Dan The Road Trip Guy
Join Dan the Road Trip Guy as he explores the adventures, memories, and life lessons of diverse guests from all walks of life. This podcast goes beyond the road to celebrate the journey of life by uncovering stories of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of happiness. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or simply love a good story, Dan the Road Trip Guy will leave you inspired and ready to embrace your own adventures. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
I hope you enjoy the episodes. You can find me at https://www.dannyneal.com.
Dan The Road Trip Guy
Life in the Fast Lane with Stingray Robb
Get in Touch with Dan by Texting Now
Rev up your engines and join us for an electrifying chat with IndyCar sensation Stingray Robb, who races from Idaho's quiet roads to the tracks of IndyCar Racing. Stingray opens up about his incredible journey as a sophomore IndyCar driver, leading the prestigious Indianapolis 500 for 23 thrilling laps, and capturing a career-high at the Bomberito 500. Beyond the track, Stingray shares the quirky and delightful story of meeting his fiancée, Molly, in a city where he initially knew no one, and how their relationship blossomed from a funny case of mistaken identity to planning a November wedding. His love for road trips and outdoor adventures shines through as he reflects on the invaluable lessons racing has taught him.
Get an insider's perspective on the adrenaline-pumping world of IndyCar with tales of high-speed races and heart-stopping moments. Tune in as Stingray relives the intensity of a jaw-dropping crash at Iowa, where faith, car safety advancements, and a dedicated safety team guided him through a 109 G impact. Hear about the unexpected compliment from racing legend AJ Foyt, the strategic complexities of race day, and the camaraderie that defines the IndyCar community. This episode captures the essence of the racing world where resilience meets gratitude, and the true spirit of competition and survival shines.
Be sure to follow Stingray on the social media platforms at StingRayRobb on Instagram and Facebook. You can find out more about him and his racing at https://www.stingrayrobb.com
Absolutely nothing beats windshield time, a road trip and good conversation in the car. Welcome to another episode of Dan the Road Trip Guy, where we have entertaining conversations about cars and road trips, life lessons and maybe, every now and then, a little advice. I'm your host, dan Neal Road Trip Extraordinaire, and now buckle. Now and then, a little advice. I'm your host, dan Neal Road Trip Extraordinaire, and now buckle up and enjoy the show.
Speaker 1:My guest today has been kind enough to come on my show each year since its founding in 2022, and I'm really thankful for that. My guest today is Stingray Robb. He's an IndyCar racer. He just finished his second year. I'm excited to have him back for this third drive on Dan the Road Trip Guy. This year, stingray led the Indianapolis 500 for 23 laps, the third highest of any of the 33 cars. He's also engaged to be married next month. He shared with me On this episode. We'll talk about his fiancee leading the 500, finishing a career height at the Bomberito 500. We'll also talk about a race where he had a horrific accident on the last lap in Iowa and he ended up upside down. We'll talk about those few seconds and what went through his mind. I know you'll enjoy our conversation. Stingray's a fine young man and I always enjoy talking to him. Welcome to the show, stingray, thank you. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, it's an honor to have you back. This is our third little virtual road trip together. Maybe someday we'll ride in the car for real.
Speaker 2:That sounds good, or we'll probably have to take your car. Mine's just a one-seater.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, we'll do that For my listeners who don't know who you are, and I'll point them back to our first ever episode back in 2022, who is Stingray Rob?
Speaker 2:Well, that's a great question. I'm figuring that out as I go. The basics of it I was a kid born and raised into the love of family that loved Corvettes, so racing was in my blood and therefore they passed their passion on to me through my name. Here I am, 23 years later an IndyCar driver. I just finished up my sophomore season here. I moved from Idaho to Indianapolis to chase my dreams of being an IndyCar driver back in 2022. And that was when I was in the category right below the IndyCar level. I'm an outdoorsman. I like being from Idaho, being out in the mountains, snow skiing, hiking, fishing, hunting, doing all those things. Road tripping was a big part of my life. Coming up through the ranks, being on the road, a lot go-karting and spending 42 weekends a year on the road was fun, but it was tough. I learned a lot through it. Now I'm an engaged man looking to get married here in November, which is exciting.
Speaker 1:I'll be a husband here soon. Well, man looking to get married here in November, which is exciting. So I'll be a husband here soon. Well, congratulations on that. And that was going to be my first question Before we jump into racing. You had some exciting news this year. You asked a young lady to marry you, and now I know you're getting married in November. Tell me, how'd you all meet?
Speaker 2:Well, that's a great question. It's kind of funny. I was a creepy neighbor. That's a short story, but the longer story is that my roommate and I moved from Idaho to Indianapolis in April of 2022. And we didn't have any community here. I mean, we moved here because of racing and he was going to work at the shop and I was going to the shop to work with engineers, but outside of that we didn't have any real close friends or family in the area. So any chance we could, we would meet people real close friends or family in the area. So any chance we could, we would meet people.
Speaker 2:And one day we were walking out of our apartment and two doors down we saw this group of young girls walk out. It was my now fiance and her roommates and one of their friends heading away from us, heading to a concert. We later found out, but we said friends, finally someone our age that we can hang out with. We didn't say hello right away, but we'd walk past their apartment almost every day, going to the grocery store, going out, hanging out in the park, whatever else we liked being outside. Naturally, we would observe to see if we could find them. At some point we noticed walking by their apartment when the blinds are open it was in the evening you can see them milling around in there making dinner, whatever. And then they were closed. The blinds were closed during the day. So we just assumed, okay, they're not home when the blinds are closed.
Speaker 2:And so one day we're heading back from the grocery store and we saw the blinds were open. We're like you know what? Let's stop and say hello. So we knock on the door. No one answers. We're like the blinds are open, we know. So we knock louder and Molly, my fiance she wasn't my fiance at the time, clearly, but she comes to the door and opens it up and there's these two creepy dudes standing on her front porch and we introduce ourselves with a fake name Stingray from Idaho. So you have two serial murderers standing on your front porch that have made up this story to get into your apartment Not the first meeting that you'd like to have with someone that you want to be your friend.
Speaker 2:And so we kind of went on our way, whatever. And we actually had a mutual friend that was on the opposite side of our apartment. They kind of reintroduced us. It was a young couple that you know. We both the groups of us had grown to be friends with and so they gave us the green flag. And after that, I mean, it was like every night we were making dinner together. I think the day after we really met for the second time the better of the two times we were going to like the Children's Museum here in Indianapolis. You know, we were just doing life together.
Speaker 2:So we kind of inserted ourselves into her friend group right away. And then, you know, I got to see who she was kind of over time and that friendship grew. And then pretty soon, you know, eight months later, I put my head together and I'm like you know what? This is? A pretty nice girl and I like who she is, I know what she's about, I know what she's chasing after, so I'm going to ask her out. And here we are, not too long after looking to get married. So pretty cool, good for you Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:I've been married for 42 years and it's been great.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:We grew up four miles apart. Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I think that's good to be friends. It's a great way to start a relationship is to understand who they are, without that infatuation period of dating and the mess of all that. For sure it's a good way to be.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Well, let's jump to some racing, because you are a race car driver, that's what we're going to talk about. I like it, but you said this is your sophomore season. Last year you raced with a veteran race team in Del Coyne. This year you moved to the iconic AJ Foyt racing team. Tell me about that experience. What was that? Like man, it was great.
Speaker 2:There was a lot to learn this year. I kind of described it to many people as my second rookie season, just because IndyCar is tough these days it's very competitive. I'm racing against guys that have been winning races since I was born Absolutely on the team. So we still had the iconic name to kind of lean on. But there's a lot of experience that walked in the door during the off season that they didn't have in previous years, which made it kind of a transitional year, I guess you would call it, because a lot of engineers that left and then came in and so we were kind of learning how to communicate, how to build the systems. Who do we need to lean on through the first part of the season. Then we kind of hit our stride during the month of May and obviously that's a good time to do it Going into the Indy 500 and you know we led 23 laps.
Speaker 2:There was a third, most of anyone on the day and you know I think that at some point AJ leaned over on the radio and said this kid might win it. That was a pretty cool compliment to hear from the legend himself. But yeah, definitely a really cool thing to be in a Chevy car with AJ Foyt Racing. It was kind of a match made in heaven a little bit. As far as the branding side goes, there's a lot of good stories to tell there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we were setting up in turn two and all of a sudden you're leading the race and my wife and I were looking at each other going could this maybe we were all thinking it, and then we're thinking now he's on some weird pit stop strategy, so maybe this is all going to work out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if we put in one lap earlier before that last yellow flag that came out, we would have been running top five pretty easily, I think. Just frustrating. But that's the way the Indy 500 goes it picks the winner. It really does pick the winner. It was one of those days where what if? Sounded like a funny thing to hear from a 16th place finisher, but it really felt like and what if?
Speaker 1:Well, you know you finished 16th, but I looked back at the timing charts and it was 8.5 seconds. Yeah, I mean you commented on the competitive nature out there. I mean I think that just speaks to it. Qualifying separated by tenths, hundreds of seconds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. It's so tight. You know, qualifying this year I felt like was even tighter than normal.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it's because in a small industry like IndyCar racing guys move from team to team, but it seemed like everyone was on top of their game and very competitive this year. Qualifying was a little less stressful this year than last year.
Speaker 2:I guess that's correct. Yeah, you know, I think qualifying 24th was, you know, not too exciting, but at the same time I was like, okay, I'm going to go take a nap now. I don't have to worry about being in the last row of the party. Much more comfortable, but still wanted more. I think that we found a couple mistakes that were made going into qualifying, but we got it sorted for the race. Our race car was unbelievable. Being able to run at the front was awesome. Making moves with the leaders was so much fun. I don't know if I would have changed anything other than that last pit stop During the whole month it was a cool experience.
Speaker 1:That's great, bringing the field back to green. I mean that had to be this moment. I don't know what it requires, but you come around that fourth turn and the green flag comes out and you got 30 guys behind you that want to go.
Speaker 2:Just as fast and get around you. What was comes out? And you got 30 guys behind you that want to go just as fast and get around you. What was that feeling like? It was intense. I was. I was a little nervous because you know there's 32 other cars behind you that want to kill you. It seems like. So yeah, I was chomping on the bit to jump on the throttle and get out of the way. So yeah, but it was fun. You know, it's kind of funny. People ask like how nervous were you? And I tell them like I think I was more nervous starting in the mid pack than I was out front because it just felt so much more natural and felt like the right thing out front. I mean, I told people this after the race. I was like now I understand why they do it so much. It's way easier out front than it is in the mid pack. People are angry and feisty in the mid pack.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they want to get around people and they're in the front. You just got to press that right foot down right.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Well, that was great and that was just so much fun. And a lot of my friends know that, I know you and they'll be like, wow, I saw Stingray leading the race, the Indy 500. I'm like, yeah, that's right. Yeah, it was pretty cool. We had a career high finish at the Bomberito 500, finished ninth, that's right.
Speaker 2:And that was a great race that was. That was really cool. I knew that we had a better car than where we qualified. I don't know what qualifying curse that we got this year, but we, we were just so frustrated. I mean it was one of those things where it's like we qualified inside the top 15. We'll race forward Still. We have a good enough car. We were quick enough at different times, but that race at gateway was really fun. I remember from the night practice I was passing anyone that I could. I mean we would see someone chasing down, pass them, see someone chasing down, pass them. We were pretty hooked up and the longer the race went on, the better. We were. That last restart we had a little bit of a hard time getting the tires warmed back up, but finishing in the top 10 was really cool.
Speaker 1:Great race Not to bring up Iowa, but I did want to ask you about. Iowa. First race, of course, but then the second race. Crazy last lap. Another car slowed on you. You tumbled over and over a few times and landed upside down.
Speaker 2:I have to ask you what?
Speaker 1:and I know it went by in a blink, so you're not like thinking, okay, what's going to happen here, but I know you're also a believer, so I was. I was like, oh, maybe he was uh having a little conversation there oh yeah, I had plenty of conversations during my time being airborne there.
Speaker 2:It's so annoying when people are like, well, did you black out? Do you remember any of it? Like I remembered all of it, unfortunately, yeah, yeah, I mean, I I remember hitting the back of rossi's car and then going airborne and then seeing the top of the catch fence out of the aero screen and it was like someone hit the pause button. I was like oh no, I'm in the air, this is not good and let go of the steering wheel and kind of like got it on the seatbelts on my chest. And then I had enough time before I hit the ground to think about guys like Dixon when he went through the air Hinchcliffe, when he went through the air recently at the 500 during the month of May there and getting, you know, kebobbed by suspension bits and everything else and I'm like waiting for that to happen, but kind of crazy. I had the big impact in the ground and like was totally fine and I even had the wherewithal to reach up and close my visor because they got knocked open on the you know upside down landing there. I had an insane amount of peace through all of that. I don't exactly know why that is, but the best answer I can give it was God kind of being with me in that moment, showing me his glory in the highs and lows of racing. That's been my prayer all year. God, give me eyes to see your glory in every bit of it. I want to be able to have joy in the gap of where I'm not good enough but where you are. I don't want to set my identity in the results. I don't want to set my purpose necessarily in the results. I don't want to find my value in the results, but I want to be able to lean on you when I'm seeking those results.
Speaker 2:Having a big crash like that, it was probably one of the worst days to have. But the way that I felt, I don't know how to describe it or why it was the way it was, but I was very grateful to be okay after that accident. And, uh, you know, I did pass out once. They got me right up and sat up in the car. But you know, as soon as I got laid parallel back to the ground, I came to and told them you know I'm not doing well.
Speaker 2:They said, yeah, we know, we can see that. Yeah, Theyelighted me out of there and I was totally fine. I was with it 100%, but they just wanted to get a CT scan to make sure I didn't have any brain bleeds or anything like that, and I was totally fine. So I walked out of the hospital a few hours later, got some dinner and drove home. It's one of those things where an impact of 109 Gs you know it's not something that people walk away from too often I felt my share of God's glory in that moment, so just his protection.
Speaker 1:Thanks for sharing that. And you know I think back. I'm obviously older than you and I remember races from back in the 70s. You know cars just going into pieces and pieces of the car sitting there and you know I look at these cars after that happened to you and I'm like, oh my gosh, the car is intact. Look at these cars after that happened to you and I'm like, oh my gosh, the car is intact and of course, the arrow screen protected you.
Speaker 2:Just, the safety of these cars today is amazing. No, it is. I mean, I I feel much better climbing into that car now after the crash, which is kind of funny to say, but it's because I put it to the test. You know, I know what they're capable of. Now I don't want to try that ever again, but I do have some peace in getting in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't like to see crashes. I'm not one of those spectators that goes oh, I'm waiting on the big one. It's like no. I'm not waiting on it. And the other thing is that safety team and watching them. I went back and watched it, watching them roll the car over with you in it and taking so much care to make sure they don't hurt you in rolling that car over.
Speaker 2:No, it was kind of funny. Actually I shouldn't say funny, it was ironic. But my spotter, he can see everything that's going on and when I was skidding on my head he was telling me on the radio okay, you're almost stopped. You're almost stopped. Okay, you're stopped, don't get out of the car, they're coming to you, all right. The feet of the safety crew running towards me and they dropped their head down to where I'm at and they say are you?
Speaker 2:okay and I said no, I'm not okay. Did you see what I just did? So I'm sure they kind of got the worst version of me for a couple of seconds and took care of me nonetheless. But you know, I think that you know, in those moments it's kind of like wow, okay, yeah, you're probably not okay, but you're talking to me, so you're mostly okay, it seems like you're fine. It's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:While I was watching it, you know, Kirkwood had Carpenter on top of him. He's trying to get out and doesn't realize there's a tire sitting on top of his head.
Speaker 2:Hairy stuff. We try not to put cars airborne too often just for that reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we prefer you not. I'm sure most of my listeners Stingray are not race fans. I don't believe I have a few. So you finish the season and most people might think, oh, he's done. What happens in the offseason?
Speaker 2:Well, I can tell you that a few hours after the Nashville race, which is our finale, we were driving home for a meeting the next morning Some different teams for next year. Since the end of the season I've had more meetings and phone calls and appearances than I've done much to do with, but that's the best time to get it done. So I mean I'm visiting high schools, talking to kids about making choices that are important to stay safe on the roads. I'm working with a group right now called Choices Matter and it's a campaign to make kids, or inspire kids to make the right choices.
Speaker 2:You know, don't drink and drive, don't do drugs, don't be distracted, put the phone down, wear your seatbelt, and those are all key things for success on the racetrack. And it means even more when you're on the road with so many other people that are distracted. You got to be the one that's paying attention and safe. So working with campaigns like that has been fun and it's been keeping me busy. And then in the meantime I've been doing a little wedding planning, my job. The further I get along in my career, the less driving I do, and the more speaking engagements I'll do, the more off-track activities I'm involved with. But that's kind of the fun bit is that we get to be versatile as far as athletes go and not just turn a wheel and hit the gas pedal.
Speaker 1:Are you getting married in Indy or Idaho?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, that's good.
Speaker 2:The main wedding is going to be just south of Indianapolis. And then we're going to do a reception with my side of the family out in Idaho. I had a big family like what I got. It makes it kind of hard to have them fly out somewhere and go to them.
Speaker 1:Was she a race fan or is she now a race fan?
Speaker 2:She's definitely more of a race fan now but she actually was a little bit before. Her family actually knew Brian Clawson before he passed. Okay, and uh, they were big USAC dirt track fans. They've taken me to a few of those races and kind of won me over to the dark side there. Sack dirt track fans. They've taken me to a few of those races and kind of won me over to the dark side there. But they've been in Indianapolis area for a long time and have followed any 500 for a long time. So when I came about they were not unfamiliar to the sport and definitely were excited to have someone to cheer for. That's nice.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you can share. You know we're hoping to see you back again next year. Is there anything you can share about your plans? See you back again next year. Is there anything you can share about your plans?
Speaker 2:Well, as of now, we're still working on it. We have a couple options available to us. They're both decent. Decent options is just a matter of putting the deals together, so I'm always the one that feels like it's pushing things forward as soon as possible. It's one of those things where it's like it's in God's timing, it seems like, and I always want it done sooner than when he's ready to have it be done. I'm sitting here waiting just as much as you guys are, to sign a contract and be good to go, but we are expecting to be on the grid next year with a pretty good seat. That is great news.
Speaker 1:Well, stingray, that's about it for our little road trip here, but do leave my listeners with how to follow you, how to find you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do leave my listeners with how to follow you, how to find you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and any charity that you want to mention.
Speaker 2:Oh man, okay, here we go. Well, this is going to be a long end of the podcast, long list, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I watch you on Instagram and he's like okay, today.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, you can follow me on any of the social medias. At StingrayRob R-O-B-B that's two Bs in Rob. I think my Twitter's a little bit different, or X, whatever it's called. Now it's Sting underscore Ray, underscore Rob. This offseason I'm going to be doing a lot of different activities outside of racing. If you are a race fan, please follow along, but if not, feel free to follow along because there's going to be some fun stuff going on as well. I'm also going to be racing next year in the NTT IndyCar series, which is broadcast by Fox Sports. It's a new product that they're coming out with next year, which is very exciting, so follow the races there. You can go to IndyCarcom to check our schedule out and go to my website, StingrayRobcom I'm selling some merch on there or if you just want to follow along in the journey, please feel free to visit that.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, stingray. And yeah, we're delighted to see Fox because it's like, okay, where is this race being broadcast today? In the past years, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's it's all on Fox now and it sounds like it's going to be a good thing for the sport. I'm excited. I think that everyone else is as well.
Speaker 1:Thank you again, Stingray, for coming on another ride with Dan, the road trip guy.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:Until we meet up again. You can find me on the internet at dantheroadtripguycom. I hope you will follow this podcast so that you don't miss any upcoming episodes, and share it with your family and friends so they can enjoy the stories of my guests also. Until we meet again on a future episode, keep having conversations with each other and keep driving.
