Q: Frankly, the more you state that IndyCar’s TV package may go to FOX, the more I’m worried. I remember the Versus days when the channel was buried deep in sports packages on cable for a hefty price for most people. Nothing was streamed outside of watching little dots go in circles on IndyCar.com. Coverage was light at best. Plus, the ABC coverage was boring enough to lull even the most hyperactive child to sleep.
NBC was a godsend. I can watch practice, qualifying, and the race on Peacock live or via replay. Peacock also has a lot of other great sports content and all the other NBC shows. Plus, it’s not expensive. Now you’re telling me coverage may go to FOX… and, correct me if I’m wrong, there’s no way to stream FOX Sports content unless you have a cable tv subscription. I know most of the viewer numbers still come from network or cable, but for a lot of us, especially those under 40 like myself, we don’t have cable. I haven’t had cable for over 15 years now. Even my Boomer parents don’t have cable anymore. If IndyCar goes to FOX without a streaming option, it will be like going back to the Versus days… which I don’t think any fan wants.
Ross Bynum
MP: I believe there will be a new mega-streaming sport package bundle with ESPN, FOX Sports, and many others that should be ready to launch next year, so there’s that.
Q: Ever since the Dixon/O’Ward incident in Long Beach last year, I’ve been watching the trend of driving standards slowly fall. I get that Detroit is tight and short with not a lot of passing zones, but watching the ‘newer’ guys take some crazy dive bombs is wild. And it seemed like more than half of those dive bombs ended in tears.
Compare that to guys like Dixon or Rossi (sometimes), who still race how I remember the standards being. Am I looking back with rose-colored glasses? Are guys in the paddock talking about this kind of stuff? Curious to know what the general feeling amongst the old guard is toward this subject, and if there have been any talks of cleaning up our racing a touch.
Helio4four
MP: Different times, for sure. I had the same conversation with a team owner who said they could never imagine an Emerson Fittipaldi or Rick Mears trying some of the crash-first-apologize-later stuff we saw at Detroit, and the reason for it is because in those olden days, the cars weren’t built like today’s tanks. They were thin steel, aluminum, or aluminum honeycomb that folded in and back and destroyed or seriously damaged their bodies due to the lesser technologies available at the time. And it’s true. With the extreme sturdiness of the Dallara DW12 and the amazing safety advancements that have been added over the last decade, there’s just no concern carried by drivers like they were by those in previous cars that kept self-preservation firmly in mind whenever passing attempts were considered.
Q: As a Canadian motorsports – mainly IndyCar and IMSA – fan, I’m very concerned about the future of both series in Canada. It just feels like neither series really cares about us, especially IndyCar. Unless the races are on NBC we are out of luck and have to use internet ‘magic’ to watch these races, but not everyone can do that. It just makes no sense to me since both series’ have a race in Canada, yet I feel like if I lived in the UK I’d have an easier time watching them on TV, seems so backwards. I do appreciate IMSA broadcasting on YouTube now.
Is there any news about a potential better TV deal coming for Canada? It’s terrible with TSN, like as Canadians we really want to support IndyCar and IMSA but it’s becoming impossible. Also, is there any possibility that GTP will be back at CTMP in 2026? The fact that they go to that terrible track in Detroit and not CTMP is so wrong to me. I get the corporate pressure, though.
P.S. I want to thank Hinch and Pfaff Motorsports for everything they do to keep motorsports relevant in Canada – without them, I would have given up watching years ago
David, Mississauga, ON
MP: We’ll have to wait and see what IndyCar ends up with. If it’s FOX, as everybody thinks it is, the answer would be tied to whatever presence FOX has in Canada, I’d assume.
Q: With Agustin Canapino and Ricardo Juncos’ astounding lack of self-awareness (finally) having actual consequences with the cancellation of JHR’s commercial partnership with Arrow McLaren, and the Argentine economy’s continual poor performance, is there a risk that JHR may not survive and fold before the season is out? Or do they have enough financial solidity to weather the (self-inflicted) storm?
Chris Donati, Bristol, UK
MP: Juncos Racing became Juncos Hollinger Racing with the ownership stake taken by Brad Hollinger. Hollinger’s love for racing, plus his extreme success in business as the founder and CEO of Vibra Healthcare, has been the financial engine behind the JHR program. Here’s something that might explain things from the Vibra site: “Brad Hollinger founded Vibra Healthcare in the spring of 2004 and it quickly grew with the acquisition of six specialty hospitals. With the support of a highly experienced management team, Vibra has grown to where it and its affiliates currently employ over 6,000 employees and operate 45 specialty hospitals, hospital-based outpatient physical therapy locations, and skilled nursing facilities in 14 states.”
So, JHR is safe as long as Hollinger wants to keep funding it. The team is meant to find sponsors to pay for its racing, but that fell apart in the offseason and Hollinger has been amazing in his benevolent efforts to continue bankrolling the largely sponsor-free entries.
Also, the McLaren deal wasn’t a serious money-making affair. The loss is more embarrassing than anything else.