Q: I would be very interested in attending a road course race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the seating for this race stinks. I am a permanent seating person. Has anybody addressed the idea of putting up temporary seating in the passing zones close to the action? I don’t want to travel 1,500 miles to watch the entire race on a Jumbo-tron.
John Sedlak, Venice, FL
MP: Most of the passing happens into Turn 1, where there are copious amounts of permanent seats, and at the end of the back straight, where there’s grandstands placed for ticket buying and viewing. So yes, thought has been put into it, since the first race in 2014, and people have come out to sit in those seats and watch passing and racing. If those seats, where the most passes take place, are the ones that stink, I don’t know what else to offer, John.
Q: I read Kyle Larson will run on the oval at IMS in October in an attempt to get through ROP. Is this part of a larger test to try to get a feel for how the cars handle with the new engine package and to try to zero in on the right tire compound? If so, will Larson run the new engine package or the existing one? I assume the handling is different between the two and it might serve him best to run the new package since that is what he will be running next May.
Don Weidig, Canton, OH
MP: It’s just IndyCar’s fall Indy ROP test, and nothing special just for Kyle.
Q: I imagine when you’re done working on the Mailbag, you close your laptop and that’s it for you. Well, that’s just when the fun actually begins. I’m not sure if you get a chance to read the comments after posting it on RACER, but they are entertaining to say the least. It’s nothing but IndyCar fans just teeing off on each other’s opinions. And of course, you get the Formula 1 fan(s) whose sole purpose in life is to tell us how inferior IndyCar is. It’s all-out war in the comment sections — you got good guys, and you got villains — the regulars all know the villains.
I guess I just don’t get it. As IndyCar fans, we are the minority. Can’t we all just get along? Maybe we all think we have the answers to make our sport better, but please just respect one another’s opinion.
Ken, Lockport
MP: I love and welcome the idea, and if we can make it happen in IndyCar, eradicating cancer and ending world hunger will be a breeze. And yes, when I file a story, or the mailbag, it’s done and I’m onto the next thing. Whether folks love it, hate it, love me, or hate me isn’t part of post-filing equation and as you noted, the piece is in the hands of the folks who take the topic and go wherever they please with it.
I think the last time I actively read the comments, the Dallara DW12 was in its infancy, and I maybe look a few times a year if I need more context on something; I had no clue what the Noah Gragson suspension thing was about, and got the answer in two seconds once I scrolled down and had it explained by a commenter.
The comments sections here or on other racing sites are no different than any other sport where fans of rival teams or leagues tear each other apart over players, histories of ball clubs, or the direction Commissioner X is taking the sport. While it’s done in person or over the phone instead of online, if I don’t hurl weekly insults at my friend Chris, who loves the terrible LA Dodgers, while speaking glowingly about my amazing SF Giants, I know I’m missing out on one of life’s true joys, so I don’t see a lot of difference in racing fans firing back and forth at each other. We surrendered respect and civility decades ago, and they won’t be making a comeback.
But you also have those who spend a lot of time, every day, responding to everything and everyone in the comments or on social media, who live for such things, and that’s one of their main hobbies in life. If that’s the thing — being thoughtful or mean or something in between — that gives them value, so be it.
Q: Have you heard any rumors about an endurance-length IMSA race at Road America? Earlier in the year RA posted a picture of their new pit lane lighting, with a hint about sports car racing at dusk. But when the 2024 IMSA schedule came out, next year is another 2h40m event. Meanwhile IMS gets a six-hour IMSA race at the unloved infield road course. From a fan’s perspective, it’s… puzzling.
Ben Malec, Buffalo Grove, IL
MP: I have not, but it’s easily the most requested change we get every year for the IMSA calendar. I’m mindful of the fact that in 2024, half of the big IMSA races will be enduros of at least six hours in length, so adding another enduro seems unlikely.
Q: After Nashville, when Scott McLaughlin said he couldn’t wear his cold suit “because he ate too many cakes,” I assumed he meant the one he owned didn’t fit anymore. But then after Rahal said he couldn’t wear his at Indy, I started to wonder if there is too much of an overall car weight penalty, hitting the bigger drivers especially hard. What are the rules on car and driver weight ballasting/equalizing?
Brian, Ohio
MP: I’d assume the irreverent Mr. McLaughlin was referring to gaining a few pounds, and joking about not being able to slip into his cool shirt.
Running the cool short system adds approximately eight pounds to a car, and per IndyCar’s current rules, there are no accommodations made for them. So at Indy, for a bigger driver like Graham, he’s forced to choose comfort over performance because while eight pounds is a drop in the bucket in a car that weighs 2000 pounds or whatever with him in it on a full fuel load, it can be the difference between saving or losing a few hundredths of a second per lap.
IndyCar has had its “Danica rule” for a while now where no weight advantage is given to smaller drivers; all drivers are weighed after the first session, and based on that official number recorded by the series, the crews know how much equalization ballast to add or remove to achieve the minimum weight parity IndyCar calls for. But, that eight pounds for the cool short system isn’t part of the equalization, so it 10 drivers run the system, the other 17 do no have to add eight extra pounds of ballast, hence the comfort-or-performance dilemma some drivers go through.