Q: Roger Penske is now in his mid 80s. Is there any known succession plan for Team Penske once he is gone? Roger’s son Jay Penske had his own Indy race team (Dragon Racing) over a decade ago, but I’ve heard nil about him since. Does he play any ongoing role in Team Penske?
Anthony Jenkins, Ontario, Canada
MP: Yes, and his son Greg has taken a greater role in all Penske Entertainment activities in recent years. Jay runs his Formula E team and his media group, which owns a lot of digital and print titles. He has no involvement in Team Penske.
Q: What can IndyCar do to improve the raciness of WWTR? Sunday’s race was the poorest oval show I have watched in a long time. No one could pass, even when the track was relatively free of marbles. The alternate tire experiment made marbles even worse, so passes were pretty much limited to pit stops. Kudos to Dixon for another fuel economy master class, but that’s not exactly compelling racing.
Steve Summers, Jasper, TN
MP: I swear I saw Malukas and others using the second lane. It wasn’t as racy as we’d hoped, though, and I don’t know if there’s an obvious answer beyond sticking with the primaries. I loved the race. We get one or two of these each year, and a few runaway wins, and a few super close finishes, and some big drama finishes, etc. It would suck if half the races were like Sunday’s, but I tend to think of the season like a TV series with 16 or 17 episodes and look for different things from one episode to the next so it doesn’t become too predictable. But maybe that’s not how others see things.
Q: What do you think about having IndyCar mandate a set number of fuel stops to prevent races being fuel milage races like at Gateway on Sunday? It might make the racing better without teams having to hit a fuel number — just stand on the gas and go.
I attended the three-day Kokomo Smackdown for USAC Sprints this weekend, and was blown away — now I know why Robin loved this kind of racing. I am a long-time Indy fan, having attended my first 500 in 1956 and probably another 25 or so since, but the Smackdown rivals the Indy 500 in my opinion.
My son and I were crewing for Trey Osborn, who is on a super-tight shoestring budget — open-wheel trailer and just scraping by. He is fast, won a heat and made the feature each of the three nights and was the most popular driver. Nobody shows up with an open-wheel trailer anymore, and fans in the campground raised over $2,000 for him on Saturday, and all day Saturday and Sunday fans were coming up to him and giving him money — he came away with $3,000 in donations and four new right-rear tires. We were pushing him off for the feature on Saturday night and a guy came up and gave me $20 to give to him. Dirt sprint fans are unbelievable, and the racing is incredible.
Big Possum, Michigan
MP: That’s amazing to hear for Osborn and just the kind of thing we’ve come to expect from racing fans. We really care, and that’s one of the common bonds that makes our sport so special.
If WWTR had two or three more yellows, which was entirely plausible, we have no fuel saving, so going spec on mandatory stops is not the way to go. Like I said in the last response, I try to appreciate the different types of races we get and I’m thankful they aren’t all flat out from start to finish because even that would get boring after a while. Variety is what we have in the five types of tracks we visit, and what we have in how races are won. It’s something I happily embrace.
Q: With the amazing fact that Scott Dixon s able to win the race with only three pit stops to most others needing five stops, one has to ask; was post-race scrutineering done to determine if they were cheating? A larger fuel tank or some secret hiding place for fuel?
Doug Mayer, Revelstoke, BC, Canada
MP: One doesn’t have to ask, actually. One can respect the achievement without casting unfounded aspersions. Yes, a full and in-depth inspection was performed and there’s no news to report.
Q: I caught up with Earnie Francis Jr. at Worldwide Technology Raceway and asked him about his future plans for next year. He told me that he plans to race in the final two Indy NXT races, but after that it’s up in the air. I hope whatever happens he finds a ride either in NASCAR or in IMSA, because he’s way too talented of a driver to passed up.
Alistair, Springfield, MI
MP: Agreed. I’d love to see him get one more year in NXT, but I don’t foresee Ernie winning the title next year, so if he’s able, landing a quality ride in IMSA would be awesome for him. Great kid with lots of talent.
Q: I watched the replay of the Malukas pass on McLaughlin. I can see if Scott wasn’t looking in his mirror he would not know David was there. Not sure if Malukas should have backed out or not. Nevertheless, Scott got the worst of it. In the end I think it was just racing. Malukas said McLaughlin came to him at the podium. Can’t confirm that. I think that is not the time to air grievances; stealing someone’s podium thunder. There’s a time and place. Kind of tacky on Scott’s part. Your thoughts?
Jeff, Colorado
MP: I look at this as 28 drivers who trust each other to treat each other in a safe manner on the ovals, and in Scott’s view, David crossed a line. You and I can have our opinions, and I don’t know if I saw Malukas do anything that was truly egregious, but if the guy who was doing 175mph next to him in a few corners was pissed about the other guy’s driving behavior, pithy things like podium etiquette aren’t even a consideration. And based on what McLaughlin said to him at the podium, there’s no doubt that the beef is real.
I do appreciate how David handled things afterwards and that he made an effort to stand up for himself. Whether he was right or wrong, he’s perceived as weak and couldn’t afford to be a pushover.
Scott’s a cool and playful guy, just like David, but the difference here is Scott doesn’t handle beefs with emojis and gifs on Twitter. He’ll take the fight straight to you, and for that, I also have an appreciation. Ultimately, this feels like it’s much ado about nothing, so hopefully it gets mended before knuckles are required.