Randy Pobst, Live Special Guest! — The Carmudgeon Show w/ Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep 182

We talk with SCCA Hall of Fame race car driver Randy Pobst. From his racing origins in a Mk1 VW Rabbit, to his 2 wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and his personal car collection – including his Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am and Flyin’ Moose Volvo 740. 

To start, we’ll dive into Randy’s racing experience: factory contracts with Porsche, Mazda, Volvo, and Toyota. Winning the 24 Hours of Daytona not once, but twice, and his 2015 induction into the SCCA Hall of Fame. We’ll cover his exploits at Thunderhill, VIR, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Daytona, Pikes Peak, Sonoma, Lime Rock, Willow Springs, and more! 

From humble origins in a Mk1 VW Golf (no, not a GTI), to a factory-backed FX16 Toyota Corolla, to setting a Laguna Seca lap record in a McLaren Senna. Randy even worked on the set of 2 Fast 2 Furious as a driving instructor for the film's stars: Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, and Devon Aoki – to name a few. 

Randy eventually met Jason while filming an uncooperative Cayman GT4 for Motor Trend, and, despite a rocky start when Jason unexpectedly flung a Range Rover off track while racing Randy in an Alfa Romeo 4C, the two teamed up again to film multiple Ultimate Drag Race, Lap Battle and ICONS episodes for Hagerty.

The whole gang laments some of the most irritating modern car tech: excessively bright headlights, lights that are somehow off at night, ABS systems that fully shut down when traveling backwards, AEB overreach, and EPAS systems that completely ruin a car’s limit handling by curtailing the driver’s ability to quickly catch a slide (like the Shelby GT350 Randy repeatedly spun and Jason crinkled at Willow Springs – not to mention the Unplugged Performance Tesla Model 3 Randy famously wrecked at Pikes Peak). 

Speaking of handling, Randy divulges his dislike of twitchy cars like the Jaguar F-Type R and XJ, the KTM X-Bow, and Ariel Atom. Jason on the other hand loves an ass-y car like the V12 Vantage S, but says the Lotus Exige V6 Cup was so tail-happy it was uncontrollable. The Porsche Carrera GT is somewhere in the middle with mixed reviews and experience all around. While on the topic of handling dynamics, Randy tells us his secret plan to invent a fix for the C8 Corvette’s trailing throttle oversteer. He also gives praise to Porsche’s Lars Kern for his work on the latest crop of RS products – which may or may not be Randy’s favorite track cars of all time out of the box, alongside the 2014 Porsche 911 50th Anniversary Edition. All of which receive top marks on Randy’s understeer spectrum, and are polar opposites of the likes of a 1960s Cadillac. 

We’ll touch on Randy’s personal car collection as well, which includes a Volvo 740 sedan and wagon, his 1977 Pontiac Trans Am “Randit” (and its oil starvation woes), Toyota Tundra tow vehicle, VW Karmann Ghia and early Tesla Model S. 

Plus, Derek invents a new phrase for “road rage”, Randy bitch slaps cars out of his way, and also beautifully sings Primus’ Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver.

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