Automotive

Be Differential

The automotive and motorsport world has always had a seat at the table — it just hasn’t always been yours. BeDifferential is the podcast for newcomers, outsiders, and anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t quite fit in car culture.

Each week, host Eva Gregory goes behind the scenes with racers, engineers, executives, and industry insiders to share the stories, career paths, and hard-won lessons that don’t make it into the mainstream. From grassroots motorsport to the paddock, from vintage cars to cutting-edge tech — if you’re curious about where you fit in this world, you found the right show.

New episodes every Tuesday, plus solo industry takes every Thursday.

Latest Episodes:

What Working a Racetrack Actually Teaches You About Cars — Lessons from Corner Marshal to Director of Operations Jun 18, 2026

Show notes

Most people experience motorsports from the outside. Eva Gregory has spent her career on the inside — and what she learned there didn't come from a textbook.

In this week's Thursday Pit Stop, Eva gets personal. Starting as a cashier at a karting facility and working her way through corner marshaling, pit stewarding, wrenching, track rentals, and eventually Director of Operations at Road Atlanta, she shares three things the track taught her that genuinely surprised her — and that she thinks every automotive enthusiast should hear.

What does it mean to develop real mechanical empathy? Why are the most important people at any motorsports event completely invisible to most attendees? And what happens to your passion when it becomes your profession — and how do you protect it?

This episode is for anyone who loves cars and has ever wondered what it looks like on the other side of the fence. And for anyone who's thought about turning that love into a career.

Be sure to join our newsletter to stay in the know! https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/

No Garage, No Problem — The Unconventional Path to Professional Racing with Andre Castro Jun 16, 2026

Show notes

What does it actually take to build a racing career when there's no traditional path to follow? Andre Castro figured it out.

Growing up in New York City — inspired by a Williams BMW shirt and a tricycle — Andre found a way into karting without a garage, without a car to haul equipment, and without the typical infrastructure most young drivers take for granted. What he had was ingenuity, a relentless work ethic, and a very clear vision of where he was going.

In this episode, Andre walks us through the creative problem-solving that defined his rise through the ranks — from karting in NYC to winning the Team USA Scholarship, finishing 3rd of 97 at the Formula Ford Festival, qualifying cold into a NASCAR Xfinity race with zero prior testing, and racing for Hyundai on the world stage. Now with his sights set on IMSA, the trajectory is only pointing one direction.

This is a conversation about creativity, persistence, and building something from scratch — on your own terms.

Be sure to join our newsletter to stay in the know! https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/

The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans: Ferrari's Shot at History, Genesis Makes Its Hypercar Debut, and What Endurance Racing Is Really Testing | Thursday Pit Stop Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

The 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans kicks off this Saturday, June 13th — and this year's race has more storylines than most. Ferrari arrives chasing a fourth consecutive overall win, something no manufacturer has done since Ferrari itself won six in a row in the 1960s. Genesis becomes the first Korean manufacturer ever to compete at the top level of endurance racing. And every single car on the 62-car grid is running on 100% renewable biofuel.

In this week's Thursday Pit Stop, Eva Gregory breaks down what actually makes Le Mans different from every other race on the calendar, why the Genesis entry matters beyond the result, and what the shift to renewable fuel tells us about where the automotive industry is genuinely heading — not just where it says it's heading.

Plus: the real reason the teams that win at Le Mans tend to be the ones that make the fewest mistakes — and what that principle looks like off the racetrack.

Be sure to join our newsletter to stay in the know! https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/

Who Gets to Be a Racing Fan? | ft. Fatima & Misha, Hosts of Hold The Pass Podcast Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

Motorsport has a belonging problem — and it's time we talked about it. This week on BeDifferential, we're kicking off a special crossover episode with Misha and Fatima, hosts of the Hold The Pass Podcast, who bring a sharp, fresh perspective from the broader world of sports culture. Together we tackle one of motorsport's most loaded questions: who actually gets to be a racing fan — and who decides?

We dig into the gatekeeping vs. access debate, the Drive to Survive effect and the fans it created, F1's massive expansion into Las Vegas and Miami, and whether the sport is evolving or trading its identity for a new audience. We talk social media's role in reshaping racing fandom, the tension between F1's traditional European base and its growing global audience, and whether American fans are truly being welcomed into Formula 1 — or just marketed to.

Plus — is grassroots motorsport being left behind while everyone chases F1 and NASCAR headlines? And what would it actually take for motorsport to build the kind of broad, diverse fandom that the NFL and basketball already have?

This is Part 1 of a two-part crossover — next up, I head over to Hold The Pass to keep the conversation going. Subscribe so you don't miss it.

Learn more about BeDifferential at https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/ and sign up for the newsletter to gain inside access and additional updates.

Pikes Peak International Raceway Is Closing — And the Grassroots Motorsports Community Should Be Paying Attention | Thursday Pit Stop Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

Pikes Peak International Raceway just announced that 2026 will be its final season of motorsports — and it's headed for mixed-use redevelopment. For a lot of people, that's a Colorado story. For Eva, it's something bigger.

In this week's Thursday Pit Stop, Eva Gregory draws on her years working inside motorsports facilities — from Atlanta Motorsports Park to Road Atlanta — to explain why track closures like this one aren't isolated incidents. They're a pattern. And they have real consequences for the grassroots racing community, for entry-level competitors, and for the long-term health of the sport we love.

What does it actually take to keep a racing facility alive? What do we lose when one closes? And what can enthusiasts do before it's too late?

This one's worth your time — whether you've ever set foot on a racetrack or just care about where the sport is headed.

Be sure to join our newsletter to stay in the know! https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/

Dairy Farms to Dynos: How Isla Mackenzie Built Her Way Into Formula 1 Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

Isla Mackenzie grew up on a dairy farm on the Isle of Lewis — and somehow found her way to the Formula 1 pit lane. In this episode, we trace every step of that journey, from stripping down project cars before she could legally drive, to running her own engine tuning business while still in school, to navigating a career path that looked nothing like the industry standard.

Isla walks us through the HNC-to-Honours Degree route she took into engineering, why it shaped her thinking in ways a traditional path might not have, and what it actually took — technically and personally — to move from Technician to Systems Engineer inside one of the most demanding technical environments in sport.

We get into what Dare to Be Different (now rebranded to FIA Women on Track) meant for her practically (not just symbolically), what it felt like to return to one of their events as a Williams employee, and the advice Susie Wolff gave her at a D2BD connect event in 2018 that she's never forgotten.

Isla also breaks down what systems engineering actually means in the context of an F1 car, what race week prep looks like from the operations view, and what she thinks is the single most misunderstood thing about technical motorsport work.

And she's honest — about whether the industry has genuinely changed since 2017, what diversity advocacy looks like from inside an F1 team, and what she wishes someone had told her before her first F1 job.

If you love cars, engineering, motorsport, or you're trying to find your entry point into an industry that can feel impossible to break into — this one's for you.

Be sure to join the newsletter to stay in the know!

https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/

Not Every Opportunity Is Meant for You — and That's a Good Thing | Thursday Pit Stop May 28, 2026

Show notes

In competitive industries like automotive and motorsport, there's a quiet pressure to say yes to everything. Every event, every introduction, every potential collaboration — because what if you miss the one that matters?

But in this week's Thursday Pit Stop, we're making the case that saying yes to everything might actually be pulling you further from what you're trying to build.

We get into:

Why the scarcity mindset around opportunity leads to overcommitment and burnout
The shift from chasing access to practicing discernment — and when that shift needs to happen
Three questions to ask before you say yes to anything this week
Why saying no to the wrong things is how the right things find you
What intentionality actually looks like in a fast-moving industry

This one is for anyone who's stretched thin, showing up in too many places, and quietly wondering if any of it is moving the needle. It might not be a hustle problem. It might be an alignment one.

The BeDifferential Podcast helps people navigate automotive and motorsport on their own terms — building careers and communities with intention, not just momentum.

From Wrenching to Owning: How Joe Barszcz Built a Blue Collar Top Fuel Team from the Ground Up May 26, 2026

Show notes

What does it actually take to own a Top Fuel dragster in 2025 — without a large budget, without a factory sponsor, and without taking the easy road? Joe Barszcz has spent his entire life in drag racing. He's built chassis, run a machine shop, wrenched on funny cars, and shared pits with legends like John Force, JR Todd, and Jerry Toliver. And after decades of being that close to the thing he wanted most, he finally did it — bought Jim Maroney's Top Fuel car with small increments at a time and is heading into the 2026 IHRA 10-race national tour as a team owner. He calls it a blue collar Top Fuel team. This episode is the story of what that actually means.

The BeDifferential Podcast is bringing more people into automotive and motorsport — one story at a time. Learn more at https://www.bedifferentialpodcast.com/

Learn more about JBR Nitro at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61587245738321

You're Allowed to Take Up Space Before You Feel Ready | Thursday Pit Stop May 21, 2026

Show notes

Most people are waiting. Waiting to feel more confident, more experienced, more qualified. Waiting for some signal that finally tells them it's okay to step in.

But that signal doesn't come. And in this week's Thursday Pit Stop, we're talking about why.

Confidence isn't something you earn before you act — it's something you build because you did. And the people who seem like they have it all figured out? They started exactly where you are. They just didn't wait.

We get into:

Why the "feel ready first" mindset quietly keeps capable people on the sidelines
How confidence actually works — and why action has to come before it, not after
Why this shows up so strongly in spaces like automotive and motorsport
One practical challenge to take into your week right now
What it actually means to take up space — and why you're already allowed to

This one is for anyone who's been holding back, second-guessing themselves, or quietly wondering if they belong. You do. And you don't have to wait until you're sure of that to act like it.

The BeDifferential Podcast is built for people finding their way into automotive and motorsport — wherever they're starting from.

From Quarter Midgets to the World Rally Championship with Madelyn Tabor May 19, 2026

Show notes

What does it look like to be born into motorsport — and then actually earn your place in it anyway?

Madelyn Tabor attended her first rally at four weeks old. She grew as a 3rd-generation rally driver, got behind the wheel of a Quarter Midget at 13, and by 18 had made the leap to stage rally. She's competed in the ARA national championship 3 years in a row, a WRC Beyond Rally Women's Program alumna, and someone who's stood on the podium alongside Travis Pastrana and Rhiannon Gelsomino. On paper, it sounds like a straight line. In conversation, it's anything but.

In this episode of The BeDifferential Podcast, Madelyn breaks down what it's actually like to grow up inside a racing family. She explains the co-driver relationship, what real race prep looks like behind the scenes, and how her approach shifts when she moves from gravel to snow to ice to pavement. She talks candidly about being the only North American woman selected for the WRC Beyond program, what she took from that experience, and what it's been like navigating the sport as a young woman in a discipline that doesn't always make it easy.

But this episode isn't just for the gearheads. Madelyn spends real time on the doors-open side of rally — the co-drivers, the navigators, the service crews, the volunteers — and where someone who's never been to a stage rally can actually start if something about this world is calling to them. If you've ever wondered whether there's a place for you in motorsport, this conversation is the answer.

Learn more about Madelyn at https://www.madelyntaborracing.com/

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