Big Dreams Take Big Risks And You Can Train For Both

Cold Open And Show Setup

Morning guys, welcome to the Spanish Podcast. Podcast Wars episode one.

How's the cool are you?

Who's the guy that I make most of that? Who am I kicking out of this car?

Welcome to Auto Care on Air, a candid podcast for a curious industry. I'm Jackie Lutz, Content Director at the Auto Care Association, and this is Carpal Conversations, where we collaborate on today's most relevant power skills. We are all headed in the same direction. So let's get there together.

Driving Pikes Peak With A Pro

Hello everybody. Welcome to another Carpal Conversations. This is a very special episode because we are driving up Pikes Peak Mountain right now. And I have Caitlin Zingler with me. She is a professional race car driver and driving up the mountain for the first time. Yes. Safely. Thank goodness so far.

I'm so happy to be here, Jackie.

Yeah, what do you think? This is beautiful.

Colorado is beautiful. I love a good mountain road, and I'm happy to be here and happy to be driving up it.

Good.

From Driver Training To Racing

So why don't you tell us a little bit about you, who you are, how you got into racing.

What's your story? So it's not the traditional motorsport story. I didn't start karting when I was younger. I got my racing license about four years ago. But when I was getting to the point where I was going to get my driving license, my dad, who's a firefighter, he decided either his kids weren't going to drive or we were going to be the best drivers out there. And so we did all sorts of driver safety training. And so we started with a teen car control clinic. And it was at Thunder Hill Raceway in California, where I grew up. And it was honestly, it was such a cool experience. And they take you out on track to learn this two wheels off exercise. And I loved being out on track. And that was my first exposure to a motorsports facility as well as driving a car on track. And I loved it. And then someone suggested that we do an autocross event. Now, an auto-cross event is where you drive through a cone course and they time it. So it's kind of like time trials on a big skid pad. And so I did some of those to just learn more car control skills and more driver safety training and totally loved doing that. And then I started doing high-performance track days. And totally, I fell in love with speed, and it was amazing. And as a family, we love spending time together at the racetrack.

Paradise Fire And A Family Leap

And then our house and hometown burnt down in the Paradise, California fire. And it kind of realigned a lot of our priorities as a family. And we realized that we loved spending time together at the racetrack and that we can't bring all our material things with us when we go to heaven. And so with the insurance money, instead of buying a house, my parents bought race cars. And we just took an absolute nosedive into motorsports. I got my racing license. And now here I am, traveling the world, racing, driving up Pike's Peak with you guys doing this interview. And it's honestly been such an incredible journey and a unique journey, but I wouldn't change it.

Yeah, it was an amazing, like we wanted to talk today about taking risks. And, you know, I can imagine being in your parents' shoes and making that decision. But as a parent, I think that that is just living the dream is doing something together as a family that brings you together so much and something that you all have such an amazing passion for. And then you all get to pursue it together.

Yeah, it it really is amazing. And and I am incredibly grateful to my parents because they did take such a huge financial risk. Um putting so much money into the sport and and allowing my brother and I to race. Um but I I think I think it's been worth it. Like I think that it's created so many cool opportunities and and we've been able to become closer as a family. And um yeah, I I think the risk was worth it in a lot of ways. And it was a huge risk. And I want I want my parents to be able to retire in a nice house and um and like live their best life and pursue things that they're passionate about. But I think it's really cool, and I'm incredibly grateful that they've pursued this with us.

I have to say, real quick, that you guys are just so calm. I just got a glimpse of the cliff next to me. There's no nothing keeping us from toppling to the bottom.

Yeah, this uh would be pretty unforgiving.

And you're just like talking, telling your story and stuff. I love driving up this mountain. Oh, there's a reason they chose you to drive and not me. You'd be freaking out. It's wild. I wish we could show everybody how beautiful this scenery is. We'll have to get some b-roll. Um, so taking risks, there's a lot of risks involved in this sport. Yes,

The Real Risks Of Racing

yeah. So tell me a little bit about what are some of those risks.

I don't think a lot of people recognize the risks that it takes even to just get the car to the track. Um, first off, there's a lot of financial risks. Um, it's such an expensive sport and um it's such an expensive sport to start participating in. I think eventually there's opportunities to work with partners and and make it a career, but the initial cost of getting to the point where you're professional and um and you can make money with this sport is is really challenging. Um but then it's also just the the time and the energy that it takes to prepare the vehicle to to get to the track. And um, that in itself is a risk because you don't know if you're gonna get the reward of winning, and you don't know if you're gonna get the reward of the car even continuing the race. Um and then as a driver, there's also a lot of risk being in the car. And I mean, like here at Pike's Peak, especially. Like if you look down to the left, which hopefully we'll get some V-roll. That is a huge risk. And and and you're putting so much money and time and effort just to get here, and you don't know necessarily what's gonna happen. Yeah, and if it'll pay off. Yeah, and if it'll pay off, and and that every race weekend doesn't guarantee a podium or doesn't guarantee a win. And it's so much risk and so much time and energy and money and just blood, sweat, and tears to get here. Um, and then who knows what could happen.

So I feel like you know, a lot of our audience is um business professionals um in the automotive world,

Racing Like A Business Career

and there's a lot of entrepreneurs out there that can probably relate to what you're saying, where it's like they put in is it possible to be a race car driver kind of half of the time? Or is this like it takes up a hundred percent of your capacity? It's multiple full-time jobs. Yeah.

Yes, because you you are trying to train yourself as an athlete, but on top of that, you're trying to develop a brand. And so that's social media and building out websites and doing activations, and then you're also trying to navigate working with the sponsors, and it's like running so many little businesses. But I I really do think that business and racing are very similar in in regards to risk versus reward. Because with business, you don't necessarily know if you're gonna have success. You don't know if the customer is gonna buy the product, and you you don't know if all the effort that I've been putting in is gonna pay out, but you can get the reward if you've created this good product and you've designed this amazing brand. Um and and and and the reward can be great, but it it's not always easy to see. Yeah, and I kind of so how do you how do you do it every day then? Um, well, I think that it's hard sometimes. It's it's really hard sometimes, but it's also like I I have faith and I have hope in my vision, and I imagine myself where I want to be. And if it takes everything that I have, then I'm gonna make it happen. Like I'm

Vision And Grit Through Doubt

gonna it's possible, and I know it's possible, and it might take a lot of heartbreak, and it might take a lot of hardship, but it's it's worth it for me. And and and like envisioning myself there, it's it's worth those moments of imagining myself like winning Pike's Peak or imagining myself at the top of the podium at Le Mans.

Would you say that you are a super competitive person?

Oh, yes.

100%, yeah. You just seem like such a soft spirit. Like I am a very competitive person. Oops, but I feel like that kind of comes out in my personality. I could be playing Uno with my six-year-old, and I'm not gonna let him win for free. You know what I mean? Where you just seem like, I don't know, so kind-hearted. Um, do you think that your motivation comes more from being like winning or not losing at this point? Like, like, do you want to beat everybody or are you just focused on yourself?

I think my motivation is from winning, but winning doesn't always have to look like beating other people. It could be beating myself, right? Like I like winning could look like me becoming better or me becoming faster. Um but again, I mean, that doesn't stop me from wanting to be competitive during rest weekends. Like, I obviously I want to do well and I I want to win. Um but I think especially along the journey, if I'm too focused on other people, it makes envisioning my success harder because I'm focusing on other people's success. And while recognizing things that people do well is obviously super positive. I think that being able to focus on your internal success and like the things that you can grow and develop and change and become better has made it so it's easier for me to improve. And and I've seen, especially with my improvement as a driver, I've seen myself become better when I'm focused on improving myself rather than I'm focused on others.

Yeah, and that's really good advice for anyone with a goal, right? To like, I mean, I think it's important to pay attention to your competition and keep keep you know, seeing what they're up to and make sure that you're you're not falling behind. But at the same point, like that takes energy when you could really be focusing that on your own skills and your own your own business and how to do better. So what would you what kind of advice would you give to someone who's considering taking a risk or they're in the middle of the storm uh taking a risk and thinking about quitting? What would you what would you tell somebody?

Um obviously there are gonna be days that are hard and and things that are hard, but I think it's your vision for a reason and it's your goal and your dream for a reason. Um, and you just have to have faith and hope that that it's meant to be, or that that you can achieve it and you have the capacity to achieve it, or else I don't think you would be envisioning it or dreaming about it or thinking about it and it wouldn't consume you entirely.

Um Have you ever been um discouraged because other people didn't believe in your dream or have have mocked you or anything like that?

Yeah, I mean I've had a lot of people um compare me and say, oh, the way that they are doing this is is the smart way and and you pursuing this as a career isn't isn't smart. And um like what you need a backup plan kind of thing. This, yeah, it's like a uh you should choose a traditional path and then maybe you could race occasionally. Um But I think that like every time that I see myself winning, I feel like it's worth it. And like even if I even if I am not successful, then at least I know I worked the hardest I ever could have to get there. And and and that's success. It it doesn't always have to be being at the top of the podium. It could be that You tried it. I tried so hard. And you got to live this life. Yes, and I got to live this life, and it's almost worse, right?

Like I think it'd be worse to never try and never know, yeah, and just watch other people live your dream than to live your dream and never win or never really make it. There have been so many times during this conversation where I was just like, you're so calm. I don't know how you're so calm, but you mentioned

Calm Under Pressure And Control

earlier how your your heart doesn't really race, right?

Yeah, I have a rather low resting heart rate. And then during race weekends, I mean adrenaline.

It it gets a little bit up there, but I mean, do you have any adrenaline right now, knowing we could fall off this mountain and you could kill five people? Does that is that even crossing your brain because it doesn't seem like no, not really? Not to put the pressure on you, but I'm just you're just so calm.

Um and I'm not even driving it. I kind of feel like it's harder to be in the passenger seat sometimes. I don't for me.

Trust you way more than me. I'm a passenger princess.

Um but yeah, I don't like being out of control when I'm uh behind the when I'm not behind the wheel. I that that that's kind of hard for me.

I wonder if that is a you know a um innate skill that thrill seeker. I don't know. Do you consider yourself a thrill seeker seeker?

No, not necessarily.

He said that last year.

I honestly think like I don't I feel safe in the car. Like I it's like my happy place. I feel safe in the car. I absolutely hate roller coasters, passionately hate roller coasters. Because you're not in control? I'm not in control, and I'm like, okay, I'm wholly relying on an engineer that designed this.

But we're driving up right now, and all you see is sky.

Well, yes, but like the thing is like if anything were to happen, I'm in control and I could I could handle it. Like I know I could handle it. On a roller coaster, it's like, okay, I don't know how I would survive this if anything bad happened. Like, what do I do?

Ugh. Because it's just wild to me. Um, last year when I interviewed Rob Holland, he said that even when he's doing this uh racing up the mountain, his heartbeat doesn't get above 100 miles per hour. And we were talking about it at breakfast, and I'm like, I don't even really know, is that good? Like, I don't, I'm not a medical person. Yeah. Um, but that's basically a somewhat of a steady heart rate. Like his heart doesn't race.

That's like a yeah, that's definitely an average heart rate, which is quite interesting because a lot of people don't realize how physical motorsports is.

Yeah, talk talk a little bit about it. Because I know, like you said that you have to train to be an athlete. What's some of the training that you have to do?

Motorsport Fitness And Car Demands

Well, I mean, there's a lot of cardiovascular training, like you want to be in in good shape, especially so you can stay mentally present and and um so what does that consist of? Like like visualizing or yeah, visualizing because being aware of all the cars around you and and also just the adrenaline. It takes so much energy. Most race car drivers burn about 300 to 500 calories every 30 minutes. Really? Um so yeah, it's it's a great workout. Um for uh our endurance team. I run about typically I'm I'm driving an hour and a half in the car um for my stints. And our races are typically seven, eight hours. Um our last race was 14 hours at Daytona. That's crazy. Um but you just burn so many calories um driving a race car. That's fine.

And it's me because of the mental or because it's like it's the mental.

It's also the physical because you're fighting against the G forces. And so I also train my neck a lot um because you want your neck to be strong, because if if your neck starts hurting and then you can't hold your head up during during corners, but you also want to train your core a lot so you can engage your core and and and not move around too much. Um really struggling right now. That's what's getting me. Yeah, it is quite high. Are you guys doing okay back there? Do you guys feel good? This is all um as well as the brake pressure. Like a lot of cars, it requires a ton of brake pressure. Um, and so I'm pushing about 800 pounds of weight when I'm getting on the brakes. And does does your weight matter? I mean, I'm assuming it does, but well, yeah. So you want to you want to be like the most efficient in the car because the lighter you are, the better, but you want to be able to have the muscle capacity to be able to step on the brakes or to be able to withstand the G forces. And so it's kind of this balance of okay, I want to be really light so the car can be faster, but I also want to um be as strong as possible. Um but yeah, I mean let's I mean we can go back to talking a little bit about like the risk. Like, this is crazy. This is quite a bit of a risk.

And I think I'm burning calories right now.

No.

And I'm usually, I have a pretty good relationship with death. Like, like being dead does not scare me. Like I have, I'm a person of faith too. Like, I feel like I know where I'm going, I'm good. It's more like the dying part that's like it wouldn't be a pleasant

Why Pikes Peak Is One Of One

dying experience. And I worry more about the people I leave behind, I have kids, you know, things like that. But like I have a healthy relationship with death. Um, but you know, going over a cliff is not on my list of ways that I would like to go.

Yeah, that you would like to go. Um, yeah, but I feel like it it's kind of what makes Pike Peak such a unique race. I mean, I I think it would be so amazing to race Pikes Peak. I I just like I it attracts some of the best of the best drivers from all different types of motors.

The most courageous ones.

Yeah.

So you you see yourself doing this someday? I would love to do it. Really? Yes, yeah. I think it would be a good idea. I will be cheering you on from the paddock. I think it's an amazing feat for somebody, for a human. It's amazing what humans are capable of.

Well, and then also just like the change in altitude is crazy. And and the fact that like most of the drivers are are using oxygen um on their way up here.

How do you think that that that just the altitude change, the climate change from the bottom to the top, the wind changes, like all of these elements that you know any any um race needs to, you know, take into consideration, but just at such an extreme level here. What do you think that does?

I mean, I think it it requires more preparation, especially from the drivers, but also uh the elevation is gonna change because the the change in elevation is gonna make it so they're gonna have to prepare the engines more, and that's gonna affect the engines. Um and so I really do think it just takes more preparation for for the teams, and also it's kind of what makes this race also super unique and and um it's it's a one of one. Um we made it to the top. Yay, we made it to the top! How are you guys feeling?

Reaching The Summit And Sign Off

Oh, there's a person. My heart's racing. I wish I had my Apple Watch on. I want to know what my my heart is right now. Very good job.

I don't want to hit the rocks.

We made it.

I love it.

We made it. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Auto Care on Air. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast so that you never miss an episode. And don't forget to leave us a rating and review. It helps others discover our show. Auto Care on Air is proud to be a production of the Auto Care Association, dedicated to advancing the autocare industry and supporting professionals like you. To learn more about the association and its initiatives, visit autocare.org.