Q: In last week’s Mailbag, you wrote that Conor Daly “has been exceptional in the right team and circumstances.” You’ve been a long-time supporter of his. I guess my question is, what am I missing? Daly’s made more than 100 starts, with some good teams, and I can barely remember him being in the race at most of them. With other young drivers, I can think of “wow” moments — Linus Lundqvist at Nashville, Christian Lundgaard at Toronto, Rinus VeeKay on the Indy road course, David Malukas at Gateway, Carlos Munoz in his Indy 500 debut — but I’m struggling to come up with much for Conor. I don’t have anything against him; just don’t understand the years of hype. Can you let me in on the secret?
Andrew, Sacramento, CA
MP: He was strong on a number of occasions in 2015 and 2016 with midfield teams and seemed to thrive in the high-downforce aero kit era with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Dale Coyne Racing with five runs in the top six. From there, he’s had a lot of forgettable outings with teams that were quite bad, and on rare occasion, he’d put in a 10th with Andretti at the 500 or take pole and a sixth with Carlin.
He’s evolved into more of an oval specialist of late and has been really effective at Indy. There’s no hype involved here. If you’ve been watching, his capabilities in teams that aren’t plumbing the depths of mediocrity have been noteworthy. Unfortunately, he’s usually been with teams that are miles from the real contenders.
Q: You didn’t come right out and say it, but doesn’t it stand to reason that Simon Pagenaud, if he returns to full health, would be exactly what the Meyer Shank team needs for at least one more season while a rookie driver breaks into the team and series? He still knows what it takes to win, and I think Simon is still a threat to win the 500 again. I’m just not sure why the consternation on bringing him back for another season.
Andy R., Brighton, MI
MP: I’d love to say yes, but not with the season he was having prior to the crash. MSR’s drivers were 20th (Helio) and 24th (Simon) entering Mid-Ohio where the crash took place. Said another way, MSR’s pair of entries have been drastically underperforming all season, and they to turn both cars into proper contenders. Tom Blomqvist is the first step in doing so by taking over from Helio, and based on Simon being in the midst of his worst season of results since he debuted in 2007, I can’t see MSR or any other team paying millions to drive unless he’s able to show he’s back to his previous standard.
There are lots of drivers who know what it takes to win, and as we often see, their days of winning are mostly in the past. It’s the ones who can either keep winning, or have their team in the top six on a regular basis, who get contract extensions. With a pressing need to get better with both cars, the nostalgic hiring of a beloved driver just isn’t how a team makes real progress. There needs to be proof that a Pagenaud or any other driver can do big things tomorrow, not in yesteryear. And that’s why everyone’s rooting for Simon to get back out this season and show he’s healthy and fast in order to get more contract offers.
Q: Last week Shyam wrote to the Mailbag about standing starts in IndyCar. Having watched the start of the Long Beach race four times from the hairpin prior to the start/finish on Shoreline Drive, I can only agree.
One of the interesting attributes IndyCar has is the three disciplines of street courses, road courses and ovals, which tests the drivers’ abilities. If the series had rolling starts and standing starts, this would further enhance the series as a test of driver skill, and at some tracks, improve the racing.
Oliver Wells
MP: It might. One of my favorite parts of working on SCCA Pro Formula Atlantic teams (think Indy Pro 2000 cars but with the big downforce and tires from Indy NXT car) were the standing starts, so I’m not against the idea returning to IndyCar. I like your idea of their select use. Reserving them for the race start on street courses would be a fun thing to try.
Q: I’m curious to know how Indy got a six-hour IMSA event so quickly? I think that the series would be a bit more interesting if there was a four-hour floater that changed every year. Racing at dusk adds a lot more of a challenge, and running it on various tracks would benefit not only the tracks, but the fans. The race could be on a Saturday to allow support races earlier on Sunday so the teams could still get back to the shop early in the week.
Craig
MP: Penske Entertainment and IMSA wanted to turn the event into something special — more than the 2h40m standard-length race — after its upcoming return in September. It was under discussion to be a long race from the start, but both sides opted to get once event done before going bigger.
Q: At the risk of this turning political (I hope not!), I have a question concerning the funding of a certain IndyCar team. As a Hoosier and a veteran of 49 Indy 500s, I have a subscription to the Indianapolis Star, mainly because they are (I think) the only newspaper in the country that covers IndyCar in at least some capacity.
The Star has a columnist, Chris Doyle, that most people have a love/hate relationship with. I read his columns because I find them amusing, and sometimes insightful. He has mentioned several times, with disparagement, the funding for the McLaren IndyCar team. A quote from a recent column: “An IndyCar team, the one run by McLaren, needs PIF blood money. Oh sure, McLaren is funded by the PIF (Saudi Public Investment Fund) and another noxious Middle East government, the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain.”
I haven’t heard much about this in IndyCar circles and wondered what your take on this is? I know that teams need money to exist, and it is common knowledge that McLaren and Zak Brown seem to throw cash around like no other, but is it fair to say that they are funded by “blood money”? What say you?
D. Thomas, Tell City, IN
MP: If a Saudi envoy arrived on pit lane offering $250 million contracts, most of the IndyCar paddock would be fighting each other to sign first. I do my best to skip the “fake outrage” industry on cable and in print, and this premise appears to fall into that category. I’ve heard the topic raised on rare occasions, and when it happens, it’s usually from a team owner or leader who would take that “blood money” in an instant, so let’s not kid ourselves or act precious here.