
How Pro Race Cars Blow Up!
From It's Not the Car by Sam Smith, Ross Bentley, Jeff Braun
March 17, 2026 · 57 min · Season 3 · Episode 102
About this episode
Jeff Braun shares humorous and insightful stories about how race cars break down.
The short answer? Use, abuse, and every way but loose. (But sometimes also loose.) This podshow has three hosts. One of them, Jeff Braun, has won Sebring, Daytona, and multiple sports-car championships. From Indy to Le Mans and beyond, Jeff has seen race cars fail in strange and funny ways. And when you ask Jeff to dish the goods, he dishes goods. (For the record, we love asking.) This show changes format weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “JEFF TELLS A STORY.” *** IN THIS EP: How *do* race cars break? Well, Timmy, when an irresistible force and an immovable object love each other very much, they come together in a special hug! A short while later, the world is gifted a new life, and that life is very often a large and expensive heap of metal and composite smooshed into a delightful new shape. This shape usually resembles the sort of thing your dog might leave on the sidewalk after a particularly large meal. Isn’t the miracle of birth exciting? *** This episode was produced by Sam Smith. Thanks, as always, to our friends at BFGoodrich for supporting the show! ** Who We Are + Spicy Merch: www.ItsNotTheCar.com ** Support It’s Not the Car…
People in this episode
Hosts: Sam Smith, Ross Bentley, Jeff Braun
Topics covered
- race cars
- car failures
- storytelling
- motorsports
- car engineering
Keywords
- race cars
- car breakdown
- motorsports
- Jeff Braun
- car engineering
Sponsors
BFGoodrich
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- Getting Used to Big Power · May 27, 2026 · 46 min
- "Don't Drive It, You're Going to Die" · May 12, 2026 · 60 min
- What the Hell is Going on With Formula 1? · April 28, 2026 · 51 min
- Saying No to a $20 Million Porsche · April 16, 2026 · 54 min
- Jeff and the Glorious Mazda Fail-Diesels · March 31, 2026 · 48 min
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