Sophia Whitesell: sometimes the smallest things like that that really just help them and help, you know, continue to push their life. Welcome to the Giving Game, the only show where professional athletes are banned from talking about their sport. That's right. No stats, no game recaps, no media trained answers. I'm your host, Sophie Weitzel, and every episode we find out who these athletes actually are when the cameras stop rolling and the jerseys come off. We're talking untold stories, questionable life decisions, dating disasters, money, family, fame, philanthropy, and all the stuff their PR teams would probably prefer stayed off the internet. But here's the twist. Every episode is tied to a charity or cause chosen by the athlete. So while we're exposing personalities, we're also raising real money and driving measurable impact for the organizations that matter. There are only three rules on this show: no sports talk, no filters, raise as much money as possible. So if you've ever wondered what athletes are really like off the field, welcome to the Giving Game. Let the game begin. So excited to have you today. I want to warn everybody that Jesse Iwooji fans out here. I actually don't know anything about his NASCAR career. I don't know anything about my guests other than their nonprofits. So there's three rules on the show: no sports talk. Please, no PR answers. Keep it real with people. Okay. Like nobody has time for that. And ⁓ let's try to raise as much money as possible for charity. So welcome, Jesse. Hey, yeah. Thanks for having me on the show. Yeah, yeah. So tell me a little bit about you and tell me a little bit about the foundations you're involved with. Yeah, yeah. So ⁓ a little bit more about myself without talking sports. Let's see. All right. I know I know it's tough. It's tough for some of you guys. Yeah, yeah. All right. So I I'm from Dallas, Texas originally, and I I had a lot of fun, you know, doing stuff we're not supposed to be talking about on the show. And then that allowed me to get to the next level, which was college. And ⁓ I got recruited to go play sports and games. If I was gonna guess, I would say you're a football player. You look like a football player. Am I? Am I right? ⁓ here, there you go. Hey, okay. All right. I got recruited to go do this. So I didn't say it. It says it right here. Okay. I love it. I love it. Yeah. So anyways, went to Naval Academy, was there for four years, ⁓ graduated in two thousand ten, ⁓ became a surface warfare officer. So as a surface warfare officer, ⁓ what we do is we drive ships, we operate the ships, we we all different kind of ships out there in the US Navy. You got cruisers, you got destroyers, you got amphibs, you got ⁓ LCS, carriers, you name it. I was on an amphib I was on a minesweeper for my first four years in the Navy, went on two different deployments out to the Middle East, spent about fifteen months of my life out there in the Arabian Gulf doing all the stuff that we do when we're out there. And came back from all that and was transitioning over to the shore duty side because I had already done four years of sea duty. So now it's time to, I guess, take a break. The Navy gives you the opportunity to go, you know, sit on shore for a couple of years. So I was like, yeah, I'll go maximize that. So went to the Naval Postgraduate School and I was serving on the staff there. And while there, I really took a huge interest into getting more into cars. And then you know what people people who like cars and like going fast with cars typically l they like going into this other sport where they go really fast with them. So anyways, I got into that world and then been slowly working my way up. And then now I'm at where I'm at. But throughout the journey, it's been really cool. I knew ⁓ you know, along my journey of trying to just make life happen, ⁓ I've met a lot of great people, been been part of a lot of great things, and that's what led me towards ⁓ wanting to figure out, okay, as I'm building this platform that I have, as I'm building my brand, my name, my story, my journey, all that stuff, ⁓ it's it's gonna go somewhere. It's gonna go big, but you know, why not use it also for good, right? There's a lot of people who have big platforms and they use it for bad. There's a lot of people who have big platforms and they use it to influence people in the wrong ways. So I was like, you know, if I if people are gonna look up to me, I'm not saying I got a million followers or anything, but you know, I got a decent amount of people looking at it. You know, why not try to at least put positivity into their life through what I do and how I do things and how I present myself. So one thing I started jumping into was, you know, finding different ways to partner with different ⁓ organizations out there, charities, groups that are out there trying to do their right thing. Right. I don't want to just be with anyone. I want to be with folks who are really truly out there trying to make real differences in people's lives, ⁓ no matter where they come from. And ⁓ and a lot of these opportunities really kind of just presented themselves to me. I didn't really have to go look for them. They just kind of were there. They reached out to me or whatever. I was like, hey, this is a great fit. Let's try to do something. Now I'm not, you know, I'm not Superman, so I can't unfortunately I can't do something with every group in the world or else I wouldn't be able to do anything, period. ⁓ but when it has made sense and I and I could actually do something and I could actually put energy into it, ⁓ I I've partnered up s with some great groups. So the f one of the first ones was the Phoenix Patriot Foundation. That was actually when I first got into the whole ⁓ racing world. And they were actually the first group I ever partnered with ever. And for with them, you know, what we were doing, we were helping bring like ⁓ vets to the track. So, you know, I'd you know, do my racing thing, we're bringing them to a track, we were showing them to a good time. We have we'd ⁓ give them like this whole VIP treatment. We'd have like a suite at the track that we could put ⁓ in. You w we we allowed them to come into the pits, you know, pre-race, after the race. ⁓ we're doing some cool stuff with them on social media, just basically utilizing the assets that we had to help give them just the time of their life for that day, that weekend, you know, something that they truly deserve, right? There's a lot of people who have served who have been overseas, you know, fought in wars, gone through different things. And sometimes they come back and, you know, maybe they're living a whatever normal life, whatever it is. And maybe sometimes they're not feeling fulfilled anymore. They're not feeling, you know, that. whatever it was that they used to feel like that it's just not there anymore. So having the opportunity to come to like, you know, a a motorsports event and not just sit in the grandstands but have like real access to really cool things that a lot of people don't get access to. For them it just meant the world. And yeah, you never know where that one day, that one experience could take someone, right? It could open up their eyes to a whole new world. It could be the positive thing that helps them go on a positive trajectory. Some people are going downhill because They're going through a lot of stuff, they're stressing through a lot of things, and life isn't going the way they want. Yeah. So you just never know how much a one positive day could really change someone's life. So sorry that once I did that, that's what kind of got it into my head. I'm like, you know what? I can do the same kind of thing with other organizations too. So ⁓ another organization that partnered up with throughout the years was they're called a kid again. So a kid again. And the cool thing with them is There's a lot of kids out there who are facing life-threatening illnesses and conditions, ⁓ going through life, you know, constantly in and out of the hospital or constantly in the hospital. And and those kids, unfortunately, they're not living the same life as many other kids. Their goal with a kid again is to help these kids feel like a kid again. So by giving them some cool experiences, doing really cool things for them. So when I when I first heard about them and what their mission was, you know, at that time, it w I think it was around 2022 when we first linked up with them, either 2021 or 2022. And we were we actually were just starting our own racing team at that time. So now I had even more control of what was happening and how I could do more stuff with more people. So we figured out ways to go partner up with ⁓ with with a kid again and I'd I'd go out to certain events, I'd go do some surprise visits and I'd even we'd even ⁓ there there was a group of kids that we even did like these ⁓ Mario Kart tournaments with. So ⁓ we we since Mario Kart you can play online and do like online tournaments, I would jump in and you know, be the real race car driver who could jump in and compete and these kids they loved it because like w how many kids can sit there and say, Hey, yeah, I jumped on Mario Kart and got to race a real life race car driver, right? So like it was cool. We did it like multiple times and sometimes just even random. Like they didn't even know it was gonna happen. And then like we just set up a tournament and then all of a sudden boom I'm in there and they're like, whoa. Dude, I feel like it's all I feel like it's almost like sacrilegious to play ma like Mario Kart on anything other than a Nintendo sixty four. Like anything other than an N sixty four, I feel like you can't. We're all used to N sixty four, but ⁓ there's there there's a group of people older than us that are at played Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo. You know? So yeah, I d actually I don't think I've ever played Super Nintendo Mario Kart. N sixty four was the first one I ever played and and now they have ⁓ Nintendo ⁓ what's it called? The Switch? G Switch, yes. I was gonna say DS, but Switch, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, sorry. I just had to put that those two cents in on on the N sixty four. Okay, go ahead. Yeah, yeah. N sixty four is the OG for me. That's the original. That's like to me. But ⁓ yeah, so we we do those. ⁓ and then ⁓ one time I was able to we were we we went to this ⁓ it's not a fair but like this theme park and and I'm forgetting where it was exactly. I think it was in Virginia, if I'm not mistaken. Can't remember. Or I think it was in Virginia, I think. I believe so. But anyways, went to some theme park out there and we surprised some kids on a on a visit there. They didn't know I was gonna be there. They were doing something with the kid again at this theme park. And then, you know, they're standing there and getting interviewed and then all of a sudden out of nowhere I'm standing behind them and they look and they're just like lost their minds. Like they like Yeah. So it's just stuff like that. Yeah, it's stuff like that. Little things that just, you know, that these kids just they don't get to have all the time because they're always in and out of the hospitals. They're going through so much. So it's sometimes the smallest things like that that really just help them and help. You know, continue to push through life. ⁓ another group that I've something I did see on your social media is that you're a dad. Are you a recent new dad? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, happy first Father's Day. If no Yeah. Amazing. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. So the ⁓ so another group we partner with, which is another veteran group called ⁓ PB A Body. So ⁓ what their whole goal and mission is is ⁓ they're out there to serve. all vets, you know, whether you are wounded vet, not wounded vet, whatever, doesn't matter. Your vet period, they're there to serve you. Their their mission is to, you know, take vets out, put them ⁓ you know, take them on cool k take them to cool events, trips, things like that, even getaways, you know, so that they can just have a way to kind of disconnect from life and the stressors and everything going on and connect with other vets who have been there, done that, been where they've been, ⁓ find community with them, but just kind of be away. from everything that they're normally doing. ⁓ that's what that's what they've done. And they've done it, they've done a really great job with it. I mean one of the most organized and organized organizations I've ever been a I've ever been a part of. ⁓ and and they do a lot of great work. There's some things I've done outside of just the charity work too. Well actually well let's well let's go one one more group. Okay. Sally Foundation, right? So strong enough, long enough foundation. So that group Me and my ⁓ co-owner of my racing team and then also ⁓ another friend that we have who is in the five ⁓ one three C world. ⁓ we started this thing called Sally Foundation, which is strong enough, long enough foundation. So our goal with that is we're not we're not really there. It's not we're not super picky on who exactly we help or how we help. Yeah. But our whole goal is to find a way to help organizations. that have found a way to stay strong enough long enough, right? So there's plenty of organizations out there, a lot some of them doing really well. They don't need anybody's help. ⁓ some of them not. You know, some of them are just out there just fighting just to stay in it and do the right thing. And our goal is to use like people like me and and our assets that we have and platform that we have to raise money and and and help those those groups out so that they can keep going on their mission and doing what they do. ⁓ there isn't one particular road we take. It's just whatever. You know, it's like kinda like However we can help, we just find a way to when we can. Yes. ⁓ exact. So ⁓ you know, even you know, we we've we've done st we've done we've been to charity events that, you know, charity poker events, charity golf events. We've done ⁓ we've put on ⁓ events ourselves, we've we've been we've just we've done a lot just to kinda be out there. ⁓ we're kind of very, very low key. There's not a lot of stuff out there. We got a social media and this and that, but it's very, very low key. Like we see an opportunity, we find a way to help. And then that's it. You know, and then we disappear, we go to the next one and the next one, the next one. So we're like kind of like a no, I wouldn't say like an angel investor, but like we're just, you know, back just angels, that's all. Just angels. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. No. I think I what I really respect too is that like you have so much respect for how much work it is to have a nonprofit and operate a nonprofit. So I think that so many athletes that I talk to like, ⁓ my gosh, we had no clue. what it would take to make it successful. One, and a lot of times, you know, they're the ones that are solely funding it. So I think it's great that you're like, hey, you know, listen, I'm gonna be a part of all these because maybe you don't have the time, right? Or like, you know, whatever it may take to do your own. So you're like, hey, I'm gonna be a part of all these other different things that I believe in. And I think that's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. And and you're absolutely correct. It is hard. It's difficult to like really run it and really try to make a successful a successful. You gotta put in a lot. of effort, a lot of energy, ⁓ money too money. ⁓ yeah, money and to go raise funds isn't easy. Unfortunately, yeah, we all like to think that, you know, everyone in the world just donate to this stuff, but they don't. So ⁓ people spend their money however they want to spend it. You know, you can't blame them. So ⁓ yeah it's not easy. It's not easy to to get them going and up and ⁓ up and running and keep them going. But for the ones that are out there who are are just staying after it, you know, find a way to be part of those ones. You know, and there's there's plenty of them out there that still need help. Need volunteers, it doesn't it's not necessarily always that they need money, sometimes they just need help like manpower, you know, somebody to just help out with this event, you know, volunteer, whatever it is. That there's plenty of groups out there. So for those looking to do something, you know, if you're looking for some way to serve your community, serve your your city, your state, your country, your ⁓ group of people that you fit in with, whatever it is. There's ways to do it. There's plenty of of charities out there and organizations who are ⁓ serving different communities, ⁓ different walks of life in different ways. ⁓ and go out, you know, do something with them. You know, not saying you gotta do something every day, but you know, do something and you know, it's just your way to get back and just help hopefully make the world a better place. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. I really do. I I'm curious if anything about you has changed that surprised you after you became a dad. Yeah. ⁓ just the way I how I like and this and that w yeah, one so once we had our kid ⁓ in December, you know, since then I've all always just like I I I think a lot of safeties about a lot of safety stuff, right? You know, I see things out there, I'm like, ⁓ let me make sure I watch out for that, watch out for that with them and this and that. I I notice now a lot more kids out there and how they act and behave. And, you know, some I'm like, ⁓ yeah, that looks like a great kid like, ⁓ that doesn't look like a great one. And then and then I think Parents wise, like, okay, for the ones that I see that are out there that don't look like they're getting a lot of guidance and they're s slowly starting to go off the beaten path, like those ones I'm like, okay, let me let me figure out in my mind, like what where where are those parents starting to go wrong? Because you can see how trends will generally lead towards other things. So what can I do to not be like that? Right? You know? I mean there there's times, you know, I I've, you know, ⁓ Tell my wife all the I'm like, we'll go to In N Out. Sometimes I have a late night, I'll go to In N Out like super late. And I'm like, hold on, it's like a middle of the week, it's you know 10 30 p.m. I was like, Why are these kids who look like they're probably in middle school? They'll probably don't even drive yet. Like, why are they out and about and like it's like school week, right? Like, you know, like these are the things that little things that don't seem like much, but it's sometimes giving away hyper aware. Yeah, yeah. You know, I just you know, okay, when I was a kid, how did I think? And what would I've potentially gotten into if I was given a lot of freedom and not much, you know, oversight, you know? And that's how one thing could lead to another, you know? And the next thing you know, you're wondering like years later, dang, how why why'd you end up like this? Well, because nobody was on him. Like my parents stayed on us hard. And some people would say, ⁓ yeah, they were too strict. Well, I'm at where I'm at now because they were too strict, you know? Like if they let me just do whatever I wanted to do, I probably wouldn't be where I'm at right now. You probably wouldn't be talking to me. I'd probably be like out doing whatever some stupid or whatever. So yeah. Yeah. Do you feel like you'll be as strict on your son? ⁓ not in the same exact way, but definitely we will there's not a lot of restrictions will be occurring, yes. But not in the same way as my parents. Not in the exact same way. There were some there were some things that were kind of pointless that my parents did. But everything else a lot of the other things did make sense. Yeah. When you look back on it. Yeah. No, I I think I always said I'm like, ⁓ my kids are not gonna have screen time, they're gonna be, you know, and then you realize that that's just the way of the world at this point and all you can do is really try to restrict it as much as humanly possible. You just kinda ⁓ you know, monitor it, you know, monitor it and make sure just the right information is getting to them and not the wrong. You know, there's very it's very easy for the wrong stuff to be getting into their head, you know, so you gotta you gotta watch it, you know. ⁓ Unfortunately there's a lot of there's a lot of bad actors out there trying to get into kids' heads and early, you know, early. And sometimes it seems very h harmless. You know, you could see a show and like, ⁓ yeah, it looks like a kid's show and then all of a sudden you start like, hold on, this ain't you know Yeah. I no, ⁓ you know, I had one of these moments yesterday where I was like, ⁓ my gosh, have I gone so psycho that I've like made this into my kids problem 'cause my son, he's like getting ready to eat something and he goes, ⁓ wait, I need to check and see if there's any red dye in this and I was like, ⁓ gosh, I probably like went too psychotic about that kind of stuff but I really think it's terrifying, like that I have to check my labels. ⁓ you do you know what I mean? Yeah, you do. ⁓ yeah. I mean it it it's I think, you know, our parents back in the day didn't think anything of it because they didn't know any better. Right. Like they I our parents come from a world where you were supposed to trust that the information that you're being given was right and that no one was actually trying to do anything that would harm you. And then we later have now all found out now that we're privy to a lot more information that ⁓ wow, there are a lot of these companies truly just don't care about us at all. And they will give us whatever, whether it's gonna kill you or not. ⁓ so now we have to be more hyper aware. Now that we know, you know, we're armed with this knowledge, we gotta be more hyper aware and it sucks, but that's just how it is. Now, luckily there is good stuff out there, there is good foods, good, you know, this and that. You just gotta be more hyper aware because as time goes on, like it every single company, every show, every this and that, every bit of entertainment, everything is trying to fight for your. kids attention somehow, some way. Even food. It's like, okay, how do we hook you on this so that you're like on it all the time. So you want this all the time. What do we do to like manipulate? I mean, I even heard recently about some of these shows, right? These companies will like, you know, they'll create a develop whatever show and they'll have they'll do a test with kids and they'll sit there and monitor the kids. And then the moment a kid looks away from the screen, they'll stop the they'll they'll they'll mark it down to say, okay, from this second to this second or this minute to this minute, a kid looked away. We need to edit that scene and make sure that the kid stays locked in. Like they I mean, that's how crazy it is. And every company is doing it. Like, hey, when someone tastes something, how are they feeling? Okay. Like how like do they want it again? Like right immediately. If they not if they don't, let's fix it to where you know. So I mean, i i it's just that's all this. So you have to you have to protect. ⁓ my gosh. Jesse, I do not need another rabbit hole to go down. This is I'm gonna be like, I've gotta look this up. Like, I mean, my dad has been a cattle farmer my whole life. We lived on a ranch and, you know, and he tells me just horror stories about things they're putting in pesticides and, you know, the soil and things and you're like ⁓ gosh. I and I look that up and I'm like, ⁓ this is why we're all like dying and getting cancer and this is crazy. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. No and no one wants to admit it, right? These big companies they just want to glance right over it. It's like, yeah, they're the stuff that they're doing. That's why even though it's more expensive, you gotta pay for the better stuff and do the better things. Like I won't I like I I I think back, I'm like, how in the world did I drink that? What was that orange juice stuff? What was that really terrible or it like terrible? Was that are you talking about Tang? That well, yeah, that's one of them. But the other one too, ⁓ what's it called? Something with the C. Like crush or like the crush soda? No, s it started something with a C. ⁓ something C ⁓ man, that's gonna I'm forgetting it. But you it the the the bottle was like weird, like it was I wish I knew it. Man It was similar to Tang. It's very, very similar to Tang. It was like in that realm. Yeah. Sunny D or Sunny D, Sunny D, Sunny D. ⁓ yeah. They still have that like crazy. Yeah. I I don't even know how. I mean, honestly, it is it is kind of scary. Like and you can go down a rabbit hole and you're like, I don't want my kids to be like freaks and have no idea about what's going on in the world, but it's also like how do you shield but like not make them weirdos to where they can, you know, still function, right? Like you've gotta be able to to associate with other people that are different than you, right? And so I think that is the balance as you is you want to like protect but also like, okay, here you go. Put one step into the world, but I'm gonna like hold you back a little bit, you know? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, no, it's it's it's tough. It's a tough battle. That's why it's not easy. Five five and a half months now. ⁓ my gosh. Is he are you like staying up all night still or you pass all day? No, no, no. We're many nights he'll sleep all the way through the night. Some nights ⁓ he'll wake up maybe once or so. ⁓ but for the most part he's yeah, I would say through the night he he he's through the night usually five to Five to seven, maybe eight hours max he can sleep through now. But ⁓ yeah, he he's pretty good. During a day he'll take multiple naps. The naps don't last forever. Sometimes they'll last for two to three hours. Sometimes it'll be like an hour. So are you like are you like pretty militant with a schedule with him? Are like, okay, at six fifteen, you lay down, you know? My my wife is. She is very, very like like not strict, but like super on schedule with a lot of the stuff and as close as she can be. ⁓ and she writes it down, annotates everything, takes notes on all the stuff, has like a whole spreadsheet she keeps on this whole thing just to like keep it on track. She she's very like like if like every time he eats, like she notes down exactly how many ounces, you know, every single time for the last like five months. So she's very good. Never felt like a worse mom in my whole life. She's very good at doing that. Yeah, everything. I mean we you know we weigh him and you know measure his height and stuff like that every month now. ⁓ at first it was like pretty much every week or so. ⁓ we write that stuff down. Everything is like Annon's. We have notes on everything so we know exactly how he's progressing, how he's growing, what's going on, everything. Your doctor's probably like, You don't even need to come in, just you're do whatever you're doing's fine. Like I mean, ⁓ that's incredible. I love ⁓ new dad stories and I love to hear like if you feel it did you feel that connection with your baby when you first saw him because I know it's very different for dads and moms. Like I have guy friends that are like I didn't feel really connected to my child until he could like interact with me, right? ⁓ then other people other people don't have that experience. Yeah I you know I've heard a lot of different things. I mean I heard I like I some people were like yeah you know when my you know son or daughter came out, you know, I was like balling or whatever. Like I I wasn't I was just like it was just like like when he came out I was like whoa. Like who is this? Yeah. ⁓ he's here. Like these this is a real baby. Like like I know he's like been in the cooker the whole time, but now he's like he's out. So it was like, whoa, like this is real. Like he's officially here. Like there's no going back. He's here now. You know, so that so that was that was interesting. And then slowly, you know, over time like you just it it was more of like just having to remember now we have a third person, like before it was just Me and my wife and now it's like we have we have a third person. So yeah, like especially in the first few weeks, there'll be times where, you know, it in my mind I was like, ⁓ I need to go. ⁓ wait, I cannot go somewhere right now because we have a baby right here that Yeah, I mean, you giving into a mindset of like there's a third person that that needs you and you need you for everything. They cannot do a single thing on their own except suck on a bottle. And yeah. Hoop and pee. It didn't even poop pee on their own. It actually just comes out on its own. Yeah. Were you are you like a changing diaper dad? Or are like no Yeah, we ch I changed, yeah. I'm pretty fast. I feel I feel like I'm pretty fast. I feel like I'm faster than most. Of course, of course you're racing to change the diaper quickly. ⁓ my gosh. I I wanna go fast. ⁓ my gosh. Pretty much. My my producer said do not make one single Ricky Bobby reference. I could I couldn't help it. I couldn't help it. Yeah. ⁓ I love it. Well, I am honestly I'm just very curious about how old they have to be before you could take them to watch you. So I so I I just to we just we just brought him to his first race ⁓ this past weekend. Just this past weekend. So Father's Day weekend, he was there at the race. He didn't say the entire time 'cause it was a lot. He did have his headphones on and everything to protect his little baby ears. But ⁓ being out there, the sun, a little bit of the heat, all that stuff was a lot for him. So he he experienced probably more than he probably wanted for the day. But ⁓ there was a certain point where ⁓ he was like, okay, like we got he needs to go somewhere else. So yeah, ⁓ Do they not sit in like the the suite area? We we brought him to the suite, we brought him to the suite, but like you know, the first part of the day, so a lot happened on the race weekend. I was getting promoted to the next rank in the Navy to ⁓ O five commander. So ⁓ yeah, so I wanted to really have him and my wife there and family and and friends and team and all that stuff. So ⁓ he was there for that. I got to take him on stage. ⁓ during driver introduction, I got to walk out with him on stage. So that's his first driver introduction ever. And then after that, ⁓ then he had to go, you know, do his stuff, poop pee, all that stuff. Do him do his thing. Yeah. Yeah, do his thing. Yeah. Eat. That's awesome. All that. Yeah. And then yeah, I have for a little bit and then eventually, you know, he had to go back to the hotel so he can get some rest. Man, you've been holding on to this promotion the whole time. Like, are you you're active duty? Right? I'm in the reserves. I'm in the reserves now. So it's active duty ⁓ for seven years. I've been in the reserves the last ⁓ nine years now. ⁓ my gosh. So what happens if like do you get to just s like keep your spot at NASCAR and then if you get so so I race part time in NASCAR, so I don't race every race. So we only race the races where we have like sponsorship and stuff like that. So like for example, I don't have sponsorship for this next weekend, so I'm not racing this weekend. But like if I had some for Daytona in August, then I'd be racing in Daytona. So ⁓ we just whichever ones we have sponsorship for, that's ones we race. ⁓ racing is a pay to play sport. So you you have to have funding to make it happen. It's not like football, basketball, that stuff where there's no funding needed. ⁓ we just like gotta be really good and then if a team picks you up, they pick you up. ⁓ in racing. A team could be like, Yeah, we want you to race, but also too, you gotta find a way to fund it. Yeah. Sorry, you don't have enough money. But Yeah, yeah, that's how it is. That's how it is. It it's not like, Hey, how is go how's it going? It's like, Hey, how's it going? ⁓ my. ⁓ my. You you would end up like Ricky Bobby then with that like gigantic fig Newton sticker on your that's that's that that that's so they were making fun of it 'cause it's true. Like you really have to just you gotta have your you're you're representing all these brands for a reason. It's not just for the fun of it. It's because like, hey, like they want some type of ⁓ you know, they want to be seen, right? You know, every brand is fighting for eyeballs, whether you're ⁓ you got T V ads, social media ads, influencer ads, whatever. R racers and you know, drivers, we're we're all just influencers who happen to be on TV, you know. Other influencers are on social media, we're on social media and TV. And in a lot of other places and sometimes our names are more known than your average social media influencer. So ⁓ that's why brands will be like, Yeah, we wanna be part of what you're doing. Let's do something for a race or two or three or four or five or six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Interesting. I I have a question for you. If you could rent a billboard and have one thing put on it that everybody in America would have to read, what would it be? I had one that everyone in America has read. A message you think all Americans need to read. Yeah. I would put the higher you want to go, the deeper you're going to have to dig. Okay. Is that the best advice you've ever gotten? ⁓ it's yes, because the it ⁓ goes way deeper than that, no pun intended. So I learned it from construction. So if you're building a skyscraper, the higher you want to go, the deeper. Deeper you're going to actually have to dig. So skyscrapers can't like stand upright if they're like this deep into the soil. They'll just topple over. So if you ever watch the skyscraper being built, they dig really deep. The thing is, skyscrapers are big, beautiful buildings and they're huge accomplishments to make one happen. But when you dig, the deeper you dig, the harder it is. Like the first part of the soil is easy to dig into. The next part is harder and it gets harder and harder and tougher. Then the deeper you go, There's things you're gonna find. It also gets darker the deeper on earth you go. It gets darker and darker and darker. It gets tougher to keep pushing through. It gets colder. It other things will start popping up that you never knew they were there. Other issues start running, you start running into that you never you'll find skeletons, literally. Like there's things that you will find as you go deeper, but the higher you want to go, the deeper you'll have to dig. And a lot of people sometimes stop, they quit, they start digging. They're like, This is hard. Like I don't have the right equipment now to keep going. Let me quit instead of going and finding the right equipment and continuing to dig. Instead of maybe finding the right help so you can have more people to help you dig deeper. But like it just means so much. Like the higher you want to go, the deeper you're gonna have to dig. And if when people like truly understand that, that's how you can go out and accomplish your goals and dreams in life. But a lot of people out there are living life every day, hating life because they didn't want to dig deep. They didn't want to they wanted to go high, didn't want to dig deep. There's some people who want to go high and do go high, but don't dig deep. And the moment a little bit of wind hits their freaking building, it topples over because they tried to fast track it. They're like, ⁓ let's just build it no matter what. We don't have to go deep. All right, cool. You don't have to you don't want to put in the work. When adversity hits, when that wind hits, when that hurricane comes through, when that, you know, tornado comes through, your building's coming crashing down and we see it all the time. And then I mean and You know, I ask all the time because I talk to millionaires, billionaire I randomly meet these people. I'm telling you, it's so odd. And I I just make friends in crazy places and I ask all the time, I said, What's the one attribute that every successful person has? And I asked that to like every billionaire that I meet, because I mean, why wouldn't I ask? Right. Like, and ⁓ every single one of them said it's grit because some, you know, there's some of them that are like, I'm not the smartest person in the room, I'm not the best looking, I'm not the funniest, you know, all the things. But the one thing I do have is that I show up every day. And that's a really hard thing for a lot of people to do. Which sounds simple. Sounds simple. But it's like when you're sick, when you're tired, when you you know, you've got other things you'd rather do. It's like they still showed up, they still went, they still did it. And I think there's something to be said for just having that grit and just showing up when you don't want to is Seems like a crazy skill to have, but easy to do. It's there. Hundred percent true. Hundred percent true. Like the the people who do end up being the most successful are the ones who can push past all the stuff that grant, they are able to come every single day, tired, hurt, doesn't matter, they're still there. It's they just show up. They get knocked down, knocked out, they're right back up. They're like, let's keep going. Like they literally will not stop unless they're dead. Like if their heartbeat is still going, they're still going. You can't beat person. You can't beat a person that doesn't quit, right? Exact exactly. That's the thing. Those are the most dangerous people. The people that are like no matter what are just still stand right back up and will throw a punch back at you again. Like those are the most dangerous. Like you it's hard to h it's very difficult to beat those people. They don't have to have all the resources or anything like that. They got faith. You know, faith that no matter how many times they stand up, eventually they're gonna win. Like The clock is right at least twice a day. So yeah, broken clock is right at least twice a day. I love it. My last question. I know I went a little over your time, but my last question for you is who's your hero? Who do you look up to the most? God. That's my only hero. Pers person on earth. Person on earth. It's hard to say 'cause I don't look up to anyone. I if you could have dinner, if you could have dinner with one person and pick their brain. To pick their brain? Mm. Hmm. ⁓ who would I want to pick their brain? And I haven't thought about that in a while. ⁓ who has done some great things that it's also a good person to. That's why I know what I know you know. Yeah. No, I I did yeah, well, because you know, some there's a lot pl plenty of people who have done great things professionally, right? But you know, I don't necessarily love everything else about them outside of that. ⁓ but you know, one person so far who seems like a great person. His name's actually Jesse too as well. ⁓ he's the guy who runs the whole banana banana league, you know, the banana ⁓ baseball league thing. Like banana sling or banana handle. He like he like wears like a yellow hat and this yellow suit all the time. And he has this baseball league that does like very funny, funky things and it's like blowing up like crazy. Like they're sold out everywhere they go. It's called Banana Ball or something like that. And ⁓ So it's like the Harlem Globetrotters. It's exactly, but for baseball. But for baseball. It's traveling circus in a way, but like traveling baseball thing. So the guy who runs it, his name is Jesse. I don't know what his last name is. ⁓ but every time I see a clip on him about how his the struggles of getting it going, ⁓ how creative he's been and how much he's just always given back to the fans. Like he's not he wasn't ever there just to maximize profits and make the most money for himself, although the the company now makes a ton of money. He's always reinvesting it back into the business, reinvesting it back into the fans, willing to give back to the fans. I mean, he even had one time, I I don't know the full story, but it was something along the lines of one time they were doing some type of promo or something, and the fan ⁓ the fans were supposed to get like I don't I don't know exactly, but maybe it was like a discount or something. And they're was an accidental email that went out to all the fans and they thought they were supposed to buy something for a certain price and then they couldn't. And then he like I think he like did something where he like just was like, you know what? Hey, we act we screwed up. Let's slip refund X amount of money to all these people, even though we don't have to like that he did or he gave either that or gave away a lot of free tickets. He did something. But like he like duh he's like that type of person where so anyways, he'd be a great person. I would love to just pick his brand because he has just a great marketing mind. always figure out a ways to you know, to keep his fans entertained so that ba 'cause he he basically wanted to find a way to make baseball not boring and he did. He figured it out. Because baseball is boring. And he figured it out. So ⁓ and he does a great job with it too. And like I said, he's always giving back. He doesn't take any investors. He doesn't, you know, ⁓ he doesn't do any no no investors, no mark no no ⁓ no sponsors or anything like that. Yeah. He he's like because the moment he starts taking that stuff in, they're gonna try to control He's gotta change Yeah, and it's like he's No, like I wanna like because if I get an investor in there gonna be like, Let's maximize profits. I'd be like, No, let's maximize the fans like entertainment and and give them the best value possible. Like I'd rather, you know, you know, I'd I'd I'd rather lose money and make sure that they're happy than make money and somebody's angry. We gotta get our we gotta get this dinner with Jesse and Jesse set up. Yeah. No, it'd it'd be cool. It'd be cool to learn from it 'cause that guy understands, he gets it. So yeah. I love it. I love it. He definitely walks in faith. Yes. I I just so so appreciate you coming and talking to me and talking about your charities and ways that you give back. And ⁓ you know, we're always here for you and here to here to sing your praises. So we appreciate you so much. Thank you. No, thanks for having me. And ⁓ yeah, hopefully ⁓ someone listening out there, you know, can go after their goals and dreams and help other people too. Be good. That's a that's a big thing. Just be good. Like we don't need bad people in this world. We had too many already. Like I'm just trying to find a way to just make more people go in the the good route, you know, because we like every time we create a menace to society, it's not somebody's gonna suffer because of it. And we don't want to see it. There's this there are too many crazies out there. We gotta we gotta limit that. We're out here trying to create a better world for our kids, man. That's Yeah. ⁓ yeah. And their kids too. And their friends and they're all all that. We gotta create a better world. Or else there will be no world. Yeah, absolutely. Gosh, you've got me down so many rabbit holes already. I'm like putting it in my phone. Like, look up. Let me start talking about the aliens and stuff. ⁓ d yeah. We could have a whole nother podcast on that, Jesse. Part two, aliens. Here we go. No. I ⁓ I appreciate you so much. Again, I'm sorry I took o t a little too much of your time, but I really, really appreciate you. All good. It's been real, bud. Thanks so much. We'll talk soon. Alright, thank you. Bye. Bye. And that's the giving game. If today's episode hits close to home for you, the donation link for this athlete's charity will be in the description below. And if you can't donate right now, hey, that's okay too. Just do something kind for somebody today. The world needs more of that. See you next time.