Q: We are heading to the St. Petersburg race for the first time this year. Please list all the dos and don’ts for attending this event for the first time. Don’t forget race friendly bars!
JRWJR, Chandler, AZ
MP: This is another perfect scenario to ask Mailbag readers to offer their takes on where to go and what to do in the comments. As the opening race of the year, it’s always been a series of long days and nights cranking out content; the hot spots and nightlife side is where I fall short on info in St. Pete.
Q: I’m relieved you survived another IndyCar is DOOMED! Winter of Discontent intact. I’m looking forward to another season of the best motor racing on the planet. Hoping also, that we see a revival in form for the Rahal, Carpenter, and Foyt teams, especially.
You know, Greg a few weeks back brought up a point I wanted to make. IndyCar has been here before, with a proven if stagnated design just waiting for a catalyst. In the early 1960s the Roadsters still ruled — beautiful dinosaurs wheeled by a fantastic bunch of drivers. However, they were still basically incrementally modified versions of a decade-old design (sounds familiar?) and their roots went back even further. Remember, Colin Chapman described it as going back in time to watch the pre-war Grand Prix cars. The huge prize money compared to the peanuts paid out for a Grand Prix win back then got his attention, how times have changed! The Cooper-Brabham adventure in 1961 was a portent, but it just needed a connecter to join up the dots.
That conduit was, of course, Dan Gurney, jetting back and forth that May in 1962 between his rookie Indy 500 and the Dutch Grand Prix, whereupon Chapman unveiled the Lotus 25. Dan’s furtive mind went into overdrive, and the rest is history.
My main concern, which I see is shared by many, is not the on-track product, but what happens off it with the inept promotion of the series by the series! I’m sure there are some who wish the only IndyCar race was the 500 and see the championship as a necessary evil. I think Randy Bernard found that one out pretty quickly. NASCAR, long ago, realized racing is a branch of “sports entertainment” and as the saying goes, if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind. So, don’t be scared to tell the world about yourself, IndyCar. Is it a shocking lack of ambition or just plain incompetence?
As for a new car, yes back in 1999 there were eight chassis and six engine choices spread across a divided land, but that was when you had huge tobacco and alcohol sponsorships and before the dotcom crash, and those days aren’t coming back! Not unless IndyCar sells its soul to the devil like professional golf and Formula 1 and indulges in some filthy sportswashing for various nefarious and dubious regimes. Again, why can’t they just update Chris Beatty’s original Velocity design, built by Dallara and/or whoever — though I doubt any financial model could sustain a multi-chassis series now, with an engine bay designed from the outset for various power plants, be they ethanol, hybrid, and/or hydrogen fueled. I have no problem with a spec engine wearing rival badges. It works very well over here in the BTCC with different brands running the same customer engine.
The Indy 500 and the various championship trails have survived numerous financial crises and internal strife, let alone two world wars, and if another one is possibly on the horizon, I’ve no doubt the track would be quickly cleared, and we would be looking forward to the first post-apocalyptic 500 with a field of IndyCars straight out of “Mad Max” and “Death Race 2000” and reading the moans about it in the Mailbag.
Apologies for taking up so much space!
Peter Kerr, Hamilton, Scotland
MP: The Mailbag needed its first proper manifesto of the year, Peter, and we appreciate you for stepping into that breach.
Q: I think it’s great that IndyCar is going to increase the funding for the Leaders Circle payout. With that being said, with 27 full-time entries in 2024, and talks of two or three more future teams wanting to join IndyCar and have full-time programs, the current Leaders Circle program is out of date. It needs to be increased to a minimum of 24.
It was started in 2000. With talks of a new TV deal with the possibility of an increase in revenue sharing, this would be a perfect time to do so. IndyCar needs the grid size to increase, not decrease due to lack of revenue support from IndyCar.
AE, Danville, IN
MP: Agreed. The number has fluctuated on rare occasion, but it’s been locked in at 22 for a while.
Q: I’ve written a lot recently, but with all of the “what’s the future of the series” and engine talk, here’s my two cents.
- Going electric (now or ever) isn’t ideal because Formula E already has that cornered. There is little to nothing to be gained by a manufacturer if IndyCar goes electric. In fact, Formula E has lost manufacturers in the past because they felt they had tapped out what could be learned.
- Going hybrid isn’t ideal because IMSA already has that cornered fairly successfully. There’s little to nothing to be gained by a manufacturer if IndyCar goes hybrid. They can already do that easier in IMSA.
- Going “everything is open” (like the “good old days”) isn’t ideal because F1 already has that covered globally. There’s little to be gained by a manufacturer if chassis and engines have open rules because they can essentially already do that with F1, which is the world’s largest and most popular racing series. Plus, whether it be IndyCar in the past or F1 today, the racing is generally not great when the rules are very open.
- IndyCar and its teams do not have the money for wild new chassis, fancy or complicated engines, or off-the-wall technologies. Period.
IndyCar must focus on what it’s good at. Double-down on being old-school. If someone wants fancy tech, watch F1. If you want electric technologies, watch cars screech slowly around a small track with Formula E. If you want the world’s fastest tracks, most versatile drivers, and closest racing on the planet, watch IndyCar.
- Chassis: Carry on with the DW12 until the series simply can’t anymore and then come up with an incredible-looking spaceship of a spec chassis. This will help continue to introduce new teams to the series before large expenses are needed.
- Engine: Make a cheap, reliable, powerful spec engine that could be branded by any manufacturer. Make it loud and sound incredible. Make it something that when people hear it they say, “That’s the best sounding thing I’ve ever heard in my life.” The older generations will love it, and little kids will love it too. There’s a reason kids love stuff like Monster Trucks. They’re loud.
- Continue focusing on the closeness of the racing. No other series comes close. Do not lose that, no matter what.
- Focus on driver accessibility and promoting the drivers. They may not be world famous, but you can shake their hand, be up close in the paddock, and interact with them in ways you can’t with other series.
- Get cocky. “Our drivers go 230+, yours don’t.” Be American. Be brash. Be audacious.
Basically, if every other series has already staked claim to the “future,” be bold in the otherness. Make races an overwhelming sensory experience they can’t get anywhere else. Stop trying to be a lesser-than F1. Embrace what makes IndyCar unique, and amp that up.
Ross Bynum, Laurel, MS
MP: Two manifestos in one Mailbag? Like IndyCar’s grid, we’re full of awesomeness to start the new year.