All Hail Dan and Uncle Bobby — (Gurney Flap, 1971)

It's Not the Car

“You jerk,” they’ll shout, “that show title isn’t relatable! Only the die-hards will understand! For pete’s sake, man, think of the traffic analytics!”

Who cares? I am Sam and I write these ep descriptions, and that title makes me happy. If you don’t like it, hey, you probably aren’t the kind of person to listen to a show about a “flap,” anyway.

And: This is a show about a flap! It’s also about two of the greatest American racers to have ever lived. The moment where two men of experience and wisdom grew frustrated. And how they stumbled onto an invention that changed aerodynamics forever.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history. In this case, the time when Dan Gurney and Bobby Unser used an Indy car to discover something that would later be used to help helicopters fly.

Related Trivia: Ross can fly a helicopter. Sam once rode in a Robinson R22. Jeff is a private pilot and about 1000 times cooler than Sam and Ross combined, so he probably taught his sons to autorotate in the womb or something. (I don’t know, I’ve never asked, but you do the math, the guy is basically our Fonzie, right?)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

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⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

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ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.