Behind The Scenes at IndyCar with Racing Legends Jimmie Johnson, Josef Newgarden, & Mario Andretti

Stop, guys. Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood. The 2021 IndyCar series championship comes down to this race right here. It's the Grand Prix of Long Beach and we are bringing you all the exclusive behind the scenes action. So Joseph, you and I have been speaking at Long Beach for almost a decade now.

I like this habit. It's good. I love being here, you know. Season finale at Long Beach is music to my ears.

You have a lot of wins under your belt. This will be number three if you get the title. The other two guys who are in the running with you haven't won yet. You wanna pass it on or no, you want three?

Well, the other two are very much Young Hollywood, especially Pato. He's like Mr. LA. He's always out here. So you know, if we're going off that standard, he probably deserves it more. But we're in this fight, you know. We still have an opportunity. It would take a miracle to somehow win this championship, like an absolute miracle. Um, so you know, I can't give up hope because those things can happen. But it's gonna take an awful lot. We're in the fight though and um, you know, if it could happen here at Long Beach that would be pretty special. Regardless of who wins the championship, I think they're all, you know, very impressive individuals, Alex Pulo, Pato Award, like they're very deserving young guys. I think they they would be worthy champions. They both had incredible seasons. Obviously, I wanna win it for us. Winning a third championship would be, would be great. It would mean we could notch that and then figure out how to win the fourth. If we don't, then we'll have to start from zero next year, you know. And that's that's kind of how it goes. You hope every year to be in this fight but those two are some of the best out there, so I'm just glad to be in their company.

Since you and I have spoken a couple of years ago, pre-COVID, you've gotten married. Your husband now, how is married life?

No different. Um, which I think is a good thing. You know, Miss Ashley. My wife, Ashley, she's a rockstar. We've been together a long time. We were together probably seven years before we got married, so nothing really changed in our world. Still travel a lot, still do this crazy thing with IndyCar racing. But yeah, life's been good. We got a dog. Um, you know, maybe have a family one day. And uh, just loving life. We're living in Nashville now, which is a cool spot. A lot of Californians moving out to our area. But yeah, nothing, nothing new to report. We've just been having a ball, uh, you know, racing cars and and living life together and hopefully it continues for many more years.

Your wife, now Ashley, used to be Cinderella at Disneyland. Is that right, or Disney World?

Um, she was never Cinderella, but she she definitely was friends with Ariel. She was friends with Snow White.

Which character did she play? Which character did she play?

Well, I think, you know, we like to say that she was friends, very good friends with uh, with Bell and Ariel and Snow White.

Oh. She was a princess though.

Exactly. Exactly. That's the friendship, you know, that they had.

So you literally married a princess.

She is my princess, yeah.

That's how you met, right? You saw her as a princess and fell in love?

Yeah. She I I don't know how I couldn't. She was uh, she was such an angelic woman. I was like, who is this lady? I gotta know who this is. And um, we we got to spend a lot of time together in Tokyo when she moved over there. She was working for Disneyland in in Tokyo.

Wow.

Um, and that was kind of our story. So we've just yeah, we've had a blast together. It's been a, you know, been the time of our lives, really has.

Did you see her on a float?

Nope. Didn't see her on a float. I saw her she um, I was at dinner table and she came dancing out. I'm like, who is this?

Dressed in her princess gear?

Yeah. Full deal. Full deal. So, um, it was captivating, to say the least.

I love this story. I never heard it from you. You're blushing, by the way.

Well, that's my wife does that to me, you know. She makes me nervous, even to this day.

Okay, you tell me enough about your love story, all that mushy stuff, that's fantastic. It's race time. You got the cars back here. Let's go to work.

Yeah. Hey, this is my ride, number two car with Itachi. Okay. It's my machine. I hope you guys cheer me on. It's beautiful, it's fast normally. Um, check out the race. I hope you enjoy it. Hopefully we win.

Jimmy Johnson, what are you doing at IndyCar? I've interviewed you for years with NASCAR. Seven-time champion. And now you're a rookie with IndyCar. A 46-year-old rookie.

I know. This is crazy.

Crazy.

This was the dream when I was younger and I'm just so fortunate to have this opportunity now at this stage of life. Um, I'm having a great time with my Chip Ganassi racing team, support from Carvana. I'm at the track that kinda inspired me when I was a teenager and this time I'm inside the fence, so I'm very excited about that.

You are a SoCal native and yes, here you are, Shoreline Drive on the on the road yourself.

I know. Dream come true. Total dream come true. Um, it's it's wild. I'm having flashbacks. Honestly, it was like mid-90s when I was here as a spectator and a fan and trying to chase my racing dream and to be here 25 years later, uh, whatever it really is, is just crazy to me and those memories are running through my mind and um, it's just great. I feel very fortunate to have like my dream happen twice basically.

And it is, and and that's the sound that sticks with you and now you get to actually live it. Who were you looking to see back then?

Sure, back then it was Rick Mears, it was Allan Jr. , Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti. And I'll never forget walking across the pedestrian bridge and to your point, hear the cars going by and just unique sounds that they make and you can just sense the speed as they go flying by. It's really cool. Total new street race. Street and road, which is 12 races versus my 38 that I've had in the past. And then I'm racing in a in a series called Empsa, there's four more there. Um, so I feel like I've had a great work life, uh, balance that that I've not had in really my professional career.

And not only are you here, you're here just after your birthday.

That's right.

Happy birthday.

Thank you. 46.

It's crazy. You don't look a day older, a day past 36.

I appreciate it. I think shaving the beard and shaving the gray off has been helpful and it's it's been like a time machine of short sorts for me, but um, you know, they say you're only as old as you act and I'm definitely younger than uh, younger than 46.

How did you celebrate your birthday?

I celebrated my birthday I got lucky 'cause I had a few days at home with the kids before I traveled out. And our big ritual is to eat a lot of ice cream, so we we did that. Hope you guys are ice cream fans. And then since I've been out here for two weeks because of our West Coast swing, I've seen many friends and of course the team and all that, so I feel like I've had two weeks of celebrating my birthday and you're nice enough to bring it up again, so thank you.

Of course. What was the best gift you got so far or are they still coming?

I didn't, well, I actually got a couple of really nice bottles of bourbon, which, you know, is is uh, very appreciated. But the the moments with my kids and and we we have a thing where we go buy the biggest ice cream cake in the in the store. Yeah. And then sit down with forks and try to eat as much as we can. And it drives my wife crazy, but myself and my daughters, we think it's the best idea in the world.

Wait, I have to ask, where's it from and what flavor? And have you ever finished it?

We have not finished it. Um, Ben and Jerry's is right down the street from our house, so we go get one of their cakes. And it changes. They usually pick. They're big fans of chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough. Um, but it depends on what's, you know, what's on the rack and what's available. So we've been all over the place.

Now, that's a cheat day for you obviously, 'cause look how good of a shape you're in.

Oh, thank you. These cars, these cars are really physical, demand a lot out of you, so I it allows me to eat a little more ice cream than my NASCAR days.

Okay, so we're here for a day in the life of Jimmy Johnson. You just got out of a meeting and you're talking to us, which is awesome and where are you going from here?

Yeah, I've finished up a bunch of press this morning, had a couple of meetings. Um, now it's time to jump on the scooter, which is new for me as well. We didn't have that in NASCAR. And scoot over to our little village that's built for Chip Ganassi racing and get into the competition side. So we have practice coming up later today, but a bunch of prep meetings, trying to understand what our strategy is for today.

Um, a driver's meeting that will take place and practice and after practice have to weigh in and then we have another engineering meeting after practice is over to share our kind of learnings as a group so that we're better prepared for tomorrow's practice. It's been a little everywhere, but what I what I've learned the most is that um, I liked a challenge. And and I'm not where I want to be in performance right now, but I'm really, really genuinely enjoying this challenge and getting better every day.

Well, we're gonna follow you to your next journey. That sounds great. Let's go.

Okay, let's do it.

Okay. Okay, you have a driver's meeting in two minutes. Where did we just come to?

This is our village where we work. We have six semis that are linked together and all the parts, pieces, smart people, uh, computers, all the technology is inside. This stall behind me is where my car comes back to after we're on track and gets repaired and fixed. Um, so this this is home base for us and where where we spend most of our time.

Now, what goes through your head when you're in an IndyCar now? Is it the same mindset as NASCAR or you gotta think differently?

I'm trying to get to that similar spot, you know, and kind of forget the habits and trends that I had in the past in NASCAR and and and make the these new habits and trends kinda the common common mindset for me in IndyCar. And it's coming along slowly. Um, I thought I was gonna start the season a little more competitive, but I'm just now getting getting in the mix and really competitive.

Well, as a rookie, what advice have you been given?

Um, you know, I've been a rookie many times over my career in different cars and series. So it's interesting that that's I've learned an approach that's worked through the years and I just keep reapplying that and um, you know, I'm having decent success with it.

And best advice to pass on to those after you?

Work hard. Hard hard work's always noticed.

Well, then go do your hard work.

Absolutely. Thank you.

There you go. Of course. Mr. Mario Andretti, I love seeing you at this race.

Oh, wow. What a compliment. Thank you.

Of course. You know how much I enjoy coming here? You know, I was here at the very first race, right from the beginning. Well, you are a four-time IndyCar champion, but that almost pales in comparison to your title of being pretty much the greatest race car driver ever. The only driver to win the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, Formula One title. You wear that crown proudly, I hope.

Oh, I'm I count my blessings every day, but honestly, um, I had a long career whereby I could go after my most ambitious goals. And um, ambition I had plenty of. And uh, in fact, I still do but uh, at the same time, uh, the sport satisfied me at the level that I could have never dreamt, you know. So, and that's only because I was very lucky.

So I just spoke with another legend who's also a rookie in IndyCar now, Mr. Jimmy Johnson. I love the fact that you two are now together. Who would have thunk it?

Uh, it's so awesome that uh, with everything he accomplished in NASCAR. I mean, that's as good as you could ever be. And then, you know, I think he felt that he did everything he needed to do there. He's still young enough to satisfy some of his whims if you will and uh, he's got a bucket list to satisfy and coming over. And it's a wonderful thing for the series. It's a wonderful thing for the sport in general. It's quite a bit of adaptation between because he he pretty much uh, specialized in NASCAR, you know, for his entire career and this is a big, big swing, you know, to try to go back and forth to a this different animal. So, uh, but he's he's taking his time. He's doing his thing. He's doing it prudently, but at the same time, he's not here to just race, he's here to be competitive and I think by next year, you're gonna see that he's gonna be a force to be reckoned with.

Now, you mentioned bucket list. The last time we spoke, after I did a two-seater, which I am not doing again, I've done it twice, I'm done. Best experience of my life both times. We're doing the two-seater again with Mario Andretti! Woo! I'm getting excited. We did this a couple of years ago. I trusted you. I'm in. I'm so strapped in. I feel safe. Here we go. We're going. We're going. We're going. I said I wasn't gonna do this again, but I'm here. It's Mario. The gas, the cars, the energy. It's all good. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! We talked about your bucket list. Parachute. You know, which I did a couple years ago. Now, that I need to do a solo. That's the only bucket list that I have, but I hope the bucket has a hole in it. What is still on your bucket list now?

Well, uh, right now, I I'd like to to do a even a brief test in a current Formula One car. And I might get that opportunity with McLaren.

It's fun to be here. It's just fun to be here right now. We're in the Andretti Hospitality Suite. You got a nice spread of food in there, drinks, very inviting, very welcoming. It's not just a race weekend, this is an event. These guys are incredible. No matter whether it's a street circuit, a road course, a super speedway or a small oval. It's fantastic. Out of the hairpin for the final time. Colton Herta will have the last say of 2021. Herta wins the race for the first time at Long Beach. right into the wall. So, I mean, they can get up there really, really quick. These guys are incredibly talented with these trucks. Don't think that they aren't. They certainly entertain well because they are absolutely. You take a look at the resume. They are absolutely, they're good at this. When I realized what I'm talking about is that um, when I was out of the cockpit, was one of the races back in the early 2000s. My son actually won that race in 2003, I think. And uh, I had to leave early and I'm coming through the, the race was going on. It was elbow to elbow. People just walking around with no idea what was going on out on the track but wanting to be here. And I said, that's what this is. Yes. People just wanna be part of this event. Yes. And uh, enjoy the racing whatever they have if possible, but they just want to be here.