Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll answer as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for length and clarity. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will appear the following week.
Q: I truly fear for the future of the Nashville race — its connection to downtown is crucial to the success. No matter how much shade was thrown about the dynamics of the race, the crowds were electrifying, it was a huge successful partying atmosphere.
Unfortunately, the perfect storm has set in. The Titans stadium rebuild, breakdown in management, (thank goodness for Scott Borchetta) and Nashville mayor — according to Scott, the mayor wanted to drag out three city council meetings (time consuming in a bad way), and not invest money into the race. This in my deranged mind sets the tone that this will be the last year for IndyCar in Nashville. Blessed be the fans in the future and time will tell.
Timothy S., Nashville, TN
MARSHALL PRUETT: All depends on how the Nashville Speedway event goes. If the stands are packed and there’s good energy felt by the teams and their sponsors, a stronger case will be made to return and continue at the Speedway.
From all of those I’ve spoken to from within the paddock, there’s no great sense of loss from a pure racing perspective; the loss described is focused on losing that downtown audience, the chance to make new fans who otherwise wouldn’t know or care about IndyCar if it isn’t dropped in their laps in a downtown setting and, to an equal degree, the loss of the sponsor entertainment that came with hosting them downtown all weekend.
As some teams have told me, they’re unable to get refunds on the hotel rooms, banquet halls, and whatever else they’ve paid up front to have and use to entertain their sponsors and partners in a big farewell bash to the season on Broadway.
What this change has done is kill the excitement held by IndyCar teams and those important guests they were readying to welcome downtown, and that’s a really bad look for all involved. Most of today’s teams raced at Nashville Speedway back in the day, and while it has its charms, it’s in the middle of nowhere.
The downtown-to-speedway change is going from ending its season in grand style at a party destination like Las Vegas and informing folks the event’s been moved to Reno.
Q: Loooong time reader, even looooonger time IndyCar fan. First time Mailbagger, however.
Seeing recent images of the current demolition of Fontana, it makes me mentally tally another one into the bin of old/defunct tracks from IndyCar’s history. It is, however, a good reminder that no matter how some IndyCar things seem to so doggedly resist change (despite all logic pointing another direction), some elements go yet we remain hopeful for their return. And yet others of IndyCar’s past go away and there is little to be done but accept that brutal fate, like the demolition of a track.
I tend to get somewhat wistful for those unique tracks that added their own color to the expansive palette of an IndyCar season that are no more (Langhorne, Trenton, Nazareth, Texas World). California seems especially harsh on IndyCar — Riverside, Ontario, now Fontana (and almost losing Laguna Seca a few years ago). I do fear we’re maybe less than a generation away from more permanent losses of unique tracks.
Other tracks are even not “lost” in the sense of destruction, but lost to the grip of NASCAR or similar ownership who seem to have an unspoken disdain/be anything but hospitable or supportive of IndyCar at their tracks.
I digress, I’m of an age where (it’s hurts to accept that) my opinion truly matters less all the time when looking for ways to attract the next generation of fans.
If that unrivaled versatility will be the raison d’être of IndyCar for the next generations, what tracks (current/long past,/recent past that could return) most make you shudder to think could go away permanently, never to be seen by future fans of IndyCar?
DZ
MP: If we look back at the huge rise and rapid demise of its street racing roster in the 1980s, the list of lost IndyCar and IMSA events, is long and sad.
Of the current events, I think of Long Beach, Road America, Toronto, and Mid-Ohio as the primary homes for IndyCar over a long period of time that would worry me if any fell through. Indy is Indy; without it, the series is toast, so I don’t think of it as an option for this topic. I’d add Texas to the list, but that’s gone at the moment and if we’re lucky, Milwaukee will be a winner and re-establish its place in IndyCar’s present and future.
Q: With news of David Malukas’s injury, I started thinking about how health insurance works in motorsport. Do teams need to provide health insurance to their employees?
Yael
MP: Drivers tend to be independent contractors whose services are hired through whatever LLC or S-Corp they set up, so with that in mind, drivers find and pay for their own insurance. Yes, most teams provide healthcare for their employees. It wasn’t always the case, but in recent years, with the hot market for crew members, strong benefits packages have become an enticement that can’t be overlooked.
Q: Just checked out your “A dumb idea that worked” and had to replay Colton Herta’s ride in his dad’s Reynard-Cosworth at Laguna Seca. What a sweet sound coupled with the visual of having to take your hand off the wheel to shift. The good old days!
I am old and not tech savvy, so here is my question slightly off the in-car camera subject. How do I capture that sound and turn it into a ringtone for my phone? Especially the downshifts into the Corkscrew.
Probably a simple task for today’s youngsters that get a computer on their second birthday.
Jeff, Colorado
MP: Glad you enjoyed it, Jeff. Last time I knew anything about ringtones, that Reynard-Cosworth was brand-new.