Q: Too bad 100 Days To Indy isn’t season-long to capture all this soap opera drama! Couple of things:
1) McLaren has been a positive to IndyCar, adding a worldwide team name, plenty of money, and added competition. However, they always have seemed to be in the midst of some shady contractual dealings which started with the Hinch ousting, the Askew skewering, the not so subtle almost sidelining of Rosenqvist, etc. It is a bad look.
2) My tea leaves assessment seems like Palou thought he was getting, at a minimum, a quality for quality ride swap heading to McLaren, probably an increase in pay, and some type of opportunity in F1. My guess is the F1 stuff evaporated and with the domination at Ganassi… he simply thought better of leaving. That said, despite the talent, now both teams have been burned by Palou’s hot/cold decision making, and his management team has left him. He’s mega talented, but if I were either team I’m not exactly sure I’d want or trust a driver who has crawfished on his contracts multiple times now. It’s kinda like dating someone that one minute is in love with you and the next wants their ex. I think both teams should cut him loose.
Ross
MP: I’m the son of a man born in Arkansas in the 1940s and thought I’d heard every Southern colloquialism, so I give you props for the use of “crawfished,” which is new to me.
The problem here is that Palou is too good behind the wheel to jettison. There’s a reason McLaren fought to hard to get him, CGR fought so hard to keep him, and held onto him once he decided McLaren was no longer the place he wanted to be.
Ganassi is like an elephant; he forgets nothing, but he’s also as pure of a racer as you’ll find. He gives zero ***** about the drama and nonsense and just wants to win and stomp Penske, Brown, Andretti, and the rest. If the weapon to do that — along with Scott Dixon — is Palou, he’ll live with the TMZ nonsense that comes as an added price for dominating CGR’s opposition.
Q: I think the safety team for IndyCar does a great job. That said, just a single lap into the Gallagher Grand Prix, they failed to get Newgarden’s car freed and restarted before he lost a lap.
I suppose they weren’t in on the conspiracy to get him wins and the championship that keeps getting discussed in the comments. (Of course, as big of a fan of him as I am, he could have qualified better to avoid that mess.)
Also, what a move by DeFrancesco to take the lead!
So what’s your take on this supposed conspiracy to always help Newgarden that keeps getting mentioned in the comments?
Mark, PA
MP: When I hear folks mention conspiracies to help Newgarden, I stop listening. Devlin’s incredible move around the outside is an easy P1 on the Best Passes of 2023 highlight reel. And then, as usual, his day went in the dumpster.
Q: Ganassi has obviously upset and underpaid his drivers. His last Indy 500 winner openly criticized his pay. For Palou to purportedly take advance 2024 money from McLaren and then not honor a signed contract is sleazy and wrong. Not a good way for an F1 prospect to gain favor and make an impression. He is toast now with F1 teams. Ganassi may have competitive cars, but his driver treatment and treatment of his professional colleagues is deplorable. Penske would never get involved in such a legal can of worms. Strangely silent is Dixon, who soldiers on. He had a great Indy road course win. Hopefully O’Ward or one of the other Arrow McLaren drivers will get more F1 consideration.
Zak Brown also didn’t impress when he poached Piastri, who clearly was under an Alpine contract. Hard to cheer for such dastardly teams with unprofessional owners. Let the lawyers handle it. Robin Miller would not be impressed. In old Indy days, a handshake and a man’s word meant everything. Many a veteran driver would jump in an unproven competitor’s car to try and get a fellow driver up to Indy 500 qualifying speed. This was at considerable risk. Bravo to the old timers who had integrity and not greed. They would help out colleagues and not screw them or the team owners or mechanics.
Craig B, Naples, FL
MP: Oddly, Dixon has been approached by McLaren multiple times, including this year, and each time, Dixon — who isn’t cheap — chose to sign new deals with Chip. Robin would be laughing like a hyena. We haven’t lived in a handshake world in decades, so while everything you’ve said is true, it hasn’t been relevant for quite some time. Alpine failed to sign Piastri, as F1’s Contracts Recognition Board found, which allowed Zak to make him a McLaren driver. It was one of many embarrassing moments for now-former Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer.
Q: Is there any truth to IndyCar going back to Milwaukee?
Jeff
MP: They’re trying, but I haven’t heard about anything being done for 2024.
Q: Please can you tell me if at all possible is IndyCar looking at ways to stop cars getting “entangled,” for lack of a better word, with each other each other in future chassis updates like what happened with Newgarden and Armstrong on the opening lap at Indy
Leo Capella, London, England
MP: Nothing that comes to mind, Leo. Not with fenderless cars. Even cars with fenders end up on top of each other from time to time.
Q: Man, what a great race on Saturday! For me, it was easily one of the best on the road course I’ve seen. Good battles and interesting strategy calls throughout. I was disappointed Rahal couldn’t get the win, but Dixon displayed again why he’s the best of his generation. I’m a guy who’s been into IndyCar racing since the ’70s, and I have a question: Is seeing IndyCar play opening act to NASCAR at IMS of all places as bitter a pill for you to swallow as it is for me?
Rod, Houston
MP: I’ve said this every time I’ve been to the Brickyard event: It feels wrong being at the track that named us and made us while serving as the opening act to NASCAR’s opening act on Saturday, and gone from the facility before the Cup headliners take over on Sunday. I hate everything about IndyCar looking small and unimportant at its birthplace.