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LEO PARENTE: Today on "Shakedown," it's Ashley
Freiberg, the most recent race winner in the Porsche IMSA GT3
Cup Challenge by Yokihama.
Racing fast enough, racing savvy enough, to be leading
the championship after the first six races of this
18-race series.
She leads with 96 points versus 92 for perennial fast
guy Madison Snow versus 76 points for Angel Benitez, last
year's gold class winner that moved up to the top platinum
class to race against Ashley.
So today's show it is Ashley Freiberg, via Skype, to talk
to us about the challenges of being a young racer, a winning
racer, what you need to know if you want to start racing,
and much, much more.
And for those of you commenters that think only
guys can talk about racing and cars, well stay tuned to see
how effed up that logic is.
Ashley can talk and drive and race really fast really well.
[CAR ENGINE REVVING]
LEO PARENTE: So as I mentioned in the intro, Ashley Frieberg
is joining us.
Ashley, fresh from coming back from Watkins Glen and winning
that first Porsche Cup race in your career and having a
championship leading season so far in six races as I
mentioned earlier, you listed Watkins Glen as
your favorite track.
Was that before or after you kicked ***?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: That was before that race, actually.
I was there in a Skip Barber formula car, which was
obviously way different than the Porsche GT3 Cup car, but
it's definitely still my favorite now, that's for sure.
LEO PARENTE: In race one, I saw you.
I believe you finished second.
Is that correct?
Is that where we ended up in race one at Watkins?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Yes.
LEO PARENTE: OK.
And then something changed.
You figured something out.
And literally, you turned that race into not a race.
I mean, you just had the pace consistency pulled away.
What did you learn between race one and two?
And by the way, through this whole interview, I don't
expect you to trade secrets because we're in the middle of
the championship.
But, if you could.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, you know, obviously
in race one it was--
I led a couple of laps in the middle there, so I definitely
had that taste of the win.
So it just really made me super determined to figure out
what to do better for race two.
And I went back to my hotel room, and I just reviewed the
video over and over and over and figured out, OK, is there
a way I can get around traffic better?
Is there a way I could have started the race better?
And I just basically critiqued myself as hard as I could and
just kind of figured out ways to be better.
And that's kind of how I figured out for race two.
LEO PARENTE: So one of the things we like to do in these
talks is allow our fans to hear a little bit about how a
racer really thinks and does the job.
So we'll get to a little bit of your background coming up
through karts and the Skip Barber programs and now in
this Porsche Cup series, but you kind of set up for a
question I want to ask you.
How did you learn to win a race versus just drive fast
and be in a race?
What goes on?
What makes that difference to be a winner?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, I think mentally you do have to
believe that you can win because there is kind of a
mental barrier that you kind of have to
break yourself through.
But to be honest with you, I'm no natural at this.
And I just work really, really hard to get to where I am.
And that's kind of my philosophy, and that's kind of
how I ended up where I am right now.
LEO PARENTE: Well, I'm going to use that for a segue to go
back to your background, but I'm going to pile on
what you just said.
I know there's talent, but I don't
think anyone is a natural.
I mean, I'd love all the racers and wannabes to
understand that to be good at this craft, you have to work
at developing your skills.
You just don't pop in and become Senna junior.
It's always work.
Help me out.
Make sure that I'm telling these guys the right thing.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, yeah.
Absolutely.
I mean, before every race weekend I'm
preparing pretty hard.
I'm watching previous in-car video or data or calling
around asking people who've been to the track and working
out like crazy, making sure I'm in physical shape and
eating well and making sure I'm sleeping right.
There's so many different components that go into being
a successful athlete.
And that's just before the weekend.
And during the weekend, same thing.
After the races or any session, you're coming in, and
you're immediately looking at video and data and talking
with your engineers and writing up post reports.
And same thing after the weekend.
It's a constant work in progress, and you're really
never just riding it out.
You're always working as hard as you can.
LEO PARENTE: Well, you're making this interview easy
because I'm just crossing things off that I was going to
ask you about, debriefing and working with the team.
And we talked about being talented but
having to work at it.
But now I'm looking at your resume.
We've not been racing all that long, have we?
You started in karts in what, 2006, competitively?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Yeah.
Yeah, I started in go karts when I was 13.
I raced in go karts for two years before I got into a car.
Obviously, I wanted to be as good as I can at that level
before I moved up.
So I won a couple championships in go karts.
Moved up to Skip Barber, same thing.
I wanted to perfect my craft there.
I won a couple championships there.
And then Star Mazda last year and then GT3 Cup this year.
LEO PARENTE: How did the racing thing start?
Where did you get this bug?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, I was introduced to
racing when I was 11.
And I was always such a tomboy, super competitive, and
I played all kinds of sports.
So it was hard for me not to want to try it.
When I was first introduced to it, I didn't really think
girls raced actually because I didn't see
any girls out there.
I kind of thought it was like football, like girls just
don't really do it.
But then I did start to see a few out there, and I was like,
hey, maybe this is something I can do.
Went to the Jim Hall karting school in Ventura, California,
sat in a go kart for the first time, and immediately fell in
love with it.
LEO PARENTE: Jim Hall is the, what, son or nephew or
something of Jim Hall the Chaparral guy, the legend.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Yeah, I think he's the son.
LEO PARENTE: Son, right?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Yeah.
LEO PARENTE: Yeah, I've been through that program.
You just did more with it than I did.
But I digress.
So I saw you at Lime Rock.
Talk to me a little bit about what happens.
I mean, there's this bad cliche from one of these bad
racer movies where you win a race, and all the sponsorship
tumbles around you.
But talk to me a little bit about what's been happening
after the race, and what you as a professional, even though
it's an amateur series, Porsche Cup, it's a step
toward pro racing.
So what's been happening after this win at Watkins Glen a
couple of weeks ago?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well for me personally, after the win, I
don't really view myself as anything different.
I'm still the same driver.
I just now that I-- because winning a race takes so many
different--
there's so many different variables that have to come
together to win a race.
You could be the best driver out there and not win at all
during the whole race season.
You have to be just right car with the right team and you
have to have luck on your side, and there's just a lot
of different variables.
So for me, having that win, me as a driver, I definitely
think I'm still the same.
But with without a doubt, having that win has definitely
brought a lot more attention, and I've gained a lot more
respect in the racing world because I've shown that I'm
the real deal now.
And going to Lime Rock, I went there because ALMS is racing
there, and I want to be in the United Sports Car racing
series next year, and so I wanted to go there to kind of
show my face and talk to some teams and let them know that
I'm serious about this.
I want to move forward and run with some of you guys.
And so that's basically what I was doing there.
And it's definitely been interesting, that's for sure.
LEO PARENTE: So let's destroy one myth about spec car
racing, single make racing.
You had mentioned some of the elements of being with the
right team and kind of having the right approach.
Let's talk about a single make car and how it's still all the
things that go into a proper setup, proper team dynamic,
managing the car, managing the situation.
Blow up the myth that it's all the cars are equal, and it's
just down to the driver.
It's down to the driver, but it's all the pieces.
Take me through the rest of it please.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Yeah, I mean being in a spec series, there
are less adjustments you can make to the car as well.
So those few adjustments become that much more
important to having a great car and having an OK car.
And that's something that we, Alfred and myself, we've all
been working hard to figure out.
And I think that that's something that helped us for
the win and Sunday at Watkins Glen, is we just realized
that, you know what, these five changes that we can make
can make a difference between finishing second
and finishing first.
And in some ways it's harder because you have
to figure that out.
And like you said, having the right team dynamic, we are on
teams with engineers, mechanics, and managers and
driver coaches, and we do all have to mesh well together and
teammates and everything else.
So there's definitely a lot more that goes into it then
oh, everyone's in the same situation.
LEO PARENTE: Just grab the wheel harder.
It doesn't work that way.
Your team is effort racing.
They're a good team, but you've taken them to the front
and helped in that way.
Talk to me a little bit, for the fans, for the viewers, how
do you collect data in the car?
I mean, what are you thinking about and how do you have the
responsibility to translate that to your engineer and your
crew chief beyond the telemetry that
comes out of the car?
I mean, it's still the driver.
What do you have to do, and how do you do it?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: When you're behind the wheel, you're
constantly taking in data through the things that you
feel and the things that you're thinking about.
I mean, nonstop.
You're going through a corner, and let's say the car's
sliding a little bit.
You're immediately asking yourself questions.
OK, what just happened?
Why did it happen?
Did I do this with my hands?
Did I do this with my feet?
It's a constant process of elimination just trying to
weed everything down to, OK, what's the problem?
What can we do better here?
Is this something that I can try to make this better?
And if not, then that's when it comes back to the engineer,
and I'm saying, OK, this is what we need to be faster.
And it's happening through however many corners of the
racetrack, probably--
there's, how many, 15 corners per racetrack that we go to.
So it's a constant process of thinking throughout every lap.
LEO PARENTE: And you said earlier, there's paperwork
involved to get out of the car you have to make your notes,
organize your thinking, collect what you recall, and
then, I assume, communicate it intelligently to the engineer
so they can match up what you're feeling and saying
versus the real telemetry to make the change.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Right.
And that's the thing, is like you can't just go to your
engineer and be like, oh, the car stinks.
Or oh, the car has understeer.
OK, well what does that mean?
Well, you have to explain, OK, well, in the last quarter of
the corner, as I'm applying throttle and starting to
release my hand, the car is doing this.
And I've tried this with my driving.
It didn't work.
You have to help the engineers well understand the full
picture of what's going on because that communication is
super important because you might be saying one thing, and
he could be thinking another thing, and then suddenly the
wrong change has been put on the car.
So that communication is definitely important.
LEO PARENTE: Tell me what it's like to race the Porsche
versus the other cars you raced.
Was there any transfer of knowledge, or was it just a
whole new experience, and you've kind of started to
figure it out?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, throughout my racing career,
I've driven a lot of different types of open wheel cars.
And I've driven in the rain.
I've driven on ovals, street courses, road courses.
So I've been pretty adaptable throughout my career.
I've been forced to be adaptable and open to learning
and just open minded in general.
And I think that that's definitely transferred well
over to getting into a Porsche because it's just like a new
factor to kind of try to figure out.
I mean, even if you're racing--
if I was last year racing in a Star Mazda, every time I got
in it, I had an open mind because I didn't know what the
track conditions were like.
I didn't know what the car was going to be like.
So once again, you just have to be open minded all the time
as a driver in general.
LEO PARENTE: Do you feel you've got a particular
driving style, like do you like the car to be like on the
front on the nose, or you like something that kind of does
the power down back end, low drag and let her fly, or give
me some down force to work with?
I mean, is there something in the way that an Ashley drives?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, I'm a pretty smooth driver, so I
actually like my cars to have a little bit of oversteer.
At least that's what I kind of learned this year with having
my two teammates, and we're trying to have the
same setup on a car.
And I've definitely always had a different kind of setup, not
that it's right or wrong.
I just drive differently.
So I would say that I'm a smooth driver.
LEO PARENTE: So give me a little bit of advice to give
to young drivers on when they start racing and in those
first races.
I mean, I'm kind of leading the witness here a little bit,
but I hear a lot of this mindset of I've got to go 10
10ths or 11 10ths and there's always pushing, but tell me
how you should approach those first races.
Do you drive within a sense of what's comfortable, I dare
say, or is there some other dynamic that you'd share with
a young driver so they learn don't screw up, whatever.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Right.
Well, I would just say, obviously, when you're
starting out in go karts, just learn as much as you can.
Have fun.
You should always be having fun, by the way, throughout
your entire career.
If you're serious about it, make sure you get a good coach
or a mentor.
That's extremely important.
But I think one of the biggest things is just stay open to
learning because that's really what's going to come in handy
at the end of the day is, if you've gotten out of the kart
or car or whatever you're driving, if you get out of the
kart and you're like, OK, I've learned this much, and I'm
going to apply it the next time I get in, then that
should be all that matters.
LEO PARENTE: Now, the other elephant in the room, quite
frankly, is how do you manage being a woman driver in this
generation of racing?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: To be honest, in my brain, I'm no different.
I mean, I feel like everybody looks
at me like I'm different.
Well, obviously, because I am.
But I've always viewed myself as a driver.
And when I get to the track, I'm pretty much too focused on
doing as good a job as I can to really focus on all that
background noise.
So that's kind of how I deal with it.
LEO PARENTE: Cards on the table.
Have the other racers treated you as an equal?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: It depends.
For the most part, yeah.
LEO PARENTE: I'll bet you they'll treat you more as an
equal at the next race at Canada Tire
Motorsport Park or Mossport.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Yeah, I mean, you definitely have to earn
your respect, but you still get the sexism for sure.
LEO PARENTE: Now, let's see if you hate me
or like me or whatever.
Has Danica helped or hurt women racers, in your opinion?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: I think she's helped.
She's opened a lot of doors for women.
I mean, let's be honest here.
I mean, she has brought a lot of attention to women in
racing, and she is competitive.
How many times did she finish in the top five in the Indy
car overall championship?
And yeah, she didn't win races, but like I said, so
much goes into winning a race that, you know what, you can
be the best driver, and you might not win a race.
So I mean, I think she's definitely opened up a lot of
doors for women, and she's inspired me.
LEO PARENTE: Have you met Danica?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: I have not.
LEO PARENTE: If you met her, what would you say to her?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, to be honest?
LEO PARENTE: Yeah.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: I know that she's been through a lot, and
she's experienced a lot of things, and I'm sure that
she's experienced a lot of things that I'm going through.
And I would love to meet her and converse with her about
some of that stuff because I would just be interested to
see how she's dealt with certain scenarios, and I just
think it'd be interesting.
LEO PARENTE: Back to young racer education.
How do you focus in the car?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, every time I get behind-- well,
before I get behind the wheel, I have a routine like the way
I put my gear on and stuff is a certain way every time.
And once I'm behind the wheel, I'm pretty much talking to
myself nonstop all the way around the track, reminding
myself of things I need to do, just basically
keeping my mind on track.
And that's pretty much how I stay focused.
LEO PARENTE: When you need to find extra speed--
don't give me secrets, but when you need to find extra
speed, where are you searching for it, break zone, mid
corner, corner exit?
Where do you feel you find it?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: To me, there's no real one thing.
There's no magic thing that you can find more speed with.
It's a full package.
Are you online?
Are you staying smooth?
Are you doing all the basic things right?
And just from there, you kind of have to build off of that.
There's no one magic answer.
LEO PARENTE: So we all learned, Skip Barber, brake
zone, turn in, apex, power down, track out.
Are you racing, driving the car, still with that sense of
connecting the dots, or has it become more intuitive, more
flowing now, and it just happens?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: It's definitely more intuitive, but
like I said, depending on the scenario, I might have to work
more on my break zones, or I might have to work on my mid
corner speed.
So it's kind of a mixture of both.
LEO PARENTE: Now, I have a personal question to ask.
So I once blew a race lead by not
maintaining my pace up front.
I didn't have radios.
That's how old I am.
But how did you maintain that lead, a significant lead that
you had at Watkins Glen, to win that race?
Were you getting lap times?
Were you looking at telemetry?
Or did you just feel this is as fast as I'm comfortable
going, or you know what, I'm so
comfortable, I'm just going?
What was it like?
Fix my mistake.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Actually, my lap timer wasn't working, and
my radio wasn't working.
So yeah, basically I just got into a rhythm, and I was
talking my way through the entire race.
And I was focusing forward and not looking in my mirrors, and
I was just going as hard as I could.
LEO PARENTE: Now, you and I share another thing, that we
were both into gymnastics.
You were a gymnast, I guess?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: I was a long time ago, yeah.
LEO PARENTE: [INAUDIBLE]
longer time ago, but here's my question.
Talk to me a little bit about how much you think balance is
important and valuable as a racer.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Oh, I think it's really valuable for
hand-eye coordination and just kind of helps you understand
how the car moves, transferring weight from each
corner of the car, and how to maximize how much grip you
develop by transferring the weight around and
understanding when is too much when you tip over the edge.
So basically, all of driving a car is balancing.
But you know what?
I heard that the Boston College gymnastics program
wasn't as good once you left.
LEO PARENTE: You need to stop going on the internet and
checking out the people that are interviewing you.
So nice freaking try.
OK, so last question.
You're going to go to Mossport.
We're going to see you there.
It's the seventh and eighth race.
When you show up at Mossport, what do you think's going to
happen first?
How are you going to approach that?
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Well, I've never been there.
So the first thing is going to be I learn the track.
And I'm just going to go with the same
mindset I always go with.
Am I online?
Am I smooth?
Am I doing all my basics right?
I just want to make sure that every day I leave the
racetrack, I know that I've done everything that I could
to make the days go as successful as they can.
And everything else is kind of out of my control.
The results are out of my control.
So that's kind of my plan.
LEO PARENTE: Well, I mentioned in the intro that you're
leading the points.
If memory serves right, in these first six races, you've
pretty much been hanging around top four or five,
podium, now win.
So I don't care what anyone says.
They're going to be gunning for you, the Medicines and the
Angel Benitez, so go get them.
Thank you for your time.
ASHLEY FRIEBERG: Thank you.
LEO PARENTE: We'll see you soon.
Thank you again Yeah.