Autocross Talk Podcast with Kinch Reindl

Mike Leeder is your 2019 D Street national champion. He piloted his 2019 Honda Civic Type R to the victory by over two and a half seconds. Since then he sold the civic and now has a Camaro. That sounds like a big change but he had a Camaro before the civic. You will learn that he doesn't use data and much more about his magical year. www.AutorcrossTalk.com The post Mike Leeder is your 2019 D Street Autocross national champion first appeared on Autocross Talk Podcast with Kinch Reindl.

Craig Wilcox is this episodes featured autocrosser. Craig has 5 SCCA Solo Championships 2006 G-Stock 2008 G-Stock 2010 BSP 2016 STX 2019 SMF 6 ProSolo Championships and he said "Six painful 2nd place finishes for Solo Nationals". On the first take we forgot about the crazy story of his Mini being stolen right before Nationals so we had another call to record that story. Craig is one of the drivers with success in FWD and AWD. And unlike many he has gone back to FWD with a very fast SMF honda. We cover all the typical questions relating to autocross including: The metal side What he actually does physically: looking ahead, walking courses to find the key elements Tuning vs. Driving Slower when overthinking Tight line in the rain He also talks about co-driving and the advantages of it.

Alex Piehl is on Autocross Talk. He did it right for his 10 year anniversary with the SCCA H Street Pro Solo class championship, STH SCCA SOLO National Championship as well as a Triad award. In a normal year he makes 50 to 60 autocross events a year. He brings 6 Sigma thoughts to autocross. For example, he thinks about waste and likes to measure and analyze. He will often walk a course backwards. I really like his comment "Use an excuse to improve". For Nerves - or rather to get rid of them he focuses on what he has to do. I phrased this as "Focus on the plan". He has thoughts about how playing in a touring band relates to autocross. He suggests driving in the wet on the wrong tires and loved the Evo Challenge School. He recommends Vivek's course Beyond Seat Time Listen for these comments as well as other autocross tips and suggestions to improve your autocross racing. His question is would your rather do a dual course ProSolo where one side is 35 seconds long but the other is 15 seconds (Possible Peru ProSolo for 2020) or 3 stale Chicken Nuggets from your favorite fast food restaurant? He created Pittsburgh Autocross to list all the autocross events happening in and around the area (there are a lot and he needed to know where they all were so as he could make 50+ of them each year

David Marcus has is the first Solo Nationals champion to win in an all electric car. David shares his autocross tips and thoughts on this podcast. He won both the BStreet Solo Nationals and Pro Solo class in a Tesla Model 3. He also won the STX SCCA Solo National championship in STX. He started his auto addiction with a Richard Petty Driving Day. Then he tried autocross and track days before dedicateing himself to autocross. He explains how codriving with Darrin DiSimo helped to learn to get on the gas sooner by looking at Data and Video. Fingers crossed that we will be driving his nationals course in 2020. He talks about how he sees slaloms as muscle memory, exits are the most important thing to setup for, you can't fix going to fast into an element and position is more important than speed. He also talks about the metal game of calming down. A point I've not thought of much is how he looks for places where he under drove. He mentions Vivek Goel's course being helpful as well as Andy Hollis's top ten tips to autocross. He also watched videos of everyone who beat him. And his question to the audience is what is your favorite element? Thanks for the emails and comments!

Mark Legg is on Autocross Talk. He is a racing coach for cars as well as bicycle racing. He knows more than a couple of things about professional racing since he was a cyclist as well as a coach for his wife and others. His wife Kate Compton is a 15-time national champion. This episode is focused on how to get the best results by working on you. Your mental game as well as your physical game. You will learn how the fight or flight response is good for strength but not for sports like autocross and car racing. Mark will share tips to help us keep our breathing in check which can keep us out of the fight or flight when enables us to see more and have more fine muscle control. Take a deep breath and keep doing it all the time I really think this knowledge, tips and exercise can help you with your racing. Thanks for your emails and comments! www.AutocrossTalk.com

http://traffic.libsyn.com/autocrosstalk/Mark_Daddio_Autocross_Talk_2020_62.mp3 Mark Daddio is featured on this episode of the show. 12 SCCA Solo National Championships 11 Pro Solo Class Championships 2 Over All Pros Solo Championships Hear Mark Daddio's thoughts on Autocross Coaching and Autocross Tips he uses. I like his moto "just drive" when it comes time for his run. This is a great tip to drive faster when wondering how you can autocross faster. We hear when he started left foot braking and why he likes to do it. He breaks down what the car is doing when skipping the lift between braking and accelerating. You will hear his Autocross mental game to prepare for a run where he goes back through the course mentally until he gets it right. Then when it is time to drive, he says "I Just Drive". When he is racing, he says "I rely on what I'm seeing at the time". I'd phrase this as being in the present moment or being in the zone. Nothing to think about rather just taking the input of seeing the cones. He mentions how when he can’t see the cones he will DNF. We talk about Mazda's Rev It Up which he won back to back. When he asked after the first win if he can compete again and the answer was "Yeah if you can win again more power to you". We talk about him doing endurance karting and how much fun as well as how much of a workout karting is. Pat Salerno rode with him on an Autocross Run and commented: "Your Nuts". You will hear what he has gotten out of Autocross Coaching as well as having co-drivers. Once again, we hear "Lifts have a place" meaning he left foot brakes but also will only lift at times. We hear some about how he sets up Autocross cars which is often the opposite of others. Like Bob Tunnell he will tap the brakes in between slalom cones. He notes he only does this for tight slaloms to put weight on the nose of the car. I asked about his preference for a harness and he said he only uses a seat belt because he needs to be able to move around to see around the A Pillar. He mentions how he learned how important it is to put down power coming out of an Autocross turn (think sweeper and any other place where we get to accelerate). We touch on road racing. And briefly we talk about using video and data as it relates to him Autocrossing, I say briefly because he doesn’t use them. And we talk about competing at a high level at Autocross and age. How much time is needed to prep a car to win at Solo Nationals as well as the seat time. He also talks about tires and how they feel at Lincoln Airpark when it is hot and when it is not. And we talk about splitting the Run Days at SCCA Solo Nationals...

Glen The Hurricane Hernandez is on Autocross Talk 20 Plus National Trophies ProSolo Championships It was great to catch up with Glen to hear about how he got into cars, his stories and thoughts on racing. You will hear how he got started autocrossing. A lot of you will be looking for a job at Boeing. And some of you will have advice for "Autocross Mecca" when it comes to where would you want to live for great autocrossing. Thanks for your emails and ideas! If you want a TShirt you can get Autcross Talk TShirts on Amazon. www.AutocrossTalk.com to contact me and to find all the previous shows and show notes.

Adam Benaway SCCA Autocross National Champion talks racing with us on this show. Adam is the only champion so far in the 2 year old Solo Spec Coupe class. That is 2 national championship in 2 years. He has been blazing fast each year. You will get to hear his thoughts on how his military training help him plan for and execute at Nationals. You will hear how vehicles influenced his choice of Scout for the Military. You can't miss the "Racing For Heros" stickers on his car. We chat about how this charity helps veterans and how you can help the charity. https://www.racingforheroes.org/ on Facebook @racingforheros You will hear about his good friend and fellow fast autocrosser John Wolf who he met in the Military. Lots of Racing tips and thoughts in this episode along with some stories to get to know him better. We also talk: ChampCar, Line Choice, Plan A and Plan B, mental game, rallycross, course walking as well.... We even talk Sri Lanka racing which looks like a lot of fun! I had not thought about his thought of keeping a slight bit of load on the car at as much as possible even if only 10% throttle.

Jennifer takes this podcast where this podcast has not been before....Horse talk and comic book store talk.  The horses we had in common. Her comic book store is www.AtomicEmpire.com We talk a lot about Autocross as well! As usual I think you will learn some new racing tips and ideas to try at your next autocross to drive faster/better. I mentioned Autocross Talk T Shirts now being available on Amazon and they are even Prime.  As of early August we have not uploaded the new designs but they are almost finalized. Check out our facebook page and you can send me notes and comments on via this website as well. Thanks for listening!

This show features Dennis Sparks and Jordan Towns. Learn what drives them and their journey to championships, Pro Solo Challenge wins and Fletcher Cup wins. "Anything worth doing is worth trying to be the absolute best at" Jordan Towns. "You want to go faster drive with someone faster with data" Dennis Sparks You will hear about codriving - Hint if your car isn't setup and you can drive someone's who is then you can really see how your driving style measures up. Hear how they look at data to get faster and what they are working on now which is the transition between elements. You will hear "The Best Story Ever" - Jordan's first Pro Solo Since 2012 they have been doing 9 plus national races each year. You'll hear about the benefits of fast codrivers. For video once again you will hear that it is best to see the drivers hands to see how much input and when the inputs on the steering wheel are being made. And you will hear about the WRXs they have been driving and winning in. Question Dennis - where will the SCCA go with Spec Class(es) - will SSC be the only one or is it only the first one? Question Jordan - what are you thoughts on how to increase the participation of women in autocross?

Thomas Thompson is on Autocross Talk he runs the site Autocross News Netwrok NAXN.org and you can find them on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/autoxnews/ They are always looking for contributors who would like to write about autocross! He shares his stories and insights ranging from XP to STF. He would live to hear what you would like more of on his site NAXN.org - and would you like to contribute some stories?? Autocross STF Audi TT Thomas Thompson Thomas Thompson and Friends Thomas Thompson Autocross Cars Thomas Thompson Autocrosser of NAXN.org Thomas Thompson C7 Corvette Thomas Thompson Corvette Thomas Thompson and Dad    

Marchell Fletcher joins us for this podcast.  A 5 time Solo National Champion. And if her name sounds familiar its because the “Fletcher Cup” is named in her honor. We cover topic from ice racing, mental blocks, Bio feedback devices and differences in coaching women vs. men. And like Jeremy Foley her question is should we have more runs at nationals?  Here is some background: Five time SCCA Solo National Champion Porsche Club of America National Champion SCCA Spec Miata Class: 1999-2006, Regional Road Races.  2nd and 3rd place ?nishes. Professional Driving Instructor Racing History: 2002- 2006    SCCA Club Racing, Colorado  Region Top 10 – Spec Miata 1989 – 2000   Five SCCA Solo II National Championships: ‘89, ‘94, ‘95, ‘99, ‘00 1998   Porsche Club  National Champion 1989   SCCA Rocky Mountain “Driver of the Year” 1982 – Present   SCCA Solo II  Competitor Driving Occupation & Teaching Experience: 2005 – 2013   Toyota Driving Expectations, Teen Driving Program Instructor- Danny McKeever’s Fast Lane Driving School, Willow Springs, CA 2006 CART Hot Lap Pace Car Driver at Denver Grand Prix and Mustang VIP autocross 2002 – 2004 Drivers  Edge, Bridgestone Teen Driving Program Instructor 2000 – 2001 Driving instructor, Audi Quattro Challenge client appreciation program 1998 – 2008  Driving Instructor, Skip Barber Racing School, Corporate Programs 1998-  present Porsche Club of America Driving Instructor 1988 – 2016             Instructor for the SCCA, local and regional schools

Jeremy Foley is your SCCA Autocross B Street National Champion. This was an entertaining and enlightening podcast with Jeremy. After listening to this I bet you will be working on your plan for yourself as well finding a way to test, test and test some more……  I know I am! He covers a lot from autocross coaching, video and data analysis to codriving, and thanks his codriver Kerry Emmert.  Kerry owns the beautiful 1M “unicorn”. His question for the audience, shows how he thinks outside, he asks if you think we should get more than 3 runs at SCCA Solo Nationals. If we added two extra days I could see that being possible (that would also help us get all our runs in the daylight or more racers). Thanks for listening and thanks for the emails and feed back! As of now the Autocross Talk “Party” T Shirts are available on Amazon (Buying them helps suppor the show – Thanks!)  

This is part 1of Jeff Kiesel’s interview. With the final question for you – Star Wars or Star Trek?? I actually used his advice of make a change if you feel like it at Nationals here in 2018 on day one when after the first run I needed some rear grip so I added toe in between runs two and three. Jeff has won a lot as evidence he has the longest Streak of SCCA Solo National Championships for Men with 12 autocross wins. What stand out to me is how much family matters to him and how much of a family sport autocross is for him. (And as of 2018 his family has the most SCCA Solo National Championships.) If you are hoping to buy the bug eye listen to find out more…(or do we talk about that I part 2?)  Listen in for his autocross insights, tips and a few stories! Some of Jeff’s Autocross Accomplishments: 1st – Longest Consecutive-Years Winning Streak, Men – 12 years (2006-17) 1st – Longest Personal Event Win Streak, Men – 12 years (2006-16) 1st – Most Family Championships – 25 (Jeff 12, Shawn 11, Zak 2) 5th – Most Championships, Men – 12 5th – Widest Margin of Victory, open class 21-30 cars – 4.726-sec, EM 2010 6th – Widest Margin of Victory, open class 11-20 cars – 6.048-sec, EM 2013 Jeff’s company has been giving away Guitars for several years now to the top PAX winners as well as Pro Solo Overall Champions. I had no clue how custom Kiesel Guitars can be.  See them at .com/ You can contact me at www.AutocrossTalk.com or on our Facebook Page.  I like input and feed back!! Thanks for listening and saying Hi! Kinch

This is part 1of Jeff Kiesel’s interview. Jeff has won a lot as evidence he has the longest Streak of SCCA Solo National Championships for Men with 12 autocross wins. What stand out to me is how much family matters to him and how much of a family sport autocross is for him. (And as of 2018 his family has the most SCCA Solo National Championships.) If you are hoping to buy the bug eye listen to find out more…(or do we talk about that I part 2?)  Listen in for his autocross insights, tips and a few stories! Some of Jeff’s Autocross Accomplishments: 1st – Longest Consecutive-Years Winning Streak, Men – 12 years (2006-17) 1st – Longest Personal Event Win Streak, Men – 12 years (2006-16) 1st – Most Family Championships – 25 (Jeff 12, Shawn 11, Zak 2) 5th – Most Championships, Men – 12 5th – Widest Margin of Victory, open class 21-30 cars – 4.726-sec, EM 2010 6th – Widest Margin of Victory, open class 11-20 cars – 6.048-sec, EM 2013 Jeff’s company has been giving away Guitars for several years now to the top PAX winners as well as Pro Solo Overall Champions. I had no clue how custom Kiesel Guitars can be.  See them at .com/ You can contact me at www.AutocrossTalk.com or on our Facebook Page.  I like input and feed back!! Thanks for listening and saying Hi! Kinch

Cindy Duncan is a SCCA Solo National Autocross Champion and Driver of the Year winner. She describes Autocross people as her people. Listen in to hear her story.  I am still thinking about Sam’s tip to run more gas for her Mustang (A good experiment although a heavy one She is very involved with her club. Visit our Facebook Page to share your comments!

Most of you know Randy Pobst the World Champion Pro Racer with over 60 wins but did you know he started autocrossing at the age of 19. He has Solo National and Pro Solo championships. And you see his article every month in Sports Car Magazine. This interview is before his return to solo nationals (a 30 year break to give us some time to practice) where he will be driving a 1977 VW Rabbit yet again this time in FSP. Listen in and hear great stories -he remembers it all- as well as great insights and tips. I really think I know a lot more about shocks and weight transfer after his explanation. And can you answer his question(s) – Visit our Facebook page to interact. I forgot to ask him if he has raced in the Rolex 24….If not I hear he would like to so please connect him www.RandyPobst.com and Follow him on Instagram, Watch him on YouTube. www.AutocrossTalk.com

Rachael Baker is this weeks guest. She has championships in SMFO in 2014 and ASL in 2016. She brings speed color and smiles with her to Autocrosses and some of that color in the form of hats and dresses. She is the first flutist that I know of on the show She is currently competing in the street and her Porsche Cayman S. Learn how many miles you put on her bike in a season, which car she does not want to talk about and much much more and this autocross talk podcast. Suggestions or comments? Please message me from this site or visit our Facebook page: AutocrossTalk on facebook Rachel Baker and Perry Bennett Rachel Baker’s Porsche Cayman S

Kevin Dietz is this weeks guest and he just won the Super Challenge in Arkansas (after we recorded this podcast). Learn about how Autocross has become more than just competition for Kevin, its become part of his family! Kevin’s award include Roger Johnson Spirit of the Sport Award, 2007 2006 CS Autocross National Championship in a Pontiac Solstice He has won 16 trophies at Solo Nationals. Kevin shares his journey of autocross and shares about his business Jim’s Detail Shop.

Larry MacLeod is this shows guest. He is your 2017 KM ProSolo National Champion in Autocross. This was a fun call with Larry MacLeod also known as Lefty (catch that funny story toward the end). He has been autocrossing a Kart for a long time and driving them fast (Lots of National Trophies).  He did start in a car like most of us. He covers at lot of tips for karts including: Practice shifting at a track If it’s quiet down shift, lout upshift Jetting Logging events (temp, altitude…) Physical Aspect As well as his metal game, prosolo thoughts, course walks etc Connect with us on Facebook and on the website www.AutocrossTalk.com Let me know who you would like to hear from and what questions you would ask.