Q: As I understand Indy money payouts, there is the Leaders Circle fund, championship point prizes at season end, the Indy 500 prize and finally some petty cash paid at the other races.
Conor Daly explained on his podcast that Ed Carpenter told him his Indy 500 prize amount listed included Leaders Circle payment, and therefore his percentage would be less that he expected. Please clarify how this works?
Jim Davis, Tucson, AZ
MP: Penske Entertainment, and formerly, the Hulman George family, makes multiple installments of the $1 million Leaders Circle payout over the year. Ed would have been referring to the post-Indy LC payment which had both Indy 500 prize money and the regular LC installment, so I assume Conor was referring to Ed subtracting the LC installment to isolate the 500-only prize money.
Q: If I remember correctly, and it’s certainly possible that I don’t, NASCAR left Iowa Motor Speedway few years ago. IndyCar, desperate for ovals, leased the facility. Hy-Vee came on board to sponsor, promote and turn a race on the calendar into a two-day event. NASCAR, which owns the facility ,has decided to return to Iowa Motor Speedway to stage races. Since its return, NASCAR ordered a partial repaving job to aid the performance of the stock cars. IndyCar testing determined that Iowa Motor Speedway is now a one-groove track.
So, I have a couple questions:
1. Does NASCAR purposely try to interfere with IndyCar’s success at NASCAR-owned tracks? They certainly did nothing help the show at Texas Motor Speedway.
2. What will IndyCar’s answer be to counter the cost-effective asphalt patch work at Iowa Motor Speedway? IndyCar can’t afford for this event to become insignificant.
3. What’s the paddock’s opinion of the short turnaround time between Race 1 and Race 2? Did it affect the attendance for Race 2?
Raymond T Little
MP: I hear you, but I would expect NASCAR to do what’s best for itself at a track it owns in the same way Penske Entertainment, or Formula 1, or IMSA does what’s in their best interest at the tracks they own or control. Could be in the form of how they treat the track surface or where they put other series on the schedule during a shared weekend, or where they make their racing series guests park. The perks always go to the owner/controller, so I’d expect NASCAR to do what it wants at Iowa to favor itself; it’s the norm.
Firestone will need to bring a new and softer range of tires to conduct extensive testing at Iowa before the next visit to get the degradation profile to where it needs to be to create risers and fallers on each stint.
I did see the stands were thinner on Sunday, but it was also a thousand degrees, so if folks were contemplating the Saturday night race or the Sunday early afternoon options, the night race would have gotten the nod.
Q: As I write this, Jagger Jones has won just about every race of the IMSA VP Sportscar Challenge he’s entered. He did a good job in his first NXT season, but in sports cars he’s been superb! He also went to the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a guest of Duqueine Engineering, as he drives a Duqueine LMP3 in VPRSC. What are the odds we see Jagger full-time next year in either IMSA, or one of the other Duqueine programs, such as their European/Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 or P2 programs? I think he’d be a better silver for their P2 program than Koolen.
Taylor, Irvington, KY
MP: Jagger’s a great kid and very hungry. There’s no lack of talent or competition for Silver-rated opportunities, so that’s the concern. I’d hope some of IMSA’s LMP2 teams will give him a look for 2025.
Q: With PREMA coming into IndyCar I was wondering how car numbers are distributed to the teams? If a number isn’t currently being used, can a team use it ,or do current teams have the ability to “own” numbers just in case they might add a car?
JJ
MP: IndyCar owns and assigns the numbers, so PREMA would request what it wanted and hope the series will oblige.
Q: This is for David from last week’s Mailbag: IndyCar puts the Indy NXT spotters guide out before every race on the website (and you can access it from the IndCar app as well). Here’s a link to the one from Iowa.
Jamin Tuttle
MP: Thanks, Jamin. That’s a good note for me as well; wasn’t aware it existed.
Q: Why are there no IndyCar races in the Northeast, specifically NY, NJ or CT? I was planning to drive eight hours to Detroit, but after two crappy races I gave up. Mid-Ohio would be nice but 4th of July weekend makes traveling three times as long. Why can’t they get something in the Northeast?
John C, NY
MP: Because no tracks in the Northeast have tried to host an IndyCar race, or haven’t been successful in enticing IndyCar to race there? I don’t disagree with you, and the series has stated that it knows it needs to get back to the region, but like the Baltimore Grand Prix, it tends to require a promoter bringing an event to IndyCar to take part in, or an existing track (name your favorite) to come calling with an offer, since IndyCar is a sport that receives payment to hold races at the tracks/events it doesn’t own or control.
Q: With the WTRAndretti team moving to Cadillac at the end of the season being the worst-kept secret in motorsports; where does that leave the Taylor brothers?
Although they’ve both taken their leave from the family team at times in their career, it’s been a staple to usually find at least one flying the WTR colors. Are they under contract with HRC, and how do you see that playing out if WTRAndretti moves to Caddy?
Nick, Atlanta
MP: They’re the same Taylor brothers who won the 2017 IMSA DPi championship for Cadillac, so I’d be surprised if they aren’t the foundation of WTR’s return to Caddy with Andretti.
Q: I know there have been some engine change penalties, and I’m curious as to what constitutes an engine change? I’ve been around the paddock quite a bit and it seems like they break down those engines down all the time. Are they allowed to change pistons, crankshafts, rockers, that kind of stuff, or is it just when the block has to get replaced? I know they want these engines to last, but it seems like it’s not the team’s fault if the engine has to be replaced.
CAM in LA
MP: I’ve never seen a Chevy or Honda engine being opened up in the paddock; that happens in their support trailers or back at their shops.
Unapproved engine changes, which are the sources of grid penalties, are for anything that requires an engine to be replaced and cannot be easily repaired before it reaches approximately 2500 miles of service. Cracking the motor open to replace something that has or is about to fail isn’t allowed; if that happens, it’s unapproved. On rare occasion, a motor gets yanked, inspected, and is returned to service to complete its 2500ish miles, and for that, there’s no penalty.