Hii! I was wondering if you could maybe explain the bus bros fallout or p2p gate or pretty much all of the McLaughlin-Newgarden lore to me since I'm only getting in to IndyCar now and I want to be caught up before the 500. I understand this is a big ask but I've seen that youve posted about it and I just NEED to know. Any links to other pieces of lore would also be much apreciated. Completely understand if you don't want to write anything though so thank you so much I advance!! <3
YES ABSOLUTELY I WILL EXPLAIN! this is my special interest dw i could write an 18 page essay about their lore.
SO basically scott came into indycar from supercars in 2020-2021 ish and him a josef started getting along like super well, which is honestly a bit odd bc josef is known to not really let people get so close to him, so scotty is a bit of an outlier in that respect.
eventually! they make bus bros!!! wooooo everyone loves it etc etc they have fun making it…. until they don’t! leading up to their breakup there were QUITE a few clues that they knew it was gonna end in flames like scott talked about it on off track (see audio excerpt below) and on hot seats with hinch if i remember correctly?
there’s also a fair share of articles that mention it. they basically knew it was inevitable but i don’t think anyone thought it was gonna happen so quickly??
so then the winter break leading into the 2024 szn happened! this is about when i started getting really into bus bros and was honestly pretty present for some of this shit (i was at the daytona 24 and st pete so i’ve got some first hand evidence but we will get to that later)… anyways so the rumors start going around that bus bros is over around?? st pete time i think??? a little bit earlier. which is odd given that they seemed okay with each other at the daytona 24, even though i thought it was strange that they weren’t both on tower motorsports anymore cause josef switched to penske porsche but GENERALLY it seemed okay (although based on this pic idk their relationship seems a little charged atp but it’s all speculation really)
then after the rumors come out i think it was jenna fryer’s article that did it in? (idk it has a paywall on it for me right now and i don’t care enough to find it here but there’s definitely excerpts floating around) now i do recommend to take anything jenna fryer says with a grain of salt bc she is essentially a gossip columnist for all intents and purposes. but the article basically said that josef and scotty were done and scott wouldn’t answer any questions about it and was only saying that they’re fine or to ask josef about it (tea from todays 100 days to indy episode actually…). they promptly took down the bus bros merch site and have been relatively quiet since then. at st pete they talked on the podium and didn’t seem too bad but i’ve seen other clips where they won’t even sit next to each other or speak to each other so take that as you will. podiums are pretty much just publicity, cameras everywhere, you’d probably want to seem at least cordial with your teammate.
(pic 1 is mine, pic 2 is a pic of my tv from todays episode LMFAO)
so heres where most of the speculative stuff comes in. Josef dissolved his media company, unfollowed everyone, and cancelled bus bros leading into the 2024 season because he wanted to “get rid of distractions”, and really we could leave it at that, but i find it hard to believe that that’s the only thing that happened.
Josef is the dictionary definition of Penske Perfect, you won’t get any closer to it than him. he’s fucking OBSESSED with this idea of being perfect. perfect season, perfect body, perfect car, perfect team. obviously this isn’t feasible, but scotty seemed to have broken through that block in his little Penske Perfect brain and got him to LIGHTEN UP A BIT. and then the 2023 season happened. sure, josef won the indy 500 but it was one of his worst season finishes in a while and, to make matters worse, scott BEAT him. little scotty mac, supercars champion transplant from 2021 beat josef newgarden at his own fucking game after breaking down his walls and making him soft. i can see how that scared josef honestly. so he ended it. Scott doesn’t see things on a plane of winning/losing imo, everything is just experience for him. hell, he didn’t even know if he would end up in indycar and he sure as hell didn’t think he’d win races so soon AND beat his teammate. to josef, it’s JUST winning/losing. if he’s losing, he needs to be better. and he lost sight of that for the 2023 season. that’s why he had to come back and put an end to the shenanigans bc he knows scott makes him soft.
but that’s just my speculation!!!!! literally could just be nothing. maybe it is to josef, but i know for a FACT it isn’t to scott.
OH and with the p2pgate stuff! basically they had a component in their car that. was not supposed to be there! that prevented race control from turning off their push to pass like normal. (marshall pruitt has a rlly good article explaining it all here) and they were caught in long beach when race control forgot to turn on the push to pass during the sunday warm up and HMMMMM why do the penske cars still have it???? when has this happened before??? oh ok st pete! now they’re disqualified. josef used 9 seconds of p2p when it was not enabled and scotty only used 1.9 and will used none. so i’m led to believe that it was a josef-centered choice IF it was intentional to use the p2p when it was supposed to be inactive.
now josef really laid down the water works for that press conference at barber to the point that i was having a VERY hard time watching it. i felt bad for the guy. he seemed really fucking upset and i almost believe that it WASNT on purpose but. it’s just too good to be true right?
honestly i think this all could tie back to the downfall of bus bros in that scott maybe didn’t want to do the p2p thing but josef was willing to? and maybe that caused some sort of divide between them bc then again for josef it’s about Winning No Matter What, and yes scott wants to win but cheating isn’t the way for him. idk.
for more of their lore when they WERE friends, watch bus bros (duh), admit one, 100 days to indy, scott learns america: nashville, hot seats with hinch, and listen to scott’s episode on off track with hinch and rossi! also there are some very brief interactions between them on some older penske games videos before bus bros was even a thing but it’s not much. there are more but i can’t think of them rn…
sorry for rambling, if you have any more qs feel free to ask!!! i’m always available for brain picking :)
I’m not going to have a man dictate my emotional stability.
Also me with the ATP circuit: Fuck me.
Explanations and evidence below the cut:
Niki both confirming and denying that they shared a one-bedroom flat - in his interview with Graham Bensinger in 2017, Bensinger asked Niki what he remembered from sharing a London flat with James. Niki didn't correct him. The flat share was also mentioned in Gerald Donaldson's biography of James, in a section where he had interviewed Niki following James's death. However, in older interviews Niki had said that they didn't formally share a flat, he just stayed in James's place a few times when he had nowhere else to go.
Their sensitive arses - there is a moment in RUSH where Niki diagnoses all the problems in Marlene's car by, as TV Tropes put it, performing a Sherlock Scan with his butt. IRL, Niki always claimed he had a sensitive ass that helped him win races (he was quoted in Grand Prix International magazine on his comeback, saying he was relieved his ass was still sensitive). And he was asked if James had the same sensitive ass, and said yes.
Requesting adjoining hotel rooms in Watkins Glen - after a lot of team infighting, James and Niki had a clear-the-air dinner together in Watkins Glen in 1976 (second last race of the season) and then requested adjoining hotel rooms. Confirmed by Maurice Hamilton, Niki's biographer and long-time friend. (Also in Tom Rubython's book, proving that even a stopped clock is right twice a day).
James's gf saying she didn't like to think what kind of friends they were in 76 - James's then-GF said in a film called One that a) Niki's crash gave him charisma, and b) that towards the end of the 1976 season, they became very good buddies, and that she didn't like to think of the kind of buddies they became. "Playboys together." See 1 hour and 22 minutes into this video.
Niki spontaneously denying in an interview that they had sex in the shared flat - In the same Bensinger interview in 2017, Niki described his memories of sharing a flat with James as "lots of...how you say it politely, intercourse...not with me, I have to say.
No one asked, bab.
Niki greeting Freddie Hunt saying "I loved your father" - this one can make me cry pretty reliably like six days out of 28. Freddie Hunt said it in the same film, One (about 1 hour 29 minutes in).
The "My Dear" Interview - @aston-axo did an amazing job cleaning up the footage of this and it's gorgeous. Playful 70s boys, and Niki's curls are especially lovely in the cleaned-up version.
James mentioning Niki as often as possible in his Autosport columns - the man was relentless. My favourite:
James being allowed to fly Niki's plane once - I'll let James tell this one in his own words.
James saying he wishes they could have shared the title - James said this at least twice that I'm aware of - one before the final race at Fuji, and once after. Especially after the race, James was so respectful and just gave no space for anyone to question Niki's courage.
George, I need you to start Russelling like you never have before and make the PowerPoint presentation of a life time.
Some James Hunt lore ✨️
Because man needs to be appreciated
Warning, potential nsfw and other triggering topics under the cut
James Hunt brought a v*brator to a Mclaren mechanic asking if he could fix it.
James Hunt supporting black-led groups in South Africa when trying to gain their independence. He didn't want to commentate the South African GP because of what was happening but the BBC forced him to. So he purposely revealed during the race that him and Murry Walker were not actually in South Africa commentating (which was not known to the public at the time). He also donated all the money he got from commentating the South African GP to charities to support the apartheid's even though at the time he was struggling for money
James Hunt learnt to play the trumpet at school and was rather good at it. He got to play at the Royal Albert Hall and everyone was suprised when he played well and got invited back to perform at another show.
At school he made his younger brother a pair of pj trousers and his brother proudly wore them around. James loved his younger siblings dearly.
James studied the female anatomy to understand and help his girlfriend at the time who kept having miscarriages.
Niki had to convince German guards not to arrest James when he tried breaking back into the track after a night out.
James having to convince airport customs to let him bring a playboy magazine through because it had an interview piece with him in.
James would throw up before races and Niki sometimes would piss beside him.
After retiring from F1 James brought a farm however he couldn't kill any of the animals so it fell through. His son, Freddie, now owns a sustainable farm in Scotland.
James loved the game backgammon and made everyone play it with him.
James sent Niki a telegram after his crash trying to motivate him to get better. Niki called James up on his birthday from hospital and they chatted for hours.
James owned a nightclub called 'Oscars' named after his dog.
James Hunt slept with a journalist then got upset when she rated him in a newspaper article.
James seized the PA system from a flight attendant and gave his own version of the welcoming address as they landed. Later on he appeared sitting on luggage riding the carousel.
One day during practise James felt tired and halfway through he pulled the car over and fell asleep. Niki who was sitting out watching James practise panicked when James didn't return and jumped on an ambulance that rushed around to find James, only to find him asleep in his car.
James went to therapy and concluded that he struggled with emotional intimacy with women likely down to the lack of emotional availability in his childhood.
Once, while being interviewed, James pointed to his hotel room and him and the interviewer watched as a woman broke into his hotel room.
James was happy when Suzy left him for Richard Burton as he felt responsible for her even though their relationship had fallen apart.
James was given a toy monkey after winning the championship and carried it everywhere.
He would refuse to wear suits to formal events, preferring to wear jeans and no shoes.
In his early days he tried to enter a mini car he had made with missing doors and a garden chair in the passenger seat.
Once James was stuck in the back of a car in traffic and he needed to go to the toilet. His then girlfriend suggested he piss out the window as the car tried to rush past all the traffic but as it was so cold his c*ck wouldn't work so he was just accidentally flashing everyone as the car rushed by.
After winning the world championship, Britian hosted a 'James Hunt' day. Niki went along to wave a flag for one of the races.
One of the first times James Hunt and Murry Walker worked together, James leg was in a cast, and he sat down and put his leg on Murray's lap which really annoyed Murray. He also drank two bottles of rose wine during that commentary session.
James was utterly dedicated to his dog Oscar to the point that they were inseparable.
James said that what brought him pleasure in the bedroom is the woman feeling pleasure and that he liked a woman who knew what she wanted and told him
He became very depressed and would call the bad days his 'dippers'
He struggled with a lot of addictions but got sober for his sons
descending toward devotion
Devotion - Ocean Vuong
He/They. Professional Lurker. Virgo. Sports-wise, I follow Formula 1, MotoGP, Assorted Other Motorsports, tennis, and ice hockey, in no particular order. Media-wise, I mostly enjoy Star Trek, Magnificent Seven, Torchwood, Highlander: The Series, and Justified.
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