Belief, Death, and the Fastest Man Alive — (Parry-Thomas & Babs, 1927)

It's Not the Car

Once, a long time ago, a brave man went to a beach and tried to drive faster than anyone ever had. He did not survive.

This is his story.

Perhaps you saw the date in this episode’s title and thought, “The 1920s? Prehistoric! Swipe left, bruh, yuck!” Which is definitely a take.

Some people think the past is a dull place. Nothing to do with who we are or where we’re going.

Those people are—if you’ll pardon my French—stupid.

This show’s format rotates weekly, because squirrel. This episode is our monthly deep dive into an epic moment from racing history. In this case, the story of Welshman John Parry-Thomas and the 180-mph stack of steel and chains that killed him.

Related Trivia: A YouTube commenter asked how old Sam is. Sam is 43 years old. Everyone who hears that is surprised. (Insert joke here.)

This episode was produced by Mike Perlman.

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⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠

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ABOUT THE SHOW:

It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts.

Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver and a world-renowned performance coach and author. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning journalist and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. Together, we explore the emotion at the heart of the machine.

We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the bag of meat at the wheel.

New episodes every Tuesday.