Q: Pit lane size has been a big topic in regards to IndyCar charters and max number of entries per event. If there isn’t room, there isn’t room. However, all cars would be allowed to practice and qualify and therefore would need a pit space, so how does that work? Either there is space or there isn’t. Any insight?
Andy Brumbaugh
MP: We’ll have 28 this weekend at Portland with Juri Vips in a fourth RLL car. As I’m told, extra cars will be allowed to enter next year, but if it’s at a track where there’s no room for more than 27-28 (or whatever the max number might be), the series will politely urge the entrant to pick another event where their car can be accommodated.
Q: I have questions related to the recent reader inquiry about IndyCar drivers in F1 tests. Do you have any comment on Andretti’s decision to ‘commute’ to F1? I feel like it was a significant missed opportunity to become a part of the team.
I heard at the time that Michael wanted them to explore the kind of asymmetric setups he was used to, but the team refused to even explore the idea. True? That also strikes me as a significant error, especially given that the car was not stellar. Any opinions?
Finally, I concluded at the time that Al Jr preferred a car set-up less on edge than Michael. In my mind, this gave Michel a qualifying advantage, but allowed Al to better adapt to changing conditions in the races. Do you see truth in this, or is it just overthinking from outside the car?
Jack
MP: Michael’s commuting on the Concorde was always a lame excuse to me by McLaren. Michael told me he was planning to move to the U.K., but got the axe before a commitment was made to return in 1994. I’ve never heard the asymmetrical setup story. Little Al could drive anything, but wasn’t renowned as a big technical driver. Michael was able to drive anything and was deeply entrenched on the technical side. I’d say that made it easier for Michael to come up with stronger qualifying and race setups that were more effective.
Q: I was at the IMSA race at Road America and my question is about the yellow flag periods and lining everyone up by class. When a yellow happens, why doesn’t the safety car just pick up the leader, and everyone else behind the leader on track just hold position as they were when the yellow came out? Doesn’t matter if the field is mixed with different class cars, and when the field comes by pit entry, those that want to pit do so, and if you choose not to pit, so be it. When you come out of the pits you just line up wherever you are.
They wasted probably 20 minutes or more of racing time going around under yellow multiple times just lining up the classes. I know it is a NASCAR-owned series and a NASCAR-type alignment with classes is what they want, but we are just wasting time. Let’s just go old school.
RA veteran, Dan C
MP: It’s the main aspect of the events that fans continue to dislike. I’m open to any ideas that increase green flag running.
Q: Would a second tire manufacturer in IndyCar be a bad thing? If not, has it been discussed as a possibility?
Bradley ‘J’, Sussex, WI
MP: It wouldn’t. It has been a while since I heard of a new tire manufacturer being truly interested in IndyCar.
Q: Please explain the charter situation in IndyCar. They seem convinced that capping fields at 27 cars is a good thing. I want to see as many cars as the tracks can fit, not capped at 27. It wasn’t that long ago during the Split when 18 cars was the bigger of the two fields in the series at most races. That sucked. Do they think capping the fields is going to add value because other potential owners are going to want to buy the charters from smaller teams for large sums of money? I’m guessing that they’d just opt to not buy in and go sports car racing instead. Can you enlighten me on the thought process? I love IndyCar, but I don’t understand what the powers that be think its major value is.
AJ, Indiana
MP: Wait until later in the decade when we’re looking at 24 cars. I’ve even heard of a goal to get it down to 22. As I wrote in our last charter story, there’s a Penske-led initiative to prioritize quality entries over quantity.
Q: My questions are about IndyCar marketing. Why is IndyCar never mentioned on the news unless it’s the 500 or something tragic? And why is IndyCar never marketed like NASCAR? You can go to just about any gas station or truck stop or convenience store or department store and find something related to NASCAR. The last time I saw something related to IndyCar was a few years ago at 7-Eleven!
Maybe if they did a better job more people would know what IndyCar is!
Eric Knackstedt
MP: It wasn’t always this way. IndyCar, in its former CART IndyCar Series guise, was the country’s most popular form of racing through the mid-to-late 1990s. It was the headline series mentioned first until NASCAR took the lead, which is has not relinquished.
In that rise, NASCAR amassed a fortune and has become a giant of an organization with riches and reach that dwarf IndyCar. Most of the major brands that were once found in CART moved to NASCAR (if they weren’t already there and competing in both series) exclusively, and that trend also continues, which is why you see the big activations at gas stations and wherever else.
It probably sounds like a consolation prize, but Penske Entertainment, which bought the series leading into 2020, has been making larger investments in marketing on an annual basis, but its budget for such things is a fraction of what NASCAR and its large sponsors spend each year. Most of the sponsors on Indy cars are comparatively small and don’t have the money or the reach to do national advertising campaign.
The ‘why doesn’t IndyCar do things like NASCAR’ question comes back to size and scale. One’s the heavyweight champ, and the other is the middleweight champ. They might compete in the same sport, but aren’t in the same ring.