Q: Has there ever been a Daytona 24 entry with as many IndyCar titles on board as the Ganassi 01 this year? Jeepers, what a lineup!
Tod Raines, Chandler, AZ
MP: Right? Sebastien Bourdais plus Scott Dixon plus Alex Palou equals 12… TWELVE IndyCar championships in one car. Plus, the awesome Renger van der Zande batting cleanup. Epic lineup.
Q: “No negative talk.” Really?
This tone-deaf edict from Roger and his cadre of lackeys reminds me of a quote from longtime pro baseball team owner Bill Veeck. It seems applicable to IndyCar’s current and former ownership:
“Baseball must be a great game, because the owners haven’t been able to kill it.”
I’m sorry for being so negative. That was uncalled for. I’m quite positive that Roger and his gang of flunkeys will kill off IndyCar soon enough. Have a wonderful day!
Keith, Orlando, FL
MP: Hey now.
Q: As someone who attended their first Rolex 24 last year, I’d add a few tips for your first-time Rolex attendees.
Keep in mind that the shuttle bus from outside the track to the area behind the pits runs only from the first turn parking lot. While walking into the track via the first or fourth turn tunnels is fine to do once, it is a bit of a hike. If you are going in and out of the infield, that walk can get tiresome. I’d encourage you to take advantage of the shuttle.
There is a large screen and plenty of food trucks behind the pit area. Great place to take a break and still keep in touch with the race. Last year I met the family of one of the drivers there, and had a great time talking with them.
If you are taking a break from the track, there are some good restaurants across the street.
The international horseshoe is a great place to take photos and watch the early part of the race. Also, the straight out of the international horseshoe has small photo-friendly holes in the fence, if you have your camera.
The Mailbag is right about the grandstand seats. Much more comfortable than Indy.
Finally, there is a pit walk before the race, but it is a bit of mayhem. It’s crowded and difficult to get close to the cars. For my money, plan on going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s six-hour IMSA race this fall for a great pit walk where you can really get close-up to the cars and drivers. Also great for photos.
Stephen Terrell
MP: Fantastic stuff, Stephen. Thanks for sending this in.
Q: Here’s a question I saved for the long off-season. It seems that most IndyCar pit stops still involve a squirt of water at the buckeye after the refueling nozzle is pulled out. (I actually looked at a few stops from last year on YouTube, and it’s not clear if all necessarily do.) No other series that refuels during the race seems to do this.
I understood the reason back in the days of methanol. A methanol fire can be extinguished by water, so it was a good precaution to dilute any spillage. But in today’s world of ethanol, it seems redundant. In fact, depending what you read, there may be a risk of spreading the fire before there is enough water to separate the fuel and dilute it below the ignition point. I assume there’s either something here I’ve got wrong, or am missing. Can you explain?
Mark, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
MP: Great question. It’s still for the sake of dilution. It might be redundant with the 100-percent renewable fuel and its lower octane rating, but the squirt of water is one of those things that showed no evidence of creating or exacerbating problems across thousands of live refuelings in 2023, so I can’t find the case to halt the practice.
Q: Marshall, I am very impressed with your knowledge of Canadian content. Well done. Your reference to a Mississauga GP is interesting, as I have attached two photos of a very young Devlin DeFrancesco in his kart at an event from 2008 that was held in Mississauga. According to my calculations, he was eight years old! I gave him copies of the photos a few years ago at the Rolex 24.
Speaking of the Rolex 24 and the message from Jeff Keen, I could not agree more with you to head to the front grandstand for the start — but also go back up there later into the night.
Lastly, I made the trek to the M1 Concourse event in Michigan to see the Vintage Indy collection run there in early October. There was a real variety of cars that were awesome to see on the track, but the highlight for me was the sound of the turbine spooling up in the STP Lotus. So cool! Note that after the LBGP the Vintage Indy group will be going to the Pittsburgh Vintage GP, WWT Raceway and then back to M1 Concourse.
Joe Photo from TO
MP: Look at little Dev! The Vintage Indy group isn’t the group behind the Long Beach vintage IndyCar group, FWIW. It’s HMSA, led by Chris Vandagriff, whose group ran last year’s vintage F1 sessions and the vintage IMSA/Group C cars the year before. Both organizations are awesome; last saw Vintage Indy’s group at Gateway and spent some time with the excellent Mike Lashmett.
Q: NO! NO! NO!
No: DRS, tire warmers, active suspension, competition yellows, automatic transmissions, push-to-pass, virtual safety cars, bimbos bearing billboards in bikinis, green/white/checkers, electric motors, constant booth reviews for penalties, or any of a multitude of (potential) silly gimmicks in IndyCar. Well, maybe the billboards can stay……
Let ’em race. Dump paddle shifters and re-implement sequential shifters. Less wing and tire, requiring a lift for four corners at Indy, and more under-braking on road courses. What’s next? AI pit calls? Jimmy Bryan is spinning in his grave like a neutron star.
Can ya tell I’m over 60 years old?
Wild Willie, Wisconsin
MP: Robin, is that you, reincarnated as Wild Willie?