Q: I first want to respond to David Bowers’ question from last week.
You could use this rule from the British Touring Car championship for an IndyCar team championship:
“1.6.4. The Teams Championship: Points will be awarded to a maximum of two nominated cars from each team in each Race (provided that they are listed as a classified finisher in the Final Results) as per the format of points scoring for the Drivers Championship except that the additional point for Pole Position and the additional point for Fastest Lap and the additional point for leading a Race will not be awarded. A team must nominate a maximum of two cars in writing no less than 30 minutes before the nominated start-time of the Official Qualifying Session at each Championship Meeting.”
Now to my question:
This year, I have gotten into WEC (because Callum Ilott moved into that series, the Hypercar ruleset, and my dislike of F1’s current rules), and I love the way their YouTube channel provides content (great preview show and highlights). Next year, I would love to get into IMSA, and given my love of touring cars, the Michelin Pilot Challenge series, too.
What is the best place (aside from RACER) for a UK-based fan to get previews and highlights?
Dan Mayhew, Cambridgeshire, UK
MP: IMSA’s YouTube page is a great resource for highlights. IMSA.com features written previews for all kinds of things as well.
Q: I am not a fan of the concept was for IndyCar’s next chassis. IndyCar has to be its own thing, and utilizing the Red Bull X1/F2 rear wing does not excite me at all. I am also not a fan of a spec series car. I do miss the days of Reynard, Lola and Swift battling it out on race weekends. Hell, throw in the ARR Eagle chassis, too.
How do we overcome the spec-ness without breaking the bank? I would propose something along the lines of the Reynske. That car looked great. Give the teams a spec car. Let them experiment with shark fins, the mirrors and wings. Then maybe we get some varied spec cars across the teams. This may ruffle some feathers as it may costs some money but with FOX deal I’d feel like teams would have sponsorship when the next chassis comes around.
What are your thoughts?
Stefan ‘not that one’ Johansson
MP: I’ve said for years that I’d love to see IndyCar do something futuristic that has people running to the fences to see the cars in action. I don’t know what the car will look like, but IndyCar has an opportunity to do something big and bold to make itself stand out in the sports/entertainment marketplace.
Said another way, for the first time in over a decade, IndyCar is approaching significant change with a new car that could be hugely beneficial. Will it take advantage of this turning point, or play it safe and hit a single instead of swinging for the fences? Penske Entertainment’s known for being highly conservative; will that approach be applied to the 2027 car?
For those who don’t understand the fuss about the car’s looks that were raised by the team owners, consider how in recent years, F1 has become the go-to open-wheel racing series in the U.S. for a huge wave of people, many of them newcomers to racing. Many of them.
Staggering numbers of young domestic fans have flocked to F1 and have come to know the look of an F1 car as the standard for open-wheel racing, so if IndyCar is going to build a new and younger fanbase, a boring replacement for the DW12 isn’t going to get it done. That same notion obviously struck the owners who saw the renderings up close and spoke to RACER.
IMSA had phenomenal racing with its former DPi class, but the formula was lacking in a few areas, notably with the lack of hybridization, and a lack of visual creativity. Both of those were fixed with the new GTP formula that launched in 2023, and IMSA is seeing a wild spike in growth with new fans and engagement across all metrics, including manufacturer participation.
Oddly enough, Porsche Penske Motorsport just won the GTP championship and has seen what kind of effect a sanctioning body can have when it hits the right technical and visual formula, but based on what the IndyCar team owners told us, those firsthand lessons from competing in IMSA with GTP haven’t been applied — at least on the visual side — with the 2027 renderings they were shown in the series owned by Penske.
As well, I have no expectation for the 2027 car to have a short life, which means a warmed-over DW12, as it’s been described, would become an eyesore by 2029 or 2030. That’s another reason to aim higher; the 2027 car will look stale long before it’s replaced in 2040.
IndyCar’s been on a slow and gradual rise; it can’t afford to stunt that growth by delivering a dud with its long-awaited new car.
Q: Will we see a female driver or multiple female drivers in the Indianapolis 500 for 2025?
NASCAR Cup has the Busch Clash and the All-Star race. Will we ever see a Formula 1 race that doesn’t count for the championship?
Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY
MP: Fingers crossed for a return of Katherine Legge and her sponsor e.l.f. because she’s the only solution that comes to mind.
CHRIS MEDLAND: I think we will see a non-points F1 race, and it’s going to be one for rookie drivers.
F1 looked at rushing through a plan for this season where 10 rookies (one car per team) would compete in a sprint race in Abu Dhabi a few days after the final round. In the end it was decided that it needed more time to be assessed and planned, and then with the 2026 regulations being such a major overhaul – and teams running cars in January of that year – it was pushed back until the end of the 2026 season at the earliest. But I think it will happen.
Q: Missing racing already as it has been four days since Abu Dhabi at time of writing. Seeing pics of McLaren’s championship 26 years ago, I wonder if Ron Dennis involved at even a miniscule amount in McLaren?
Bob the Nitro fiend, Boston
CM: You could always claim he is based on the fact that he helped build the team that exists today, including the amazing McLaren Technology Center that it calls home. But that’s as far as it goes. It was a pretty acrimonious departure for Dennis from McLaren, as he was removed from his position as chairman and ended up selling all of his shares in the entire Group in 2017.
From a McLaren Racing perspective, Zak Brown has done things a very different way to Dennis and I did also find myself wondering how Ron would view the team’s success. But I’m sure ultimately he’d just be proud and happy to see McLaren winning championships again.