It would be the darkest Month of May in Indianapolis 500 history. In 1933, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway promised fans the safest race the Brickyard had ever seen. New rules, new technology, and a renewed focus on stock-based machinery were all meant to prove that America’s greatest race could survive the crushing weight of the Great Depression. Instead, the month became one of the bloodiest chapters in motorsport history. Five men lost their lives before the checkered flag had even truly sett...
May 19, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Long before the name Offenhauser became synonymous with Indy glory, there was Harry Miller: a self-taught machinist and visionary whose engines transformed racing forever. Between the 1920s and the dawn of World War II, Miller-built cars dominated American motorsport with stunning speed, elegant engineering, and an obsessive devotion to craftsmanship. But behind the brilliance lay financial chaos, broken partnerships, spiritual obsession, and the crushing reality of an industry evolving faster t...
May 12, 2026•58 min•Season 3Ep. 4
The 1975 Spanish Grand Prix holds a strange place in the Formula 1 history books. That weekend, drivers boycotted what they perceived as unacceptably dangerous conditions at the Montjuïc Park street circuit; barriers had been poorly assembled, and in some cases, there were no bolts holding the Armco together. To keep the event on schedule, team bosses descended onto the track with wrenches in hand, ready to secure the safety features themselves. Yet for all of those efforts, the race still went ...
Apr 21, 2026•1 hr 19 min•Season 3Ep. 3
For more than 70 years, Formula 1 has been one of the most exclusive — and challenging — arenas in global sport. And while over 1,000 drivers have entered a Grand Prix, only five of them have been women. But who were these women? How did they get to F1? And what barriers stood in their way? Join award-winning motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock for an exploration into the fascinating lives of F1’s fastest women. Among them are Olympians, kidnapping victims, and LGBTQ+ trailblazers who all ...
Apr 17, 2026•47 min
From Formula 1 to the Indianapolis 500, motorsport often presents itself as a meritocracy, but for much of racing history, women were explicitly and systematically banned from competition. From formal rules to informal “gentlemen’s agreements,” the exclusion of women from the world of speed lasted for decades, shaping who was allowed to compete and who could only watch from the sidelines. Join award-winning motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock for a fascinating look at the ways women were b...
Apr 07, 2026•43 min
While motorsport is often perceived as a man’s world, the history of racing is littered with trailblazing women who refused to accept the rules — both formal and informal — that prevented them from racing. And thanks to them, we’ve transformed the definition of what a racing driver can be. Join award-winning motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock as she highlights some of the most influential women who transformed their respective sports throughout racing’s past. From Camille du Gast in early...
Mar 31, 2026•51 min
Some men are born to set land speed records. Others feel their calling is creating ever more technologically advanced machines for the Indianapolis 500. Still others succumb to the siren song of long-distance desert racing. And some prefer to work behind the scenes, where they can transform the world of racing via promotion. But Mickey Thompson was no normal man, because Mickey Thompson attacked all of those goals with gusto. Yet for all of his accomplishments across various forms of motorsport,...
Mar 17, 2026•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Twenty-five years ago, the racing world lost Dale Earnhardt at Turn 4 on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, but while the man may not be here physically, his legacy remains an integral element of NASCAR — and American motorsport as a whole — to this day. But how exactly did that happen? How did Earnhardt — who started his career during an era where stock-car racing was still a niche sport — evolve into a cultural phenomenon and a household name still regularly evoked decades after his death? ...
Feb 10, 2026•59 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In 75 years of Formula 1 history, only one driver has been crowned World Champion after his death. In 1970, Austrian racer Jochen Rindt was so dominant behind the wheel of an exceptional car built by Colin Chapman of Team Lotus that no driver could bridge the gap to his place on the top of the championship standings despite there being four races remaining in the season after Rindt's death. Most F1 fans with any interest in the history of the sport know this — but fewer know the cloud of tragedy...
Sep 16, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 13
August 17, 1975. In warm-up for the Austrian Grand Prix, American icon Mark Donohue loses control of his March 751 after a tire fails. He careens through a metal Armco barrier and trackside signage and is knocked briefly unconscious in the wreckage. Against all odds, Donohue seems fine and heads back to the garage — where he begins to complain of a worsening headache. He's rushed to a local hospital, doctors urgent to operate on what has been diagnosed as a brain hemorrhage. It's not enough. Two...
Aug 19, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Unlike the NFL, MLB, or even Formula 1, NASCAR has never had a drivers’ union, but not for lack of trying. In the early 1960s, Hall of Famer Curtis Turner joined forces with the Teamsters in a bold push to organize the garage area — a move that got him blacklisted by the sport he helped build. Over the years, similar efforts were quietly floated and just as quickly shut down. Why has unionization never gained a foothold in stock car racing? What were the drivers asking for — and what is NASCAR s...
Aug 05, 2025•57 min•Season 2Ep. 15
If Bernd Rosemeyer had not existed, historian Anthony Pritchard remarked, then the National Socialist Party would have had to invent him. Tall, blond, strong, and domineering, Rosemeyer became the pride of Adolf Hitler's motorsport program, and the epitome of its goals. The press couldn't get enough of him, hailing him a “radiant boy,” a “bold fighter.” “Beautiful blond Bernd,” they gushed, as they linked him to the true superiority of Aryan blood and praised his overt willingness to compete wit...
Jul 22, 2025•56 min•Season 2Ep. 14
In the build-up to the 1934 German Grand Prix, the already formidable Nürburgring was transformed. Gone were the days of packing a race track with nothing but enthusiasts; under the control of new chancellor Adolf Hitler, motorsport was the ideal venue in which to display the might of his new, robust Germany under the Third Reich. Track facilities were draped in swastika flags, while a regiment of brownshirts had marched for weeks from Berlin to be present at the July event. Over 150,000 spectat...
Jul 09, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 13
In the late 1950s, the folks in charge of The Autodromo Nazionale di Monza had to face a harsh reality: They had spent millions to revitalize the banked oval that had been an original feature of the track back in the 1920s, but that had been destroyed prior to World War II. They had thought the Italian Grand Prix would be made all the more compelling with a flat-out banked section to challenge the drivers. But Grand Prix cars weren't built to withstand the high speeds and g forces of oval racing...
Jun 24, 2025•58 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Camille du Gast wasn't the first woman to get behind the wheel of a race car, but she was the first woman who gained international recognition for doing so when she began taking part in grand epreuves as early as 1901. She was the first woman in France to earn a driver's license, the first woman to hold an official role in the Automobile Club de France. But to call Camille du Gast a racer and nothing else would be to diminish a lifetime of accomplishments. She donned the title of exploratrice , ...
Jun 10, 2025•55 min•Season 2Ep. 11
If you're a fan of the Indianapolis 500, then there's a good chance you know who won the first race back in 1911: It was Ray Harroun behind the wheel of a Marmon Wasp, the only driver in the field to opt against using a riding mechanic and running solo — albeit with a little help from a relief driver. What if I told you that might not be true? What if I told you that we don't actually know with 100% certainty who won the inaugural Indy 500? Today on “Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys,” we're going ...
May 27, 2025•50 min•Season 2Ep. 10
On August 21st, 1909, the 300-mile Wheeler-Schebler race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was waved off — not because that weekend's racing had claimed the lives of five drivers, mechanics, and spectators, but because, after the racing had continued, yet another car crashed into a pedestrian bridge crossing the racing surface. No one was killed in that crash. No; the real reason the race was being flagged was because so many spectators had flocked to the pedestrian bridge to gape at the wrecka...
May 20, 2025•51 min•Season 2Ep. 9
On May 12, 1957, a group of locals from Guidizzolo, Italy gathered in front of their homes to watch some of the world's finest sports cars flash by en route to the finish line that would mark the end of the grueling Mille Miglia. For 30 years, other locals and previous generations stood alongside that very same ribbon of road, watching that very same race. But on May 12, a Ferrari 335 S scythed through the crowd, and in an instant, nine spectators were dead — cut down just outside their homes. T...
May 13, 2025•46 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In April of 1978, a chartered plane full of USAC officials crashed just outside of Indianapolis, killing everyone on board. With American open-wheel racing already in disarray as team owners began to demand greater accountability from their sanctioning body, the plane crash only served to accelerate a battle we've come to know as the Split. What role did that plane crash play in the ultimate fracturing of CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) from USAC? And how did that crash unsettle the very f...
Apr 29, 2025•44 min•Season 2Ep. 7
From the moment his father died behind the wheel of a race car, Alberto Ascari was haunted by loss. Against his mother's wishes, he pursued a racing career of his own and went on to become Formula 1's first-ever back-to-back World Champion with Ferrari. Still, he was unable to shake the feeling that he was following in his father's footsteps — right down to wondering if he, too, would die behind the wheel. Throughout his life, Ascari turned to superstition to make sense of the chaos. He avoided ...
Apr 15, 2025•48 min•Season 2Ep. 5
When we last left the Formula 1 scene, the 1977 season was underway. Over a decade had passed since the formation of the Formula One Constructors Association — an organization first formed to guarantee better starting, prize, and travel money for low-budget teams, but that had morphed into a powerful force that could challenge for control of the sport. In this special two-part feature on “Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys,” we're going to uncover everything there is to know about the FISA/FOCA war ...
Apr 01, 2025•50 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Many of the defining characteristics of modern Formula 1 — two-car teams, limits on who can enter the sport, big-money broadcasting deals, and so much more — are the direct result of a decades-long battle between the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA, which represented the teams) and the Federation du Sport Automobile (FISA, a subsidiary of the FIA). Fans have likely heard of the FISA/FOCA war, but truly understanding how it impacted the sport of Formula 1 isn't easy when there were so ...
Mar 18, 2025•42 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In the mid-1960s, the Chevrolet Corvair became the most reviled car in the United States of America. The automotive press loved this zippy rear-engined machine for its crisp handling and its race-y feel — but it didn't take long before the machine to become the center of hundreds of lawsuits alleging that the car was not only responsible for injuring and killing its drivers and passengers, but that General Motors had known that would happen all along. It was a huge allegation, one that at best w...
Mar 04, 2025•44 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Enzo Ferrari. Merely speaking his name aloud conjures up grandiose images of a titan of motorsport: his towering presence, the dark sunglasses obscuring his eyes. He is the man behind the legendary Scuderia Ferrari, a team that has competed in every single Formula 1 season since the sport was born in 1950, and whose legacy extended back decades even before. Even today, the inimitable Enzo still casts a broad shadow over the motorsport. We know his accomplishments as a racer, a team leader, and a...
Feb 18, 2025•43 min•Season 2Ep. 2
On May 2, 1982, the green flag flew for the NASCAR Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, and among a grid of legends like Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Benny Parsons, and more was a mystery racer no one had ever heard of before: L. W. Wright. Wright managed to nab a competition license, a race car, and some positive press, but there was just one problem. He wasn't a race car driver. He was a conman with a big dream and studied confidence so strong that no one much questioned this stranger. At ...
Feb 04, 2025•36 min•Season 2Ep. 1
The AAA Contest Board was the primary sanctioning body for motorsport in the United States until 1956, but the organization that sanctioned the Indy 500 refused to allow Black drivers to compete in its disciplines. Those barriers, however, didn't stop Rajo Jack from pursuing his dream of racing competitively — and he became one of the most influential Black racers in early American motorsport history. To find out more about Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys: https://linktr.ee/deadlypassionsterrible...
Sep 10, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Motorsport safety is an ever-evolving process, but American open-wheel was ground zero for some of the most exceptional innovations in motorsport medical history — be that in the form of a traveling medical staff, a permanent infield hospital, or a mobile medical center capable of handling severe trauma. This is the story of how IndyCar's groundbreaking safety team came to fruition. To find out more about Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys: https://linktr.ee/deadlypassionsterriblejoys Subscribe on P...
Aug 22, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Achille Varzi is one of the most iconic pre-war racing drivers of all time — but we know so little about him outside of his fierce rivalry with Tazio Nuvolari. Why? Perhaps because Varzi nearly lost his career to a morphine addiction that saw him disappear from the public eye and be shunned from polite society. Varzi's story is as complex as his legacy, and today, we're delving in to learn more. To find out more about Deadly Passions, Terrible Joys: https://linktr.ee/deadlypassionsterriblejoys S...
Aug 06, 2024•36 min•Season 1Ep. 15
The motorsport world is full of fantastic and particular experiences, but there is one driver's life story that has always particularly fascinated me — that of Roberta Cowell. See, Cowell was a fighter pilot, a prisoner of war, and a racing driver, which alone would have been enough to build up an impressive resumé. However, she was also the first documented person to receive gender affirming surgery in the United Kingdom, making her the first known trans woman to compete in motorsport. Today, w...
Jul 25, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 14
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, or FIA, is one of the most powerful sanctioning bodies in all of motorsport — but its control has rarely included racing in the United States. Why, then, did the FIA step in to kill the Chaparral 2J, a car that raced OUTSIDE of its jurisdiction? Today on DPTJ, we're covering the story of Jim Hall, one of motorsport's most innovative minds, and his Chaparral 2J, the car so quick that the FIA stepped in to kill it — which, by proxy, killed America's g...
Jul 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 13
