Lauren Gaudion
===

Vince: [00:00:00] So I actually did, um, I was over at Highland Wednesday setting up for the event yesterday and there was a, I don't remember what they call it, but there was a big group of, um, younger women golfers and they all went out and it sounded like it was something they've done a couple times throughout the year.

I don't think I saw you. 

Lauren: No, I think you're talking about divots and divas. It 

Vince: might have been. 

Lauren: I'm sorry, what? Divots and Divas. I like that. Which, not a huge fan of the term. We're not Divas. We do have a lot of divots. I was going to say, do 

Joe: you take some mirth with you? Yes. Okay. 

Lauren: More often than not. Still.

It's okay. The Diva part throws me off. So you could go 

Joe: back to your dabbling with divots? 

Lauren: That's pretty good. Yeah, I take that. I dabble with golf and divots as well. More full time divot, but yeah. Yeah. Well, you can work on 

the 

Vince: rebrand of it. 

Lauren: We'll, we'll work with Hyland on that one. 

Vince: Yeah. I think Bill will be open to that.

I think so. Yeah. But I didn't see that. [00:01:00] So, um, and your season or your, your job runs through a lot of the golf season. So, it's a little challenge to try to do both. Um, but do you play? 

Lauren: I do. Hence why I dabble with golf because I was very excited as I work most of the weekends being an IndyCar. Oh. I was like, Oh, we get a free day to make up for the working on the weekends.

I'll golf. However, that free day is always Monday, courses are closed, so. Haven't gotten out to the, to the course very often. 

Joe: Right. Wow. So when you say you dabble, that's just 'cause you don't get to play very often. 

Lauren: Correct? Yes, yes. I've taken lessons, I've got my own set of clubs. Um, but like, would I go to band and dunes and pay that much to golf?

Probably not worth my game. 

Vince: Sorry. Well, that's a first statement. I will say this. So her husband Jim just came back from, from there we took our father there. First birthday you mean the Saint birthday? Yes, [00:02:00] Saint. I have to 

Joe: stay true to my code. Yeah, 

Vince: it's been what shoot 12 13 years since we were there Yeah, it's It's a phenomenal place.

I don't know if that helps or not. So I hear. It was, it's, it's pretty spectacular. And, and now it's even more so because when we were there, um, I think they had three courses then, and now they're up to four. I think he said six. Oh, is it six? Mm hmm. Yeah, it's a, it's a very cool place. I mean, you could just 

Joe: go there for a month.

Like a 

Lauren: sabbatical. Don't encourage it. Don't encourage it. Well, you know, 

Vince: how about this? We'll tie it in. After the Portland race, you can go down, down the coast and you're 

Lauren: there. Not a bad idea, actually. 

Joe: Just saying. Yeah. I mean, you're already 90 percent there. You might as well just finish it out. 

Lauren: There is a week.

Well, this past season, there was a week that I could have done that instead. I went right to Laguna Seca and hung out with the seals. Yeah. Well. It's 

Joe: not terrible either. I'm just saying. Could have gone down to the Willamette Valley and done some tastings and then just hung 

Lauren: out. I need you as my travel [00:03:00] agent for this one.

Joe: Goodness. Take some notes. Okay? All 

Lauren: right. Take some notes. Next time, hitting you up. Give me some ideas. You're welcome. 

Vince: All right, cool. Let's get rolling.

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the industrious podcast. Thank all of you for joining us from wherever you guys get your podcasts. If you're tuning into the assessor YouTube channel, thank you for doing so. We appreciate that. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already done so, hit the notification bell so you can be alerted when new episodes like this one drop.

That'd be great. Won't [00:04:00] cost you a single dime. Um, today we have the privilege of being joined by Ms. Lauren Gaudian. Uh, Lauren is the Director of Communications at Arrow McLaren IndyCar. Welcome to the Industrious Podcast. Thank you. Excited 

Lauren: to be here. 

Vince: You're welcome. Um, why don't you give everyone a little background on 

Lauren: yourself?

Yeah. So as you mentioned, I'm director of communications at Arrow McLaren IndyCar. It's my first venture into motorsport, but do have an athletic background in terms of career wise. I started out after college, which I was a pole vaulter in college for four years. 

Vince: We're going to come back to that. Okay.

Joe: Yeah. We got to bookmark that one. 

Lauren: Um, and then I was an admissions counselor for my alma mater, Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, um, where I. worked with athletes as they were coming into the university. So it was kind of like their liaison between high school and their coach and college admissions.

From there, worked at the NCAA, which brought me to [00:05:00] Indianapolis. I was part of their postgraduate internship program for communications, spent a year there, and then was trying to stay within athletics, but wanted to stay in Indy as well. And actually that led me to being a college relations consultant for Republic Airways, which is an airline that's headquartered here in Indianapolis, but has connections with American, Delta, and United Airlines for Um, Codeshare Flying.

And so worked there for about 10 years in different roles from recruitment to marketing to communications, um, and then also started their flight school Lift Academy, um, with kind of like a project team of three others. Did that, like I said, for 10 years. And then last year IndyCar, um, which was quite funny because when I interviewed Um, I, my final interview was, was with Zac Brown and his first question was, [00:06:00] What do you know about IndyCar?

Or what do you know about racing? And I was like, well, there's the Indy 500. Tell me you threw 

Joe: out Bernoulli's principle. I mean, you came from flying. 

Lauren: I didn't know. I mean, his question took me kind of off guard and I was like, that's about it, but I love to learn. And I was like, all right, job is gone. Not happening.

Right. An hour later, get the call. And I guess he liked that I was ready to learn because. Here I am today, a year in, and know a lot more about racing than I ever thought I would. 

Joe: Perfect. So, you, you said you were on the product team to start the Lipped Academy. Are you a licensed pilot? 

Lauren: I am not. I have enough hours to be a private pilot.

However, I am terrified of doing the solo flight, so I, um, have not yet done that. But it is on a bucket list. 

Joe: Gotcha. 

Vince: Cool. I'm going to go back even farther. So, uh, born and raised in 

Lauren: Breeze, Illinois, which I say St. Louis because no one's ever heard of Breeze, Illinois. 

Vince: Is it essentially a [00:07:00] suburb of St. Louis or?

A little 

Lauren: bit further. Okay. About 45 minutes away. Okay. So not East 

Joe: St. Louis. 

Lauren: Further than East St. Louis. East of East St. Louis. East or East St. Louis. Yeah. 

Vince: Noted. Uh, you, you said full of alternate. It immediately got my attention or our attention because you don't hear that very often. Um, two 

Joe: questions. Two questions.

Hang on. You don't want to do the solo flight. But you'll, you'll project yourself flying off the ground with a stick over 

Lauren: another stick. You know, I was younger then. And it's like baby steps. At first, you're basically walking over the pole. And then you finally like get some like launch and then you project yourself, but by then you have some confidence.

Joe: You fling yourself through the air using a big ass piece of PVC pipe. 

Lauren: Yeah, basically. And that's how I would describe it. Yeah. More bendy, but yeah. 

Joe: Mm hmm. Okay. Fair enough. 

Vince: So, this begs the question, number one, how did pole vaulting come about? Cause I, I ran T. R. E. K. one year, [00:08:00] freshman year in high school, and for something, an event like the pole vault, like no one comes in as a freshman in high school and knows how to do that.

It's always like, does anybody have any interest in this? Alright, let's try it out and see what happens. That's 

Lauren: exactly it. So I, like I said, went to a really small school in a small town, um, but went to a strength and conditioning coach for track. I was a middle distance runner, um, in St. Louis. So every week I would go an hour away, do my, um, strength conditioning for the 800 meters.

Um, one day the track was closed. They were working on it for some reason. So the only thing that we had to work with was the pole vault runway. Okay. And so I was doing a lot of sprint drills and finally my coach was like, you know what? What do you think about pole vaulting? I was like, I don't really have any thoughts.

Never considered it before. And my dad is standing behind me and he's like, Scholarships. No one does. No one's a pole vaulter. [00:09:00] He's like, get, let her, let her give her, let her give it a try. Um, so I did that day and was like, this is a lot better than the 800 meters. Um, and then that was history. Did, um, that was my sophomore year in high school.

And then senior year got a scholarship to the university and did it for four more years. Wow. 

Vince: I have to ask you this question. We're both short. No, no, everyone at this table is, is vertically challenged, so to speak. Is there any, this is my lack of knowledge on pole vaulting. Does height help? Does it not help?

Lauren: You're on the right track. Yes. Um. Um, my stature, which I'm less than five feet, I'm almost five feet. We 

Joe: were judging. I list my height as fits well on airplanes. So like it ties right back to your history. 

Lauren: That's very true. I never need the extra space. Um, so yes, height does help. It's all about physics. So you have like a better launch if you're, you know, the [00:10:00] angle of the pole to the pit box is greater.

Um, however, whenever you have to invert to get over the pole, you have less body mass. So that's helpful. But in general, I would say pole vaulters are a little bit more on the lean, lengthy side. 

Joe: Now I'm thinking top gun. You were in an inverted dive. What were you doing? Foreign relations. So you're in communications.

It's just, gosh, it just keeps looping back together. There you go. All right. Um, I, I just was thinking of. pole vaulting and your question on body type, et cetera. So changing that to the, um, less than the, from a physical standpoint, but more from a, the experience and what being a college athlete taught you, how did that carry forward into your career outside of, you know, getting, you know, staying within athletics from, from [00:11:00] then to now?

Um, what kind of experiences that really, how did you benefit from that? 

Lauren: You know, I think there are a few things and like, even like there are companies that are committed to hiring college athletes, like enterprise rental car, all former college athletes. Um, I think there are a few takeaways. One is. to no surprise, teamwork.

Um, you know, you're always depending on someone to get something done. So communication, I think, has really helped in that regard of you're more eager to, to depend on other people and know kind of how to reciprocate that. Um, but then discipline. That, I mean, I take it for granted, but time management, like a job's not done until it's done for me.

And then the last thing I would say would be, um, like you're forced into situations because of sports, you know, you're, you're forced into like meeting people that you have no commonality with because they're on [00:12:00] your team. Um, so I think that that's helped me a lot, especially in a communications role because you kind of have to.

Um, be willing to talk and learn and grow from the people around you. 

Joe: Right. What, so from like, you look at non athletic based industries and, and the corporate cultures that most companies have, I would imagine, I mean, not being directly involved, I'm just, I would imagine that any of your positions, whether it be with the NCAA.

Republic may be a little bit different, but now then in being in the motorsport industry, there's a, there's a certain level of intensity that just naturally sort of permeates that's different than non athletic organizations. Do you feel that? Does that come into the office? 

Lauren: Yes, a little bit. I think, like, as an athlete, you're used to kind of always being on.

You know, I didn't, like, leave my dorm room and just go play video games for the next five hours or, you know, hang out. I was always on a schedule of [00:13:00] weightlifting to speed drills to actual practice. Um, and I think in my communications role, especially at the airlines, actually, it was always at 24 seven, um, planes were always in the air.

So that was less of a shock of like, Oh my gosh, my job's not just nine to five. I don't have this time where I clock out and head home and hang out. It was always just, all right, what's next. 

Joe: Gotcha. Uh, what, how has that translated to your current position in terms of this, like culturally speaking? Was there a natural transition there for you?

Lauren: Yes. Yeah. One, interestingly enough, like pilots and race car drivers have a lot in common. In fact, you see a lot of drivers who are pilots, like Alexander Rossi, for example, is a pilot as well. Um, so the, the personalities are very much alike, very type A. Um. That was very polite. Yeah. The way you're putting it.

Trying to be PC here. Sorry, Alice. Um, but then [00:14:00] also you have, um, I would say like the, The risk factor, um, airlines, obviously they have so many regulations and so many safety standards that there's a lot of guardrails in place, but the risk is always there. I mean, I could write a book probably on the different crisis communication scenarios that we had over the 10 years, but, um, from a race perspective, every race, every time the car gets on track, we have a crisis communications plan that's like.

in the wings waiting, um, to be used, knock on wood. We've been, um, pretty clear on that side, but you just never know. Right. 

Joe: Interesting. What aspect of, I mean, is there any element of, hey, we're, we're in this as a means of entertainment, or is it 100 percent we are here to, to win and create? Uh, a mentality and an infrastructure and an operation, et [00:15:00] cetera, to win.

Is there any element of we're also in entertainment or is it just we're a sport? 

Lauren: So I think that's actually the reason why I really liked Errol McLaren and what attracted me to them whenever this opportunity came about. Because They're 100 percent like winning focused. Zach Brown is a competitor at heart and that will always be his main goal is to do whatever it takes to beat anybody else on the track.

However, from a brand and marketing standpoint, like we're there to be the most engaging team for fans. So, like, everything that we do, we want to make it exciting, we want to make it engaging, we want to make it fun for the people that are wearing papaya in the stands. I was just going to ask, 

Joe: is papaya your new favorite color?

My 

Lauren: wardrobe is accidentally papaya everything. I mean, this is an offshade of papaya, but. Um, I used to when I worked for Republic like have all this like mustard yellow and navy blue and now it's like [00:16:00] shifting slowly to this orange, which is now papaya always in my mind. 

Vince: Yeah. Well, total communications person who is on brand, that's not just orange, it's papaya.

Well, yeah. It's good to be specific. Totally. Yes. The answer you just gave is your post one year answer to Zach, to his question when he interviewed you saying, you know, why, what do you know about IndyCar? That answer that you just gave, while not specific to IndyCar, but specific to what the team represents, I think would be a phenomenal answer.

Well, I hope he agrees. Well, hopefully he's listening or watching, probably not. Now that 

Joe: you're in, have you gotten awarded the McLaren company car yet? 

Lauren: No. Um. And 

Joe: can you fit a pumpkin seed in there? 

Lauren: You know. You'll make it work. So we have a, um, we have a car in our team gym that is just there for like marketing purposes and whatnot.

And, um, Tony Kanaan the other day is like, why is this here? Why is this not in my garage? And so I think probably in a [00:17:00] few weeks it will be in his garage because he's Tony Kanaan. 

Joe: He'll just find the keys and drive it away. Yes. And no one's, they'll be like, oh, Tony's taking out on a, uh, I'm here for, I gotta take it for a little PR onsite visit.

Right. And everyone will just believe him. 

Lauren: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Unless I beat him to it, which maybe I will. There you go. But my husband knows my driving skills and I think I'm the wrong person behind the wheel. Well, 

Joe: I don't know. Most people would just keep their cars away and so maybe you have this like natural invisible buffer.

No? The curbs are still there. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Noted. Mm hmm. Yeah, that's why my wife is not allowed to drive sedans. She finds every curb and she's going to hear this possibly and deny every aspect of that. But it's. Just look at her rims, I have to say. 

Lauren: That's, that's a problem. I can't deny it because my rim's outside in the parking lot, you'll tell.

Vince: Okay. So, share with us if you would, what, what was it, you know, you've gone through your first season. What does, what does your typical week look like, um, for a director of communications of an IndyCar 

Lauren: team? So [00:18:00] IndyCar season, 17 race weekend, well, I guess 16 because you've got, um, the IWA doubleheader. But when it comes down to it, you're doing, you know, the extra qualifying weekend at before Indy 500.

So it's a little bit around 17 weekends. Um, we travel from about Thursday morning through Sunday. So that's all race weekend. So on Thursday we get there. We do setup, we do a track walk, which is my favorite part. Um, I run the track walk, so, um, get some crazy looks from the drivers and the 

Vince: engineers. And this, you know, not knowing the inner workings may be a dumb question, but how does a director of communications suddenly become in charge of the track walk?

Lauren: Oh, I'm not in charge. I'm like, I run it, like jog it. Oh, okay. Sorry. 

Joe: Got you. You're not actually inspecting the track. You're just getting When I heard 

Vince: you say run the track walk, I'm thinking, wait, why are 

Lauren: you running the Thank God, no, that would be You're physically running. I'm physically running the track walk.

Makes sense. Um, and then [00:19:00] the drivers and the engineers, they're on these like little buggies and tow, tugs, um, to go around. And then Friday is the first time we're on track with cars. So that's a practice. Um, and then. Um, get the cars warmed up, Saturday's qualifying, and then Sunday is race day. So through the weekend, I am managing the drivers and their schedules, any media appearances, any partner appearances, um, I'm basically their manager from that standpoint of making sure that they hit all of those appearances on, on target.

Um, then come Monday, it's pretty much a flex day for most people where they can either catch up on work or just work from home, um, try to catch up on the things that they need to like laundry. And then the rest, the Tuesday, Wednesday is basically sending out pre race notes to media. Um, so we get quotes to preview the next race from our drivers and from our team leaders.

Send those [00:20:00] out to media and then Wednesday we like pitch stories. So what kind of What kind of things do we have coming up for the race weekend with our drivers? I mentioned that McLaren is very much wanting to be the most engaging So other than what we do on track, we try to get our drivers Sometimes they enjoy it.

Sometimes they don't but to do other things like for example ahead of the GP here I used my, um, airline connections and got Pato Award, Felix Rosenquist, and Alex Rossi to fly. So they flew with Lyft, um, and did that and invited media out there for that. In Portland, we did a coffee, um, tasting and latte making competition.

roasters out there, invited some media out, and the, um, The guys tried their best with lattes, but they ended up just like looking like big blobs. Um, but yeah, just fun things like that, that, that [00:21:00] create a buzz outside of like what they do in the race car. Yeah. I 

Vince: was gonna ask you, it's like, what, when you say engagement, what different forms, um, does that take 

Lauren: in terms of, 

Vince: of it trying to engage your audience?

I mean, what, what are, what are some of the most creative ways and that are also atypical from what other teams do to what the industry does in 

Lauren: general? So Yeah. Yep. Some of that so like these off site like partnerships with local businesses, I think are helpful to hit a audience that's local But then also like IndyCar is not basketball.

It's not NFL that people just turn on their TV and it's there Yeah, you kind of have to look for it, especially on the weekends that it's on Peacock, right? so we're just trying to get people to like No. Or drivers that aren't necessarily already fans of IndyCar. Sure. So how do we make Patau Ward, who is a complete character, how do we make other people love him?

Just because he's him, not necessarily because he is a race car driver and then ultimately tune in. Um, so we [00:22:00] leverage social media a lot. Um, we have them do fun goofy campaign. Um, the weekend that NFL started in Portland, we were racing in Portland that weekend. We had Pato Award and Felix, Pato's from Mexico, Felix is from Sweden.

We had them identify NFL logos. I mean, they knew nothing. They finally got the Colts right, which is great because they live in Indy, um, but I think they guessed Bengals for every team. So if you haven't seen it, um, that's a great, uh, way to spend five minutes. 

Vince: Alex, I think Alex was standing in the middle and showed him and they both were saying, he's just like.

Lauren: Alex was, um, as the resident American and football fan, he was like, so. They were appalled by how bad they were. They pulled up like the New York Jets logo, which says Jets. It says New York Jets. And Pat was like, uh, [00:23:00] New York Jets? And we're like, Oh my God. Yes. 

Joe: Well, you can read. Check. Imagine if it 

Vince: wasn't.

Right. Yeah, exactly. 

Joe: So it's interesting that you, you know, you kind of pulled a curtain back and you see the business end of sport. Some time ago, I was talking to a race car driver and. And so the layperson, they might think, well, being in the car is the hardest part, right? Because the speed, the, the, uh, impact on the body, the, the, just the nerves.

And like the driver said, no, it's, it's absolutely the easiest part because you can close off all that other noise and all the, all the responsibilities that come with the job. Once you're in the cockpit. You're just sort of there doing your thing that you grew up doing, uh, which is sort of an interesting aspect because as you're describing all of the, you know, the races a couple hours in a, in a, what a four day jam packed stint of work outside of, you know, the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Uh, [00:24:00] so just kind of interesting to hear that perspective. 

Lauren: That's exactly right, like 500, you know, the race is the longest and well, physically not so demanding because it's an oval, so they're, you know, muscle memory almost by the end of the month, but all the practices and everything like it's a pretty physically demanding month, but the drivers will tell you over and over again that that's.

A cakewalk compared to all the media and all the sponsor events, all the times that they have to be on, um, outside of the race car. That would drive 

Joe: me nuts. I'm not the kind of person to be wired when I go and like smile in front of the cameras and shake the hands and kiss the babies kind of 

Lauren: thing. Yes.

Yeah. By like May 25th, they are like, you can see on their face that they are just drained. But, like, trying to hold it together. 

Joe: It's got to be challenging, especially if you're a, you know, quote unquote fan favorite. Like, you've got to be extra on, you know, you've always got to have the smile, because especially in this day and age.

That's like I tell my teenage kids, you're always on camera. Just know you're always on camera. [00:25:00] Yes. And it's that same aspect. And when you are, especially in Indy, where people do especially know who you are because of the prevalence of IndyCar, I just, I would not, I would, well, I definitely would not be a fan 

Lauren: favorite.

Haha. Yeah, you'd, you'd be surprised though because I mean like Alex Rossi, he has this shtick that like he's, you know, reserved and he is an introvert, absolutely, but like the way he presents himself on camera, it's like he loves to hate it and hates to love it as well. Yeah. Um, and that's just become like his, his M.

O. and fans like eat that up. And so, yeah, he's always, he's one of my favorites to work with just because like, You know that it's got to be good for him to like really enjoy it. And then once you nail it, you're like, all right, feel proud of myself today. 

Vince: Perfect. So that's a good tie in. Um, what, having gone through your first year now, [00:26:00] what was, what are the biggest challenges in your position or for your position?

Lauren: Um, we talked a little bit about this already, but because IndyCar isn't one of these, you know, top tier sports to mainstream America, I think it's really just like finding relevance for an audience. Um, you know, the racetrack stuff for me too, that's easy, like the media is there, it's easy to pitch some media member that knows your team, knows your drivers in and out.

But how do we get people who I have never been to an IndyCar race, interested in going and becoming a fan. So I've been really trying to focus my job on like the non endemic medias, the national media resources, but you have to build that trust and build that rapport with them in order to get that. So.

That's one because I think the team can't do it without IndyCar, Indy can't do it without the team. So we're trying to really work together and boost the brand recognition of IndyCar as a series and then ultimately our drivers as well. [00:27:00] But then also I think it's that, like what you mentioned earlier about the drivers, you know, they have to be on.

And as the communications person who's Making them do another interview or telling them that they have to go to this partner event. It's developing that trust and that That willingness from them to basically be like, all right I know that this is not what I want to do, but you are having me do this for a good reason So I'm going to trust you to like make that this is my best interest and so fortunately we have a great team of drivers and While Felix is now at Meyers Schenck, we've got David Maloukas, who's this up and comer in the IndyCar series and a character out of this world.

Um, they're, they're easy to get that trust, but then it's just up for, to me to maintain it and make sure that every opportunity that I present to them is. Fun is worthwhile and is going to boost their brand as well as ours, 

Joe: right? I mean, you've got basically get their buy [00:28:00] in. So how do you do that with I guess somewhat fortunately There's not a super fast revolving door on drivers because they're under contract, but you are seeing new faces.

How do you? Establish that relationship to get that buy in when you have someone known to the series, but new coming into the team. 

Lauren: I see my role to a degree as customer service. Um, you know, I am there to be like their person that they can rely on, um, and give them good opportunities. So, like with David, for example, um, he and I have been in contact for a few weeks now and it's just really like building those conversations, asking him, like, what do you want to get out of it?

What do you want your brand to be? What, if I can get you any interview with some media out there, like who would it be? And then do my best to get that done. Um, so I think there's, there's a certain part that's like the team has needs. We have to, you know, answer some of the media that may not necessarily have the biggest audience, [00:29:00] but it helps the sport.

So, giving them a good balance of like, this is an amazing opportunity that you would never pass down, and this is one that like, yeah, you're gonna have to log on on a Tuesday at 930 and do the Zoom interview, but there are people reading the story and this is why. Sure. 

Joe: Uh, switching gears a little bit, see right there, switching gears and yeah, um, you, you look at any, any sport that you've kind of mentioned NFL, NBA, but let's talk motorsport.

Um, there have been female drivers. Uh, you know, in and out of the series, Danica Patrick, probably the most consistent, uh, in IndyCar and beyond, uh, but nothing really consistent the last several years. You have, refreshingly speaking, you have seen, um, endeavors, teams that have been women based. You've, you've can watch, I mean, you're watching the race on TV and you see, A person go over the wall in the pit crew and you see it's a female that's changing attire, things like [00:30:00] that.

And you're, so you're seeing more and more elements of a female participation in what has historically been a male dominated industry behind the cameras. Have, what has that been like for you entering the industry and trying to sort of further that involvement and that diversification of, Hey, It's not just a boys club.

Lauren: Mm hmm. Yeah, that's been an ongoing theme kind of throughout my career. Um, collegiate was a little bit different because you have designated male and female sports. Um, and I think ultimately like diversity starts at the college level because it's there. You just have to figure out the best way to work with it.

Um, but in the airlines, I mean, think of the last time you flew and saw a female pilot. Mm hmm. Um, and then mechanic, which you don't really see because they're, you know, back behind the scenes. But I mean, it's like 03 percent of mechanics are females in the airline industry. Um, and so then that was really the environment that I [00:31:00] was in whenever I got to, um, the racing team.

But in addition to kind of like McLaren being. You know, having this mission of being the most engaging team in the paddock. The other thing that drew me to McLaren is that they are very committed to their sustainability efforts, which is inclusive of diversity. Um, so I think that the racing world has a long way to go.

Um, one, like. Racing is all about funding. In basketball, in football, in soccer, like, you can get a long way, you can get pretty much to pro as long as you've got talent. Um, the most talented driver may not get anywhere because they don't have the buy in from sponsors or the money to back them up from, you know, family.

So I think it's hard, I think it's an additional barrier from a female standpoint because they have that extra point to prove. Because they're, you know, a unicorn and that and then it's like, okay, [00:32:00] well, if you have a family, will that take you out of racing because you're going to be more committed to your family and, you know, you have obviously a pregnancy to deal with.

So I think there's a little bit more risk with female drivers. Um, that's unfortunate, but hopefully we can get there. However, from the rest of the racing world, like, that should happen now. Um, like, that should be something that is spotlighted in an ongoing conversation. I'm happy to be, like, part of that.

I don't know if I can necessarily be the spokesperson on it today, but hopefully, you know, can get there. However, um, There's a lot of initiative. There's a lot of organizations within racing. There's women in motorsport in North America. That's just getting started There's this organization awesome organization called grid click that is not just for Employees or people who want to work within the sport, but they're also like encouraging female fans Because a lot of times with [00:33:00] female fans like they got in through drive to survive so they're Talking this like pop culture of racing and it's like almost looked down on of like, well, you don't really know the drivers You don't know the stats, but I'm interested.

I'm watching every race So it gives them a platform to kind of like be vocal in their fandom And we've seen a lot more of those fans come to racing and reach out to me reach out to my colleagues Um, to figure out like, how'd you get into it? How did you get over that imposter syndrome of like, Oh, this is a place for me.

This is where I can, you know, insert my talents and, and have success. 

Vince: So along those same lines, what advice would you give the younger Lauren today who's maybe considering it or is interested in sports or frankly, more specifically. interested in motor car racing, but may be concerned about trying to break into that industry.

Lauren: If you have the skill and the [00:34:00] talent and the courage to do it, like, there's no one stopping you. Yeah. Um, no one that I've worked with has blinked in the fact that I'm a woman in the paddock. Um, I think that there is that. I mean, I'm not gonna say that I me because I don't see me there already. Like our team last year, whenever I stepped into McLaren, we had eight females.

One year later we have 16. I mean, so people are, we're, one as a team we're becoming more intentional of like, alright, let's go for it. Seek candidates who are diverse, not just females, but of ethnicity, of any background. Um, but then also like you're seeing it more. So then you're seeing like, oh, there's a female doing that role.

I can do it, too. We have a kick ass engineer, Kate Gunlach, who has been such an inspiration for other people. In fact, There are two other, um, [00:35:00] engineers on our team now that are female and she, like, hand picked them to come to our team. And that's what it takes. Like, it takes someone to say, like, I recognize talent.

I know she can do it. She's coming on board with 

Vince: us. Yeah. I want the best person for the job. If they happen to be female, great. Whatever. I mean, we want a kick ass team, as you said. Yeah. Um, Brian and Zach, I, I only know them at, you know, arm's length, but, um, both highly competitive individuals. And, um, I, I think they're, they're taking that team, uh, as just, as we just described and trying to mold it into the best team possible and certainly, um, making McLaren one of the, the preeminent teams in an IndyCar, if not motor racing in 

Lauren: general.

Yes. Yeah. What I love is that. They are totally bought into the mission. Um, I mean, Arrow McLaren itself is a generally new team in IndyCar, granted our roots are Sam Schmidt. Yeah. Um, racing, however, as a [00:36:00] team, we're pretty new into it and we're wasting no time to like compete with the Ganassi, Andretti's, Penske's.

Right. Who are those 

Joe: guys? 

Lauren: I don't know. Look them up. 

Joe: Yeah, I'll Google them. Maybe I can see them on LinkedIn. 

Vince: So what, what would you share with the IndyCar fans about what's to come? You know, what's, what's it look like next year? What things that you can actually share? 

Lauren: Yeah. So right now, um, let's see here.

We're eagerly awaiting the schedule. There's a 

Joe: lot of... Part of it come, came out, right? Like nine races? Bits 

Lauren: and pieces. Um, so they're slowly coming out. Some of it's because like IMSA has announced where we're racing alongside them and then some... You know, obviously the Indy 500 is always Memorial Day weekend, so we can kind of piece them together, but there are a few wild cards that are out there, like is Milwaukee going to happen?

Um, Texas I think is in flux right now, so I think within the next two weeks we should know the schedule. [00:37:00] Um, and that's exciting for us because that really dictates our lives and where we're, where we are. Right. But, um, you know, as a team, last year we were Growing from two cars to three cars. So our staff increased by 40 percent from, um, from the year before.

And so this year we're able to kind of like smooth all the things out. Last year it was just like get people on board as fast as we can and put them wherever they fit today. Now we're able to kind of see where their successes and failures were and put them in right positions. Um, and then smooth out processes.

So we're really excited because I think that will let us be more competitive and more consistent. Um, that was one downfall of this past season is that we had really high highs, but then it would be combated with really low lows. So I think consistency will be great. Um, we are super excited about the 500 next year because we are having Kyle Larson as our fourth [00:38:00] car.

Um, so you said you're a NASCAR fan. I don't know if that was in jest. 

Joe: That was in jest. Um, I mean, nothing against NASCAR necessarily. It's just not my cup of tea. Well hopefully IndyCars. I mean, being born and raised in Indy. An open wheel guy, I am. Yeah. 

Vince: And also probably, I'll speak for, on behalf of both of us, but a little more, or not, a little more interested in oval races.

Oh yeah. Um, so like, if Texas goes away, that'll be disappointing. I know. I mean, maybe there's aspects of that race that I'm just unaware of as a casual fan, but like, I want to see races like that. 

Joe: They're exciting. I mean, I like street and road courses, 

Vince: um. If there's enough passing opportunities, and it's not like F1 where, oh, so and so gets the pole, he has a 90 percent chance of winning.

Right, 

Joe: yeah. I do like the feuding that's, that, it's like it kind of got a little hot for a while, which was cool, between F1 and IndyCar, and it kind of goes away, and then every now and then, like, they need more feuding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good for, like, just get the little PR aspect. [00:39:00] 

Lauren: Yeah. Yeah, I think there's, um, there's good potential to have our, like, little villains, but also like the guys in IndyCar that are racing, um, and then obviously you had Kath, um, Kathleen or Catherine, uh, for the 500s of guys and females, um, but like they're all just really nice like guys next door.

So there's not that like villain except for Will Power sometimes. And I love when Will Power Will Powers. He's amazing. That's a good way of putting it. He's one of 

Joe: my favorites. That's great. That's great. And then, uh, then I'm meeting one more engine supplier, preferably Porsche. I would really like to see Porsche built engines in the, uh.

I didn't, well. That would 

Vince: probably never happen. Knowing you, I, I understand why the Porsche thing came out. I'm surprised. Well, they, but they have a history. 

Joe: Even Penske has a history with Porsche. Yeah. And Mercedes. 

Vince: Yeah. Mm hmm. Have, having some more manufacturers involved would be cool. Yeah. I think it'd be cool for everyone because, I mean, you think of the broad scope, more diversity in terms of different types of cars or different engines, whatever, certainly would bring in more [00:40:00] funding, I would think.

Mm hmm. But, you know, easier said than done. Yeah, absolutely. 

Joe: There's that whole business aspect of it, you know. Dollars and cents. Yes. 

Lauren: Yeah. I'll let 

Vince: someone else answer that. What have you, I know you've only been in it for a little over a year, what have you seen, um, in terms of the pen, I'll call it the Penske effect.

So Roger acquires IMS and really the, the league or 

Joe: the, yeah, the series, all of

Vince: it. What have you seen even, even in just a year that, that owner, that new ownership has brought to the table? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Lauren: A few things, one, anybody who went to the 500 this year or the GP's, like, the place is immaculate. Yeah. The IMS is like the most pristine place in India right now. It's perfect. Um, so 

Vince: that's one.

Which says a lot, as big as that freaking place 

Joe: is. When they kept the troughs. Yes. Don't touch the troughs. [00:41:00] 

Vince: Well, and Time honored tradition right there. And nothing against Roger, um, but Doug Bowles is probably I mean, I don't have to say, I've said it before, I think Doug's the man, like he is in the perfect position as a perfect person for that job.

So that certainly lends itself well. Yes. 

Lauren: Yes. Um, also their staff, um, granted I was, I've just been here a year, but I know compared to when I started to 12 months later. Um, they have more resources, which is amazing, and the staff that they've attracted is top tier. Um, so they're able to use resources from IndyCar to the IMS to the Penske organization.

They all kind of pitch in when work is needed. Um, so I've seen an amazing increase because even the people that we dealt with, um, or worked with before. Were great. They were just, you know, stretched so thin. So now they're able to actually do their jobs [00:42:00] and have resources to support them. So the staffing has been amazing.

And then there's a, um, a good start to bigger marketing initiatives. You saw last year, um, leading into the 500, you had the 100 days to indie show where, um, I think from the content standpoint, it was an overwhelming success. I think viewership was lower than what they hoped, but, um, I mean, think about year one of Drive to Survive.

It really took season two and three to get people behind the series and give them content to keep watching. Um, so I'm hopeful that we have season two come about because Vice, awesome to work with. The film crew, they were truly like flies on the wall capturing this amazing content and really cool to work with as well.

Um, and then you've got. A GQ campaign that Pato was actually a part of, um, that Penske has, you know, driven that effort as well. So I think that there's a [00:43:00] lot more like big name marketing that they're finally like courageous enough to, to go for and feel like they need to in order to get up to the levels of F1 and NASCAR.

Joe: Yeah. I, I actually watched that 100 days to Indy and, you know, as an IndyCar guy, it was It was just a cool aspect of kind of behind the scenes of what the industry is like. It's kind of like the business nerd. I like to kind of see what the behind the scenes of that aspect, but then also some of the personal side of it.

But you hit the nail on the head. It's creating and driving that content because in today's society, in terms of how people consume. Branding, it's, it's not just going to an event, but it's, it's all the off days and how do you gain that interest and how do you create new, new viewers and, and, and, you know, new fans, et cetera.

Lauren: And we talk about this all the time as a team is. You know, our drivers are the best ways to [00:44:00] connect with fans, not necessarily from like how they perform in the car, that's a given, but like, how do we showcase them as people? And that series did exactly that. Like, you've got Pato, who lives a wild lifestyle, was, you know, playing with all of his toys down in Mexico, and just like, you get to see that type of, A person of who he is or even like Joseph, everyone talked about him and his muscles on the show.

But like how he was a dad. I liked His house was very cool. Yeah. Um, but then you got to see his like son as well. And, and you see that part, which, you know, otherwise you would never even know. 

Joe: Right. Yeah. Yeah. His body and his fitness were just meh. I mean, I wasn't very impressed, but. I think you're in the 

Lauren: um.

The the minority on 

Joe: that one. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the target market on the shirtless scene. I'm just saying. Probably not. Yeah. Probably not. No. 

Vince: Yeah, those days are gone. Um, so how about some parting words of wisdom or maybe share if you can, does the average [00:45:00] person not know about IndyCar or an IndyCar team that would be worth, that you would want them to know?

Hmm. Or even more specifically, is there something about McLaren IndyCar that you would want, that you want the market to know? I mean, it's not your, your podium. Get on the soapbox 

Lauren: and. Yeah, so I think, um, I think there's twofold. I think me, I was not necessarily a racing fan before I got this job. Um, but like the, the differences of racing, you know, from F1, which is very much manufacturer focused and engineering focused.

Um, you know, cars that are the most technologically advanced machines ever and then the driver has to fit into that and they can make changes based off of the driver and their comfort level. Whereas like IndyCar, it is pure speed machine. Um, you know, it is. Um, the chassis are all identical and you've got two [00:46:00] manufacturers.

So the driver has to be an athlete to be able to manual steer that machine. No power steering. No power steering. Um, and the cars go like the fastest speeds because of the ovals like we talked about. Right. Yeah. Um, so I think. Um, in order for me to have truly appreciated racing, it was like knowing like racing is not all the same.

Um, there are distinguishments and, and each series is exciting for its own, you know, merit. Um, and then as far as McLaren in general, um, I think it's cool to, like, see the history of the team and, like, we're making our comeback here. McLaren, like, in the mid 70s was one of the most successful IndyCar teams, um, with drivers like Johnny Rutherford, who was a three time Indy 500 champion, um, and this past year we've celebrated kind of 60 years of history, so in addition to me just, like, learning about McLaren, I had, like, a history lesson as well.

But I think it's, it's neat. For [00:47:00] both people who've always been fans of racing to kind of see this resurgence of McLaren, but then also this, you know, fun, new, engaging brand kind of like energizing the paddock. Um, that actually leads me to one more point. I hope we have time. Um. We have all day. What I think is the coolest thing about McLaren within IndyCar specifically is that look around the different teams and not to knock on anybody, but.

McLaren is a team, like we have papaya on all three cars, talked about papaya earlier. Oh, I hear what you're saying, yeah. no, that's good. Um, but all the cars look the same. You can go to any other team and you may not know who they're driving for because there's nothing that unifies them. Sponsor driven.

Joe: Deliveries are sponsor driven versus team driven. 

Lauren: Exactly. And so when you see people out in the stands, like, I think that our fan base is growing a lot, but it's more obvious because no matter [00:48:00] who someone is cheering for, which driver on McLaren's team, They're all wearing papaya. If you go to another team, they could be wearing blue, they could be wearing yellow, they could be wearing red.

And it could change 

Vince: every other weekend. Yes. That's, as, I'm a brand, whatever, um, Snob. Yeah, that's okay. That's probably not appropriate. 

Joe: Um. No, I was just calling him a snob. Nothing to do with branding. 

Vince: I'm a brand snob, too. I, I agree with that a hundred percent because the more they see that car in its consistency, The more they're going to buy into it potentially.

The only challenge is the ovals. I get, like some of the guys, I'm not going to, I'm not going to, yeah, I'm not going to call other, call out other, other drivers because they're doing whatever they can to bring in the sponsorship dollars to allow them to continue to actually have that job and do what they love.

But literally when that car has to change. Every race, and I, I get why it's happening, but it's hard to build that consistency. Mm hmm. Whereas if, if the [00:49:00] McLaren cars look the same and you can see the connection between the three. 

Lauren: Yep. I get it. And even when we change our partners, um, because like for the number six car, we have three primary spot, primary sponsors on it.

So it rotates through the season and they always have the same feel. So it's always primarily papaya, but then has a different color. That's kind of its accents. 

Vince: Right. And as long as that partner's okay with going with, you know, just their black logo or just their white logo or something that fits in though with the overall scheme, that's going to stay consistent.

Yeah. That's part of the deal. You can get away with it. More power to 

Lauren: you. Yeah. Yeah. I would say our branding. I'm biased, but I think in recent years has just become like what IndyCar is like all growing toward. 

Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of branding, if you'd like to loan me that car in the gym and you want me just to do laps on 465.

Or I go, or I can, I can just, I can take it out to wherever the race is and just drive it around their [00:50:00] local highway loop. I'm more than happy to do that. You'll have 

Lauren: to beat Tony Kanaan to it, which he's pretty speedy, so I'm not sure if that's possible. 

Joe: I'm, I'm, I don't, don't, I've got a lot of 

Vince: fight in me.

I've got a lot of fight in me. We drive by Tony's house all the time, that we live fairly close without saying where and um. Maybe, maybe when Tony does have it, we'll just say, hey, 

Joe: we'll come over and... He's stronger than me and he can ride a bike faster than me, but I can still outrun him. There you go.

Perfect. Not in a distance. 

Vince: Really funny story though. Um, you, you're familiar with the Rev event at the beginning of May. Uh, our parents were there one year. And the number of times, people who did not know, uh, the story behind Tony's father who had already passed away. Uh, the number of times people came up to our father asking if he was Tony's dad.

Like, not just one time, but like, seven, eight times. It was kind of funny. That 

Lauren: is amazing. 

Joe: Yeah. I know I need to see. Is Kanaan, is he, does he have Lebanese? He 

Vince: has, he's from Brazil. One of his parents or a grandparent. So there's two Arabs. [00:51:00] Immigrated from Lebanon. So there's Tony 

Joe: Kanaan and Graham Rahal, who as my wife says, her boyfriend.

Oh wow. Oh. Okay. You're okay with that? Whatever. I mean, we all have our thing, whatever, you know, it's cool. 

Vince: All right. Cool. Well, Lauren, thank you for coming in and shedding some light on McLaren IndyCar. We appreciate it. Yeah, this was fun. I quite appreciate you guys. And thank all you guys for tuning in to this episode of the Industrious Podcast.

Thank you for listening. Thank you for viewing it on the SSI YouTube channel, if that's where you're catching this episode. Don't forget, if you're on there, hit that subscribe button. Hit the little notification icon to be alerted when new episodes like this one drop. It won't cost you a dime. You don't have to get an IndyCar to do it.

No problem. But if 

Joe: you want to, we can make that happen. Lauren promised. 

Vince: Maybe, maybe in a simulator at best. All right. Thanks. Thanks guys for joining us again and don't forget, be industrious.[00:52:00]