The RACER Mailbag, August 9

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. Due to the high volume of questions received, we can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll answer as many as we can. Published …

Q: All in favor of no passing until the crossing of the start/finish line raise your hand! When the red flag comes out at the end of a race then it is time to change the channel. So boring.

Jake

MP: OK.

Q: What a great weekend for Linus Lundqvist despite the late collision with the wall and lack of practice. If I were MSR I would get pen and paper ASAP, because Linus is the real deal.

Stefan Johansson

MP: I have no doubt that a few teams who had the ability to sign Lundqvist during the offseason, but chose to stick with drivers who’ve continued to underwhelm are kicking themselves at the moment. If Linus isn’t a full-timer for someone next year, IndyCar will need to suspend all of its team owners under the Incitation of Rampant Stupidity clause in the rulebook. Also, thank you for submitting something that wasn’t a complaint.

Q: Has there been any determination as to what caused David Malukas’ wing failure? What about what looked like a fire in the engine compartment after he stopped in the runoff?

How about for Linus Lundqvist and his cockpit air scoop?  How did that become loose?

Rene Chavez, Warren, NJ

MP: According to the team, a fire in the engine bay was the cause of all the problems, but as of Monday afternoon, I was unable to get a formal answer to the root cause as HPD was still investigating. The team said the fire caused the left-rear wing pillar to fail, and I’ve heard a lot of wiring was melted, which likely caused Malukas’s inability to shift. David told me he went to brake and felt something was off, then he looked in the sideview mirror and noticed there was something missing…

I saw a piece of tape or something similar fly off of the scoop on Lundqvist’s car on the warmup laps — going over the bridge, I believe — and from there, it appeared to break free from its mounts.

He definitely earned that fist bump. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Q: I am interested to know if Nashville threw any monkeys into the proverbial wrench? Specifically, the performance of one Linus Lundqvist. I am so happy for him. Meyer Shank gave him an opportunity and he grabbed that bull by both horns and went for it. I don’t knock him much for the crash because he was off the racing line by what looked like 12-18 inches. The marbles were horrible at the end. But for most of the race, he stated his case to be hired full-time, and did it well. So, from what you are hearing after the race, did Linus add another storyline to the IndyCar silly season?

My second question, unfortunately, is about young Herta. A lot has changed in his life and team since last year, and things just are not going well for him. Is it a combination of new people, missing the structure he had before with his move to Nashville, and having his dad moved to Kirkwood? He hasn’t lost his ability to drive, and some of his issues can be attributed to the inconsistency of the Andretti team. But this year is so down compared to his past performances, it has people wondering.

Finally, Grosjean has managed to finish three races in a row. Is that helping him at all?

John

MP: The Market for L. Lundqvist, Race Car Driver, just went from mild interest to rampant intrigue. I’d heard he was going to replace one driver before the end of the season, but if Simon Pagenaud is unable to return this season, I’d bet MSR will keep asking him back to drive the No. 60 Honda, which would waylay those replacement plans elsewhere in the paddock. If I’m Michael Andretti, Chip Ganassi, Bobby Rahal, and anyone else looking to hire, Lundqvist just gave them a reason to ask whether some of the main options they’ve been considering have the same upside as Linus.

If he can deliver another solid weekend at the Brickyard, they’ll have real considerations to make. Take Ericsson out of the equation, and most of the other free agents have either a single IndyCar win or no wins, and that could play to Lundqvist’s favor.

I’d like to put Colton’s mystifying season down to bad luck, and a few too many mistakes — either on setup, strategy, or behind the wheel — that have him positioned 10th in the championship, but that’s exactly what we had last year where he finished…10th in the championship. The first few years at Andretti looked really easy for Herta, but that ease has been missing, and now he has a fellow young rocket in Kirkwood to contend with. I wish I had the answer — he does, too — because this doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Grosjean has done a nice job of bringing the car home, and doing so in good shape at the last few races. His ongoing challenge is to prove he’s able to get wins and be Andretti’s top driver on many days, and that’s where he needs to have an immediate breakthrough. If he and Herta and Kirkwood all have unencumbered races, it’s been a rarity for Grosjean to be P1 among Andretti’s lead trio, so out-running those two is where he’d help himself a ton.

One other factor to consider is his value to Andretti’s sponsors. If he represents a bigger marketing value to them than whatever his finishing positions might be, he could be safe, no matter how he runs. But if the team owners are going strictly by results, he’s got four races to show them something new and different.

Q: I watched the Road America round of the IMSA series yesterday. Will the record crowds this season, which I think are directly attributed to the new hybrid era, put any additional pressure on IndyCar to step up its new powertrain upgrades schedule? Given the complexities of the system, I think it was appropriate for IMSA to mandate a common system from Bosch. That is a good way to get started and still leaves the door open to bespoke systems later on. Looks like IMSA is off to a very good start!

Don Hopings, Cathedral City, CA

MP: I don’t think so, Don, and for one reason: The popularity of the hybrid GTP cars is driven by their looks and their new technology. IndyCar will have cool new tech, but the cars will look the same, so the visual pop will be missing. Now, if IndyCar can offer something unique for manufacturers to play with and develop with hybrid in its series, we might see some respond with wanting to join, but overall, there’s going to be a lot of efforts involved with getting people to know and care about the changes hidden beneath the bodywork.

Q: The low ratings that not just IndyCar but all racing gets on TV here in the U.S. continues to amaze me. There are 300 or more million people here and IndyCar gets excited when they have more than 1 million watching, and NASCAR is not much better.

I defy anyone to watch an IndyCar race and a NASCAR race side by side and tell me that the NASCAR race is more exciting. Why would more people watch the NASCAR race? It does not make sense. That is like saying someone would rather watch a slow pitch softball game instead of watching a MLB baseball game.

Don, Grand Rapids, MI

MP: And those same NASCAR-loving fans would say that your favorite open-wheel series uses vintage race cars and is filled with nobodies. And let’s not lie to ourselves; IndyCar would drive straight to the crossroads and sell its soul to get NASCAR’s ratings.