{"podcast":{"title":"BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show","slug":"break-fix-the-motorsports-vehicle-enthusiast-variety-show-379180","podcast_index_feed_id":379180,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/gtmotorsports/feed.xml","website_url":"https://www.gtmotorsports.org","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/8877019/BreakFix2025.jpg","author":"Motoring Podcast Network","episode_count":662,"summary":"Cool Careers, Awesome People, along with Unusual & Inspiring Histories from all over the Autosphere. From wrench turners to artists, authors, racers, designers and everyone in between. The road to success is paved by all of us. Because #everyonehasastory","last_synced_at":"2026-09-08T22:19:43.222621+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/break-fix-the-motorsports-vehicle-enthusiast-variety-show-379180"},"episode":{"title":"Evening With A Legend: Charles Mendez","slug":"evening-with-a-legend-charles-mendez","published_at":"2026-08-11T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/break-fix-the-motorsports-vehicle-enthusiast-variety-show-379180/evening-with-a-legend-charles-mendez","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/break-fix-the-motorsports-vehicle-enthusiast-variety-show-379180","url":"https://www.gtmotorsports.org/evening-with-a-legend-charles-mendez/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/aqbzms77hsu8w5wc/EWAL_episode_26-MENDEZ.mp3","summary":"In this episode of Evening with a Legend, we interview American endurance racer Charles Mendez about his two 24 Hours of Le Mans starts—1980 with Racing Associates in a Porsche 935 and 1981 with WM in a Peugeot P79/80—set against his broader Sebring 12 Hours legacy. Mendez recounts how promoting Sebring led to opportunities in a 935, meeting Le Mans organizers, and bringing cars overseas with little European experience. He shares first impressions of Le Mans, the realities of privateer racing, lessons from a rain-soaked 1980 retirement, and how friends helped connect him with WM for 1981 testing at Paul Ricard. Mendez details the Peugeot’s quirks, high-speed Mulsanne challenges, mechanical issues during the race, why he stopped owning race cars, and his advice to young drivers: never give up and don’t get cocky. The conversation also covers safety-driven track changes, today’s endurance racing, Le Mans Classic, and Mendez’s current life and mentoring interests.","meta_description":"In this episode of Evening with a Legend, we interview American endurance racer Charles Mendez about his two 24 Hours of Le Mans starts—1980 with Racing A…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2541,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/break-fix-the-motorsports-vehicle-enthusiast-variety-show-379180/episodes/evening-with-a-legend-charles-mendez/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/break-fix-the-motorsports-vehicle-enthusiast-variety-show-379180/evening-with-a-legend-charles-mendez.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}