A true dream episode for me, we give the excellent and unjustly forgotten Simon Says their due in an epic 2.5 hour interview that covers their career and thensome.

On episode 132 of Driven to Compete Carey sat down with James Pesek. James is an IMSA pro driver and his family built, owns, and operates Ozarks International Raceway.

Our sponsor for this episode is Chris Taylor Racing

Chris Taylor Racing Services is a longtime provider of storage, transportation, and maintenance work on a variety of racecars in the Austin area. On the same site since 2003, located across the street from the world-famous Circuit of the Americas. Chris is a veteran of the motorsports industry, working on everything from B-Specs (TCB), Formula cars, Trans-Am cars, and a Championship winning SRO TC Americas crew chief for Skip Barber Racing Team. Our goal is to bring Professional level service and support to your club race or track day!

Website: https://christaylorracing.com

Email: christaylorracing@gmail.com

Connect with Driven To Compete for sponsorship opportunities

Website: www.DrivenToCompete.com

Newsletter: https://manage.kmail-lists.com/subscriptions/subscribe?a=R9E7pX&g=VHesvQ

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@driventocompete1

Email: info@driventocompete.com

Phone: (512) 222-3402

Happy New Year! We're kicking off 2024 by bringing you our conversation with David Zipper, one of the hardest-working analysts on the transportation scene today. You may be familiar with David from his writing at Bloomberg CityLab, Slate and Fast Company, where he relentlessly covers road safety, climate change, and the future of micromobility.

We talked with David about the excesses of the auto industry, our road fatality crisis, the absurd way speed limits are determined on American streets, and whether we might ever be able to swap out our bloated SUVs for electric golf carts. Or if that's too much to ask, will cities at least start charging people more for driving massive glacier melters?

LINKS:

You can find out all about David Zipper's work, along with links to his writing, at his website.

See David on NBCDFW's excellent series about why Dallas is such a deadly place to drive.

***Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive access to ad-free versions of all our episodes, exclusive bonus content and stickers.***

This episode is produced with support from Cleverhood. Listen to the episode for the latest Cleverhood discount code.

See The War on Cars LIVE at Caveat on NYC on Wednesday, January 31st. Tickets are going fast!

Register for the Winter Cycling Congress, February 22 - 24 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We will be there!

Buy official War on Cars merch at our store.

Find us on Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.

Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts.

This episode was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. It was edited by Ali Lemer. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear.

TheWarOnCars.org

It's a special bonus holiday episode of the Carmudgeon Show! The boys meant to do an episode teaching you everything you need to know about tires. 

==

This episode of “The Carmudgeon Show” is presented by Valentine One Radar Locator: Find radar before it finds you! https://bit.ly/Valentine1_Hagerty

Click here to join the Hagerty Driver's Club: https://bit.ly/Join-HDC-Cammisa-ICONS

==

The tire conversation lead to fun experiences involving different brands — and Derek discovering Rallycross, which is like autocross, but filthy.

Jason has lots of experience pushing different tires to the limit — and Michelins seem to hold up to whatever he throws at them. Pirellis? Less so. The biggest surprise lately is Vredestein Tires, which Jason has been experiencing recently.

A Bridgestone fan for years, Jason recently placed third overall in a 24 Hours of Lemons race using Bridgestone's new Potenza RE-71RS. They wore well, but gripped fantastically in the dry and (especially) in the wet.

Things the boys discussed: what to know about tire size, ratings, and categories. Pirelli CN36s look great, but are they better than Michelin's XWS repops, manufactured by Coker?

And what's with Jason's Hankook experience? Who is Petlas? Why is Dunlop's Direzza ZII great, and why can't Yokohama make a round s.Drive?

Also — some discussion of efficiency on Jason's Volkswagen e-Golf, which dropped by nearly 40% after switching from the factory Bridgestones to larger, far more aggressive Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. The plan is to try out Vredestein Quatracs over the rainy season to see if he can get some range back.

Don't forget — the only thing touching the ground is your tires. Choose appropriately!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices