What is it like to be a college journalist with a media pass at one of the largest events in Chicago? In this podcast, the Chronicle’s NASCAR analyst, Benjamin Sherman, takes us behind the barricades. From surprise driver interviews to the deafening thrill of the track, he shares what got him into racing, what surprised him most up close and what he’d shout through NASCAR’s mic.

TRANSCRIPT

0:07: Welcome to Chronicle Report. 

 0:09: The podcast that takes you behind the headlines and inside the story. 

 0:13: I’m Stella Huang, your host for this special episode focused on our NASCAR coverage. 

 0:19: Today, I’m here with Benjamin Sherman, a real racing fan and also NASCAR analyst. 

 0:25: Hi, Benjamin, how do you feel working as the NASCAR analyst? 

 0:30: Hello, I am Benjamin Sherman, as you said. 

 0:32: I’m a real racing fan. 

 0:34: I’ve been to the Chicago street track for the past 2 years, and when I found a way to write for it,

 0:40: I really knew that was for me. 

 0:42: And I was really, really excited to get a media pass and really get in there. 

 0:47: What was it like for you personally to attend the race this year? 

 0:49: Share with us the best moment from this experience. 

 0:52: Oh, the best moment. 

 0:54: Well, I’ll say in general it was, it was really awesome. 

 0:56: I loved having press access, and you know, even just with a normal ticket, you’re kind of allowed to really walk around this track. 

 1:04: I just think this track is so special to have here. 

 1:07: Like, you can walk, I mean, basically like miles and miles through the track and just being able to explore. 

 1:14: It was really fun just to see the vibes, but of course, a lot of things went down in the media room, and that’s where I got to have some driver interviews. 

 1:21: But as well as that, I also got to have some driver interviews just at the booths. 

 1:25: Not many people attended, and the drivers are just there talking for 15 minutes. 

 1:28: It was really cool to just kind of be face to face with them, and yeah, it was a lot of fun. 

 1:32: How did you get into NASCAR, and what keeps you following it so closely? 

 1:35: Oh, how did I get into it? 

 1:37: Yeah, I really think it started at a young age. By any means have like family members really that were into this. 

 1:42: I just kind of found it on my own. 

 1:44: Yeah, I had a real passion for like racing and karting. 

 1:47: I have like a steering wheel at home, and I like playing my racing games. 

 1:51: I’ve kind of been obsessed with that, like before I started driving when I was like 12 and 13. 

 1:55: And it just kind of grew from that. 

 1:57: Actually, the video games really got me into this, watching it and when I learned I could write about it, it was just a dream come true. 

 2:04: Did you meet any other journalists on site? 

 2:07: I did. 

 2:07: I met lots of people there. 

 2:09: I don’t know if I remember all their names, but I did meet one freelance writer named Noah Poser, who was very nice. 

 2:14: He took me in, and there was a media tour on a double-decker bus on Fridays. 

 2:22: I don’t know for sure if the college students were supposed to go, but he took me in. 

 2:26: He said, yeah, but there’s a media tour for us right now, and I didn’t actually know I was on my way out, and I got to get a tour on the track. 

 2:33: It was just so much fun hanging out with everyone. 

 2:35: A lot of the news was there, big cameras the whole time, a lot of fun being behind the scenes. 

 2:41: Did anything surprise you about seeing the race up close? 

 2:45: Yeah, definitely some things surprised me. 

 2:47: I guess I forgot how loud the Xfinity cars are because I was really struggling to hear people for a while. 

 2:52: The Cup series cars are definitely a little quieter because they have special mufflers just for Chicago, but yeah, those Xfinity. 

 2:58: Like qualifying practice, one goes by at a time, not that loud when you’re there right by the track and it’s zoom, zoom, zoom, the whole, the whole pack going by you, it is insanely loud still, but at the same time it’s a glorious sound. 

 3:09: I’ve been to other races like Formula One and IndyCar, but honestly, I think that. 

 3:14: NASCAR, it just sounds the best, like good old-fashioned American V8s. 

 3:20: I have some friends who are like, oh, NASCAR is just cars going in circles. 

 3:24: What would you say to them? 

 3:25: Well, what I say to them is, come to Chicago street course, where it’s not a circle because it’s a lot of fun. 

 3:31: I, too, find some of the oval racing, like it can definitely dread on. 

 3:35: And my favorite NASCAR courses are definitely the road courses, and especially the street, the one street circuit we have on the schedule at the moment, but yeah, I mean, I get it with the ovals, especially like NASCAR and has full like ads over the race, if depending on what channel you’re watching it on, I find that extremely annoying that they take a full like ad break while the race is actually happening. 

 3:59: It really, like, I just lose my focus. 

 4:02: So yeah, I honestly see a lot of annoyances, especially at the ovals, but what I’d say to those people is watch the road courses. 

 4:09: We have COTA, we have one coming up next week that I’m forgetting, but there’s a couple of road courses that are just like Sonoma Raceway. 

 4:16: And these race tracks are not ovals, they’re anything but ovals, and a lot of the drivers really, really struggle with these courses. 

 4:24: Way more entertaining. 

 4:25: And if you haven’t seen a NASCAR race at a road course, you definitely need to check it out, or just the highlights on YouTube. 

 4:32: I asked this question in the last Chronversations. 

 4:34: If NASCAR gave you the mic for a moment, what would you shout out? 

 4:37: I mean, it has to be SVG, Shane van Gisbergen, legend, a double win in Chicago, I don’t even know how you do that. 

 4:45: In the Xfinity series on Saturday, his cool suit broke, which is a suit that he wears that runs cold water through it, and yeah, it actually broke, and he was pumping hot water through, and I mean, I can’t even imagine like. 

 4:59: I can’t imagine being in those cars with air conditioning on. 

 5:01: I could definitely not imagine it like hot and your cool suit breaks and you’re just gonna be completely. 

 5:09: Overheated, and then to come back the next day after having to go to the hospital, the care center, to come back the next day and then win again, it’s just absolutely crazy. 

 5:18: So he definitely deserves a big shout out from that Australian racing series. 

 5:21: Yeah, I mean it’s just insane that he was able to take that and still win. 

 5:25: Thank you for sharing your experience with us. 

 5:30: Thanks for listening to Columbia Chronicle reports. 

 5:31: This has been your host, Stella Huang. 

 5:34: This episode was produced and edited by me. 

 5:36: Artwork by María Sanchez Medina. 

 5:39: Be sure to check out the Columbia Chronicle online for the latest stories. 

 5:44: For more behind-the-scenes looks at our journalists. 

Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco