Q: I noticed something unusual during the Mid-Ohio IndyCar race. Whenever the Chevrolet-powered cars crested the hill in Turn 5, they made a popping sound. I found it odd, and even my not-mechanically-inclined wife noticed it as well.
It reminded me of the anti-turbo-lag pops the Indy NXT cars make off-throttle, but it was the first time I had ever noticed it from the big cars, and it was specific to the Chevies. It can even be heard in the onboard video of Pato O’Ward’s car released by the series.
Was this a new feature of Chevrolet engine mapping? Or have I just not been observant until now?
Brandon Clarke, Milford, OH
MP: That’s the ECU at work doing just as you mentioned, as it triggers anti-lag to keep the turbo spinning while Pato is off the throttle. Nothing new there for Chevy (or Honda), and the on/off throttle behavior of the engines through ECU/throttle mapping is easily the biggest area of ongoing tuning for both brands.
Q: So between Penske, Andretti, Ganassi, Arrow and Rahal, who is out to make room for Malukas?
Jeff, Colorado
MP: Penske has no vacancies. Andretti has one-two openings, so that’s possible. McLaren has all the quirk it needs with Rossi. Rahal has one seat. And then there’s ECR. I truly have no idea where he’ll end up because he isn’t the first or second choice on the free agent market, which means he’ll likely need to wait and see what some of the aforementioned teams do first and then decide based on the best available options.
Q: Since former Chicago mayor Jane Byrne actually had a signed deal with CART for an IndyCar GP only to see it scuttled, what are the chances that NBC, as the television partner for both IndyCar and NASCAR, sees the ratings figures just achieved and turns Chicago into a NASCAR/IndyCar doubleheader? As a downtown resident, I’d like to see such a downtown disruption more worthwhile!
Mike Vicari, Chicago
MP: I wish NBC had the power to modify events, but this was all NASCAR and the city. And at the moment, IndyCar isn’t big enough or wealthy enough to get in on the Chicago action.
Q: Seems like a lot of people were angry at Benjamin Pedersen after Mid-Ohio, but isn’t a lot of that misdirected? I always thought the driver’s job was to go as fast as he can while the guys on the pit stand are responsible for keeping track of race position and who’s coming up on their driver and whether he should let them through. I didn’t think Pederson was obviously blocking anyone.
Would it help address the driver’s issues if everyone not on the lead lap just had PTP disabled? I realize there’s no clear-cut answer that’s fair in every situation, but at least then drivers would know where they stand.
John
MP: By rule, he did nothing wrong. By etiquette, he made an ass of himself. He needed to put up a fight to prevent Palou from lapping him, because if he didn’t, he’d lose the faith of his team and be viewed as an easy out by the rest of the drivers. But when he kept fighting like his life depended on it after Palou got by and pulled the same routine on second and third and so on, he showed the best drivers in the field that he was a wild card who can’t be trusted to make smart decisions.
There’s a general agreement among IndyCar drivers where they try to avoid screwing each other — and there are exceptions of course, like if they’re fighting over a win, but if a Rossi or Newgarden is having a bad day, they aren’t going to try and ruin a strong run by a Dixon or Herta. And yet, they’re all capable of being bad citizens and doing exactly what Pedersen did. So when a rookie is more than two miles behind them on track and ready to be lapped over and over again, and chooses to go rogue, he gets booted from the rest of the group that abides by that agreement and opens himself up to being screwed at every opportunity by those he acted out against.
Best thing he can do is apologize to the field and ask for forgiveness. The last thing he and the Foyt team needs is to have a target on his back at Toronto, Iowa and so on.
Q: I just watched the 2013 Freedom 100 finish for the 100th-plus time. Fantastic finish. Why did Indy drop it, and is there a possibility for it to come back? In NASCAR, Cup drivers sometimes run the Xfinity and Truck Series. Any reason why we couldn’t see Dixie, Will or somebody run in Indy NXT?
Steve Coe, Vancouver, WA
MP: The Freedom 100 is gone as long as Roger Penske owns the series. He saw some of the big and scary crashes shortly before buying the track and both series, and decided he didn’t want to run the risk of a maiming or fatality with a kid behind the wheel, much less a maiming or fatality two days before the Indy 500.
I can’t think of any value an IndyCar veteran would get from running NXT.
Q: Road America’s IndyCar program covered the main event OK, but only included only driver headshots of the NXT racers. No car pictures, no info, no nothing. Not even a referral to a website. The other series were not even mentioned. How are fans to get even the most basic info if not from the program?
Steve Rosaaen, Ellsworth, WI
MP: I didn’t see the event’s program while I was there, so I can’t speak for what was or wasn’t in it, but if I wanted to know such things and the program sucked, I’d use my phone or tablet and visit each series’ website (Dr. Google never fails) and go to the pages for teams and drivers and whatnot and arm myself with whatever knowledge the program didn’t offer. I’d also go and walk around the paddocks and look at the cars and signage and get a good feel for the colors and names of the main players, and maybe also use my phone/tablet to take photos of them to refer to if I wanted a reference to use if I forgot who was in what car.