LONG BEACH, Calif. — Paul Tracy has embodied the term “outspoken driver” throughout his career. From his long, illustrious IndyCar to his brief stock car racing starts in NASCAR, SRX and more, Tracy has always been unafraid to offer his honest, unfiltered opinion.
Now, the Thrill from West Hill’s new journey will go online as Tracy steps into the world of podcasting for his new show “Racers Unchained” on RACER.com. Tracy and RACER both came to the decision to make the podcast rapidly through the acquisition of MAVTV.
“It all kind of happened pretty quick,” Tracy told Frontstretch. “In the last month or so, RACER acquired MAVTV. They approached me and said, ‘Hey, are you interested in doing a podcast?’ I thought about it, but I’m not that computer-savvy and tech-savvy to set all that stuff up and set up all the mics and all that kind of stuff. ‘We’d like to partner with you,” they laid it all out, and I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’
“I think it’s going to be great. I’ve been away from racing, but I’ve still been involved. I’ve been driving, but to come back in again into the media and TV side is going to be a lot of fun.”
A 31-time winner in IndyCar, Tracy’s new podcast offers a no-holds-barred discussion to the guests of his show, covering topics and questions others in the racing industry with nothing being off the table. The Scarborough, Canada, native will provide hard-hitting commentary and conversation.
“That was one of the key things that I said to them when they said, ‘You want to do a podcast?” Yeah, I’d love to do a podcast, but I don’t want it to have not so much censorship, but I don’t want to be ‘You can’t ask this, and you can’t do that,’ Tracy reflected. “TV, when I was at NBC, there were a lot of restrictions on what I could and couldn’t do. That’s why we kind of named the podcast “Racers Unchained” because I’m going to ask stuff people won’t ask.”
Tracy will host some of the legends of the motorsport world including past champions in NASCAR, IndyCar and sports car racing as well as Hall of Fame NASCAR crew chiefs and owners.
“We just filmed Bobby Rahal, Max Papis,” Tracy said. “Next week, we have Johnny O’Connell, Ray Evernham. We have Jimmie Johnson. The list goes on and on.”
Additionally, RACER confirmed that 2004 IndyCar champion Tony Kanaan will also join the show.
One driver on his wish list extends to the realm of Formula 1 in the form of the sport’s most dominant driver of this era.
“I think it would be kind of cool to have Max Verstappen if we can get him on,” Tracy admitted. “I know Max a little bit. I know his dad pretty well. I would like to get him on.”
While Verstappen is someone currently in the business dominating his respective motorsport, other drivers and personalities from other disciplines of racing might have to wait a while for the podcast to set up before getting the official invite.
“We need to get more established first,” Tracy said. “I got lots of big-name guys already lined up, champions and multi-time champions that have agreed to come on. Our list of guys that we have is super long right now. There’s a lot of people are coming to me now that I’m here and said, ‘Hey, I want to be on your podcast.’ You might have to wait a couple of years because we’ve got a long, long list already confirmed.”
Getting the most out of each guest with their honesty, personality and unique perspectives that aren’t gathered by traditional journalists is one biggest goals for Tracy and his new podcast.
“The goal really is to have an open, honest conversation,” Tracy said. “A lot of stuff becomes corporate, mundane, same story that people have heard over and over again. I hope that I can bring the personalities out of some of the drivers that say that traditional media journalists couldn’t bring out, and a lot of these guys I’m friends with, and there are funny stories of things that we’ve done away from the racetrack that people just don’t know about.”
Another goal is to bring both old and new fans into his podcast to see the personal side of both Tracy and his guests.
“There’s a big, older audience of older sports fans, but there’s also a lot of new younger fans that don’t know a lot about the personal side. They only see the racing side. Hopefully, I can bring a lot of personal stuff out of the drivers.”
‘Racers Unchained with Paul Tracy’ premiers in May on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music as well as all major podcast platforms. Episodes will be filmed on video and played on RACER Network (formerly MAVTV), RACER+ (formerly MAVTV GO) and RACER’s YouTube channel.
Follow Wyatt Watson on X @WyattWRacing for all racing content.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattGametime