

This is a golden era where you can have the coverage that you do for free. You know, you can watch everything on Fox from practice to qualifying to the race. It's— it has never been better to be Uh, fan of IndyCar. Um, so yeah, I mean, it, it wasn't too long ago where you, you couldn't, if you were a fan, you had to rely on periodicals or, or paper basically to get your news. But this is, this is fantastic.

I like the schedule the way they have it set up too. Yeah, it's a lot better. No, no huge gaps. I mean, there's a 3-week gap between Barber and Long Beach, March 29th, April 19th, but there's the Indy Open test in between there, so it's not like they're doing nothing for 3 weeks. Uh, final 2 points here: more primetime racing under the lights on ovals at Worldwide Technology Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway.

So 2 oval races under the lights. I think IndyCar needs to race under the lights as much as possible. I wish more of the street road courses had lights because racing under the lights is badass and looks good on TV. Uh, and then finally, a return of the season finale— this is probably the weak point— uh, a return of the season finale in the crowning of the 2026 champion to the renowned WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. So Nashville got booted off final date, but that's okay.

Yeah, generally speaking, this is a pretty damn good schedule, as probably the best they really could have done. So I'm happy, I'm excited. Yeah, I mean, this is such a great series to watch, and it, it gives us sort of an opposite play on other open-wheel racing that we cover. So we will continue to do that.

Um, have we— this Ontario, did you say anything about this Ontario race? That doesn't seem like something, someplace we've been before, is it? No, it's, um, Markham. It's a— it's not in Toronto anymore. It's not the streets of Toronto.

It's still a street race. I— and you know what, no, it's not. It's a road course. But, um, just a different event in the general Toronto area. I don't know any— I'm not like a IndyCar historian necessarily.

I think they have been there before in the past, but it is not the streets of Toronto anymore. And Laguna Seca is one of the most iconic road course racetracks, uh, in the whole world. And we're gonna see some fantastic stuff there because elevation is key at this race. Uh, there's gonna be a lot of action to watch. So they, they've raced there the past at least few years, a long time actually.

Um, it just hasn't been the final race since 2022. Um, Palou won this event, uh, I guess last season now. So, uh, Milwaukee is a doubleheader oval. Iowa's been shipped off the schedule, which is not surprising at all because about 10 people showed up to that race. Terrible.

Um, but yeah, other— I mean, really, I can't even complain about this if I wanted to, so I'm not going to. And I'm— I can't believe it's 110— 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 for 2026. Um, yeah, and then after that, Streets of Detroit, which we'll have to— we're putting a pin in possibly doing a doubleheader. Um, I've— we— you and I have talked about it a few times, but yeah, there's the possibility next year that, uh, we will go to both. Um, I will just have to plan accordingly.

I, here's the weird thing about Detroit is we have to, we're going to have to stay right in Detroit, which at that race weekend might be really hard to do. I don't think so. Yeah. I don't know. It's not, no, it won't.

It won't be. There's, there might be what, 15,000, 20,000 at, it's a street race. So it's not, You can't pack in people, you know. It wouldn't be any worse than if there's a Lions game or something there, you know, like, yeah, maybe. I mean, we have 2 couches at my regional sales office in Wixom, which is, uh, yeah, I'm gonna say let's just stay downtown, but, um, whatever.

All right, well, it comes to worse, so We'll continue the conversation as we go through the winter, uh, talking about the upcoming IndyCar series, because in a few months, uh, that, folks, is all we're going to have to, have to talk about as far as racing goes. Even though F1 goes through strongly through November, yeah, there'll be a few months there where we just have to grab whatever we can to talk about. So, uh, all right, coming up this weekend we are in— it's the Azerbaijan, uh, Grand Prix.

And I don't know if you have any commentary about this particular race.

Uh, street race, usually interesting. The traditionally it was Sergio Perez who would be a beast on this, but obviously he's not in the Surries this year. Um, I'm trying to think of like a street race whiz. Uh, I mean, it's still just gonna be who can beat McLaren. Uh, whether or not Verstappen can build any sort of momentum from his last win at Monza, to be determined.

Um, but yeah, I mean, it's still the McLaren show this year until proven otherwise. This is a very bizarre track. Uh, looking, uh, at the overhead, it looks like a key. Yeah, it's very thin, a lot of turns. I mean, sharp turns.

There's no real There's no real like curve curves. I mean, look at this. These are, that's almost a square. Yeah, no, it's a straight race. It looks kind of a lot like Detroit.

Yeah, true. Except bigger. First GP 2016. Leclerc has the fastest lap. Which doesn't really mean shit, uh, at this point.

But yeah, I, I don't know, uh, I guess we'll have to see how practice and qualifying shakes out. Um, I think we're gonna see a lot of the same. Um, I don't know if you, if you have any commentary about that, but no, I mean, it's like We talked about maybe, I think it was last week, that this season is embedded enough now where you can really start to parse through. We're gonna land— we still have like 8 races. Yeah, but that's— it's not gonna change who wins Constructors.

It's not really— it— there's— it's a two— it's been a two-dog fight in the Drivers Championship since about round 5. Yeah, so that isn't going to change. All we can hope for is some weirdness. Yeah, and I think, you know, I think there will be times— this season has still provided weirdness. We've had Nico Hulkenberg on a podium, we've had Isaac Hadjar on a podium.

So the season's provided weirdness, even if the winners have been, what, you know, relatively the same— the McLarens, Verstappen, I think Russell won one time. So yeah, yeah, it's— we're, we're not going to see a lot of shakeup at the top, and I don't think anyone expects that anymore. But will there be chaos? Will there be weirdness? It kind of is going to be your main focus for the rest of the year.

And, you know, can Norris make this title race— it's interesting, but can he make it really interesting? He needs a couple of good results over his teammate before we can really sit here and go, wow, this is, this is going to be a fight for the ages. But, uh, yes, uh, Azerbaijan, usually an interesting race. I expect it to be again this weekend, so looking forward to it. Yeah.

All right, well, I think we're pretty close, right? Yeah, no, roll the outro. I'm just gonna randomly choose one I have.

I don't care, I just usually do the same one. Yeah, I, I lost it. That's all right.

Oh, there it is.

For executive producer Richard Tanaka, this has been Tackling the Chicane, Studio 2020— 2520, copyright 2025. That would be hard for even a normal person to do. Yeah, it's— I think when the Jameson flows, it becomes harder. Oh well.

All right, this is Tackling the Chicane. We'll see you next time with more racing and soccer.