 Good morning, everyone. I'm Doug Rice, the performance racing network where the national radio group that covers all of the races at the Speedway Motorsports tracks. And of course, among those will be the upcoming Coca Cola 600 here at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I'm coming to you from the studios of the performance racing network. On your Memorial Day weekend, the world's attention turns to the events here at Charlotte Motor Speedway as we pay tribute to the men and women of the United States Armed Services with one of the largest pre-race events ever. Mission 600 is an extension of that effort, bringing together the Coca Cola racing family drivers and the military units of the United States Armed Services. And today we are going to be joined by the U.S. Coast Guard Station Fort Macon, and their sailors are going to give us a tour. Can't wait for that. And we're also going to be joined by Daniel Suarez, a member of the Coca Cola racing family, who is doing really well with his brand new team track house racing this year. But before we meet Daniel and before we talk to the sailors, let's bring in the general manager, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Greg Walter. Thanks, Doug. And thanks to everybody for making this happen today. There's a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes to make the magic happen. Daniel, always thank you for making time for us. And thank you to everyone down at Fort Macon. Personal note, I used to go to the beach growing up in Eastern North Carolina. I used to go to the beach at Atlantic Beach. And my dad, when my brother and I behaved, he would take us down to the gates at Fort Macon, and we would like stare little boys like stare through the fence to see if the Coast Guard cutter was there, but we could get a glimpse. So as a grown up many decades later, I'm actually really excited about about this visit. The Coca Cola 600 has become this, this amazing event that celebrates, you know, what our servicemen and women do every day to secure our liberties. We also have this this really wonderful focus on what Memorial Day really means. So Mission 600 kind of kicks that off for us, and so glad to have Daniel join us so looking forward to the tour and thanks for making it happen. Doug. All right, thanks a lot Greg we will hear from Daniel Suarez here shortly and maybe just maybe sometime in the future Greg you can get down there to Fort Macon and they'll actually give you a real tour as opposed to the virtual one we're having today. They're thrilled for the men and the women of the United States Coast Guard that are going to be with us today. It is my pleasure now to introduce the commanding officer of the Coast Guard cutter Richard Snyder station at Fort Macon. Greg Bredario. Greg, thank you for making time for us today. Lieutenant, the floor is all yours. All right, good morning. Thanks for coming down and being with us. We're honored to have you guys here. I do look forward to you guys hopefully coming down to you today in person and now we'll show you the great ship here. So it's a beautiful day here in sunny Atlantic Beach. Three cutters are here three major Coast Guard ships are here it's us the Richard Snyder, our sister ship the Nathan Brockenthal actually the Queen of the fleet the oldest Coast Guard cutter, still operational the Coast Guard Cutters Smile Act. We were commissioned in 2018 were 154 foot fast response cutter with a 27 fast response cutter in use by the Coast Guard one of the newest assets, the Coast Guard has a primary missions are law enforcement search and rescue. So primarily we go from Florida up to New England, we do that fisheries enforcement to make sure people catching the right size fish, not over fishing and doing the right things out of team and we also do a lot of search and rescue. So if you're ever out offshore, and you're having issues, we might be one of the ones that comes out to help you out. It's a beautiful day here, kind of two chosen a better day about 70 degrees and it's great sunny, sunny here. We were named after him one Richard T Snyder, one of the Coast Guard enlisted heroes. He was critical back in World War two he was one of those Coast Guard heroes that got the actual silver star. And that's the word named after. I'm going to turn it over to with me here we have the M2 Zach Weber and the M2 Courtney slink. They're two of our boats and made so they drive the small boat, and they handle the lines they take care of the ship here. They're going to walk you through the ship and answer any questions and hopefully talk to Daniel here. They're both real big NASCAR enthusiasts and they're really excited to have you guys with us. But yeah great. Thanks for coming down thanks for being with us on this zoom call, and we're excited to be part of it. We want to thank you again for joining us. We have our Coast Guard cutter small boat here. This is our 26 foot stern launch and stern recovery small boat. It brings our boarding team members over to the larger vessels or smaller vessels, primarily used for boarding team member transportation and immediate service on. Pretty much it we'll go ahead and get these guys out of here show you a little more. Go ahead guys. Daily operations, we have a little watch station. It's called a Q Mo it's quarter master the watch to kind of keep up with daily schedule order station bills where everybody's supposed to be throughout the day to keep up with weather various instruments. They also verify our position using GPS and make sure we're on the right track so that we don't literally hit anything calls hazard navigation. So over here, we'll have usually captain took here. He supervises but throughout the day different people are on watch. It's about like a four hour rotation. Different monitoring systems up here we have a full system to make sure the boat is safe or alarm system. If we have any type of casualty, we can see it from up here take control and then deal with that safety in the right way. Really cool stuff brand new technology to the Coast Guard. We can have really cool instruments like this little remote here drive the whole ship just from a little remote. Very fun. This is where it happens. So if we get caught up to a sort case, this is main main spot may have everybody's up here watching and making sure we bring some people home safe. That's about it. We're going to move forward and keep going with the tour. I show up here to Jim to Danielle Wilson to kind of walk you through our our guns. Everything was a pleasure given a tour but have a great Coast Guard day Daniel. Good luck on your next race. See you. Thank you very much. Alright, well that was fantastic. We will have our crew members hang out there for a little bit and they're going to have a chance to ask. Daniel Suarez and questions and chat here in a little bit was really impressed with the bridge there. It didn't look anything like what I thought it would be look more like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, especially finding out that they run the cutter with a handheld remote that was quite impressive. Daniel, I know we didn't get down into the engine room. They have a very powerful one and I think that you've got a little video presentation to talk a little bit about the simulators that you use to get ready to go racing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. You know, I have I have one similar at home that Amigos, how you guys doing? Come in. I will show you my new simulator. Come this way. My Amigos that I have racing got this simulator for me. You think I'm good with wrenches because it took me a day to put it together. Nice seat, nice steering wheel, it's super important, nice pedals, very comfortable. Well, you know, something that is very important is to have also a nice internet because sometimes the cars, they have some lack and you can really raise comfort when you are having those issues. Lucky for me, I have my Amigos at the Comstock that they cook me up with a brand new system here in my house with almost 500 megabytes of speed. And we're ready to race today. How is the boss? What's up, buddy? Hey, how you doing, man? Good. Did you see the simulator right here? Yeah, show that thing to me. Right in the kitchen. Right in the kitchen, man. We have to get rid of the kitchen table. That scene really ties the room together. It looks nice, eh? Yes, it does look nice. It's a great place. On dirt, crystal. That'll be good because you don't have much to do. But for wheelers, I'm motorcycle about some things that counts. All right, man, we'll go get some practice. They do. I'll get those laps in, man. I'll see you after. Okay, Amigos, now it's time for us to go. Tonight, we're going to race on dirt. I'm a rookie. I have some practice and more than 4-2. I love my sport. Let's go. Well, thanks for the tour there. That was awesome. Daniel, we appreciate your time today. A couple of quick questions here. Just how important is simulation for performance now, especially since for the last year or so. There's been no practice time. Yeah, I mean, simulation, you know, with my engineers and trying to to test as much adjustments as possible is very important. But it's one of those things that if you use a right, you can use it to your advantage. But if you don't use a right, it can actually hurt you. And we've been in both sides of the coin this year. Early in the year, we're still trying to figure out a few things. And actually we went to a racetrack and it was completely different. So he guide us in the wrong direction. But once you start to figure out what you need, how different it is, it is to real life, then it's actually a very, very useful tool for the engineers and for myself. There is all kinds of different simulators. And really the ones that we have at RCR and as well as Chevrolet are very sophisticated and we can bring the engineers and they can make changes and make it like the real race car. The one I have at the house obviously is more for fun. That's not something that actually relates to the real racetrack. But it's still something fun and it helps you to be disciplined, to hit your marks, to be consistent, and stuff like that. But when it comes to a real race car, it's a different kind of simulator. As you prepare mentally through the season with the simulator, talk a little bit about your physical condition because when you race here in Charlotte in about a month in the Coca-Cola 600, you're in the car at speed for almost four hours. So talk a little bit about your physical prep. Yeah, it is a long race. Physical is something that I personally don't take lightly. I think physical is extremely important. Not just for your body, but as well through your brain. Mental. And I think that as we get into a summer races, all that part it just gets even more important. There are some drivers that take more serious than others. I think that the winner of the race always is deciding the last lap. And it's very, very important to be strong physically, not just in the beginning of the race, when everyone is fresh, but at the end of the races, that's when you win those races. So I try to stay in shape as much as possible. And I think that's something that is extremely important that many, many people forget is the kind of fuel that you put in your system. And what I'm saying that, I'm talking about the food. You have to eat well and you have to eat healthy because you're going to be whatever you eat through the weekend, through the weekend. So I think that's something extremely important. Let's talk a little bit about your team. You're with a new organization. You're in the ground up this year, track house racing. And I think you have surprised a lot of people with the performance level. I know you were briefly in that video, you referenced the Bristol dirt race. You went up there, you led a lot of laps on your first competitive time on dirt and had a top five finish. So talk a little bit about this new organization about your boss that was also shown in that video. Yeah, I think we have been doing a good job. I think that our potential is higher to be very honest with you. I think that we still have a few areas to improve but this team is going to win races. I have no doubt about that. And I'm hungry to be able to get there. I'm trying to be patient but we're going to get there. I know that the group of people that we have not just in the race team but in the ownership with Justin Tai and Pete Bull it just feels so good. We have such an amazing group of people that I think they're going to make us very successful on the racetrack. Justin, a lot of people don't know him. He's an interesting character, isn't he? Your boss. He does a lot. He's a very smart guy. And I like the fact that he's still a race car driver. He's still racing and he understands the business part of racing extremely well and it's very good to have a person that understands the ins and outs. And he's very young so he still has a long career as an owner in the sport so just very, very happy in the early phases of half racing. I'm looking at you on screen now and you're surrounded by all kind of trophies and awards. Where are you as you're speaking with us today? In my house. What's the big trophy over your left shoulder there? It's the championship trophy from 2016 probably the best trophy I have the more minimal the first time winning a championship here in the United States it was definitely special. And that was a and you're looking to replicate that on the cup side I know talk about the race that just happened before we go back to chat about the Coke 600 a little bit at Talladega it seemed like it wasn't quite as frantic for part of the races we usually see there. Yeah it was it wasn't as crazy as we normally see in super speedways you know we had a different strategy than most of the other cars to be smart and be there at the end which we did exactly that we put ourselves in position to actually win the race by the end unfortunately you know I had a 24 behind me I had a 43 behind me a very, very good line of Chevy's to make a good run for their money to the forts 24 had a little bit of damage and then I had a little bit of damage in the rear bumper as well and when he pushed me hard in chain reaction with the 43 he just my car my rear bumper and his front bumper just didn't take it and I almost wrecked the field there I feel like the entire field only won by not wrecking everyone because it was a very close call but I feel like we put ourselves in position and that's all we can ask for we were there when it counts coming to the white flag so we have to keep working hard I feel like more opportunities like that we're going to have this year I'd love to see that I think we are set up now with our video crew on the Richard Snyder there to take some questions from some of the sailors you ready to do that? of course, yeah just to introduce yourself we are here for Daniel Suarez go ahead Daniel, thank you again for joining us I just had a question about your bristle race so you leading going into your bristle race only being on dirt white or that was your second time on a dirt track what were your thoughts going into that? well first of all thank you for giving me the tour it was amazing after a few years but I I grew up and I was born in Mexico so we don't have dirt tracks for race cars over there at least where I grew up and I have had that little thing inside of me of trying dirt at least once to see how it is and now I had to do it because we were getting used to dirt you know the Tuesday before the race it was my first time on dirt and I knew if I could understand the way it works I knew I was going to be able to be fast I feel like every race car driver in the cop series is very talented to drive cars we just need to understand how things work and I felt that that's the part that takes the most time you know to go fast what it takes to go fast on dirt what it takes to go fast in asphalt and stuff like that so I got that I got a lot of people helping me to be better and then we went to Bristol and honestly it was quite different than everything that I was expecting it was on my opinion dirt racing and then slowly it was making a transition into half and half because the dirt was getting so much robber that it wasn't asphalt it wasn't concrete but it wasn't dirt either so it was very very difficult but if you were getting out of the group it was completely dirt so it was a combination so that's why I think that you know any driver that adapt the quickest was fast so you know I know they had a fast car too so you know it was a combination of things that really helped me to be competitive and have fun I think that was my main thing to have the mentality of learning a lot and have fun it's been a while since I have jumped on a race car without knowing what to expect and I just wanted to learn and I wanted to have fun and things work out well you did a really good job congrats again on your top five finish there thank you what's going on Daniel this is the BM2 Webber once again thank you for stopping by it was awesome to give a tour I definitely had a question I'm curious before a race your night before get your mindset right do you have any rituals do you have something that you have to do every time before a race play video games anything like that you know I think that well as well thank you thank you for you for the dirt that was amazing you know I have always loved the ocean and I have a lot of respect for everything that you guys do I hope one day I can take a few weekends off and I can take a trip to you guys say New England you guys go all the way to New England sometimes absolutely that's very cool man that's amazing so anyway you know I'm big into having a good rest and a good fuel in your system you know you have I have to eat well to be able to perform well I have always thought that if you put better fuel into your car it's going to run faster so I think it's the same way to our bodies with food so I try to eat extremely well the night of the before the race well to eat extremely well so right before the race you know the day before the race I have already my routine of food you know how many hours before I have to have breakfast how many hours before I have to have lunch and then there is one hour before the race that I just lay in bed just trying to clean my mind trying to relax trying to enjoy the moment because sometimes we have is hard to remember how every single driver got into racing I don't think there is one driver out there that got into racing because they wanted to be on TV or because they wanted to make money or because they wanted to be you know taking care of sponsors the reason why we got into racing is because we love to race and that's it and sometimes it's very easy when you get on a high level to to forget that you know you have so many responsibilities so many meetings so many sponsors that you have to take care of interviews and meet and greets and stuff like that that is very easy to forget that we got into racing because we love racing so I think that is very important to reset our mind of everything that is going on outside the race car and get into that zone to have fun because that's the most important part to enjoy driving race cars and that's what I do before the race absolutely thank you so much that's pretty much what we do here it's definitely a fun job we get to work with so many different people and create a team it's very relatable on that note we look out for each other so the friendship and the relationship that we get from this job is absolutely amazing that's amazing thank you for everything you guys do I have a question so right in the front you guys have like a huge gun right we do so well two questions there one when you guys have to use that and two can you guys operate that with the cabin or somebody has to actually go there and operate it so that gun is electronically operated or manually we do have the option if it's electronically it happens inside on the bridge there's a little computer that basically tells the gun everything looks new that's super nice I would be scared to be in front of that thing I think everybody is in the event we would have to use that would be definitely like self defense protecting our ship or protecting somebody else that's pretty much the only reason so it's common to see people on the ocean like bad people on the ocean doing wrong stuff there could be you never know what you're going to get into hopefully we get some information before you know kind of scaling up on somebody like that but we definitely do our diligence on that vessel and make it sure we're not going to be caught off guard that's good that's great guys thank you very much guys for the tour hopefully next time we can do it in person because I love everything related that you guys do with the boat, with the ocean I'm very very interested in all that kind of stuff hopefully next time we can do it in person and hopefully as well one things get a little bit better we can be at the racer you're more than welcome anytime I have a quick question for our boats and mates if you can share this can you give us a quick anecdote or story about maybe one of the more dramatic events like a rescue or something that you guys have personally been involved in well our crew in the past couple months we've responded to various vessels that either like they lost power out bad storm pretty much losing propulsion you're stuck out there you need help I know our crew responded I think within a good four hours they're really far away 200 miles and got there super fast capable of high speed got there, got everybody on board safe everybody was okay and then we towed that vessel back they had a little bit of damage I guess the most recent one well that's wonderful thanks for sharing that story Daniel if you ever get out on the ocean these are the right people to have in your neighborhood if you ever go in the ocean or are going all the way to Europe I want these guys going with me I don't think I would take you or anyone else we appreciate the men and the women of the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Snyder being with us today the tour was fantastic Daniel thank you for your time I'm going to kick it back to General Manager Greg Walter to wrap up listen thanks to all we appreciate it Fort Macon that was pretty incredible and given the limitations that's probably the best zoom call I have ever been on so we really appreciate that one last question for you how quickly can you like go from being docked to on the water out to rescue somebody we actually just had a search and rescue call and I believe the recall time for all crew members they got the phone call until the minute old lines were off the pier it was about 2 hours 30 minutes 3 o'clock in the morning you are all truly amazing listen we can't wait to get back on the road and visit with people like you and then also the Cocoa 600 bringing to light all that our service men and women do so thanks for making this an extraordinary day and Daniel thank you for making the time and good luck this weekend and for the Cocoa 600 thank you very much Greg thank you very much everyone over there and like Greg say hopefully we can see you guys in the race very soon and also I need my rain check for later this year to go check out that boarding person something tells me you won't have a problem getting a rain check Daniel I think we're supposed to ask you to do a shout out to all the men and the women of the services here as we wrap up our call so I'm going to leave that up to you whatever you want to say yeah of course I just want to thank you guys because for someone like me coming from a different country coming from Mexico and having all these amazing benefits that this country and thanks to you guys we can enjoy our freedom our safety it feels amazing really really thank you for everything that you guys do it really means a lot for me to be partner with people and with companies like NASCAR and nobody like Coca-Cola they support the men and women like you a lot and hopefully like I said next time we can we can meet in person so special thanks today to the men and women of the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Snyder we appreciate them joining us nice mother nature cooperating gave us a beautiful day there at Fort Macon we're looking forward to the Coca-Cola 600 here at Charlotte Motor Speedway Memorial Day weekend we're going to have a nice crowd not the big monstrous crowds that we had and we also look forward to the wonderful pre-racial that recognizes all the men and women in the armed services on behalf of Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola racing family and the Coast Guard thanks for everybody for being with us today thank you