Q: Just wondering why the American Legion doesn’t do more activation with its IndyCar “Be The One” program? The racing is certainly successful enough. My local Legion hall in Michigan has no mention of this sponsorship at all. In fact, there is a poster of Keven Harvick with a NASCAR schedule on the wall.
Big Possum, Michigan
MP: I’m not sure I’d take one local example and apply a blanket statement to the entire project, to be fair. I saw the “Be The One” activation trailer at Road America and it was busy with fans and veterans engaging with the project, just as I’ve seen it at other rounds in a similar state of action. I’ll see what I can find out about a nationwide Legion hall effort, but I also know it isn’t meant to be limited to halls, but rather, a call to all active and veteran military members.
Q: Will Power may not have delivered his feedback constructively, but when you see cars go off outside the Carousel and the kink as well as outside of Turn 1, it sure looks like a significant injury risk. Yes, the drivers are supposed to keep cars on track, but the runoff areas are supposed to do things to prevent injury, not cause it. The number of times I saw cars bouncing violently or airborne after going off this weekend was more than I can ever recall seeing elsewhere.
Ryan, somewhere in the cosmos. Please don’t deliver a truck to my driveway.
MP: This was the year where no limits were found in terms of track limits at Road America. I had another IndyCar driver who’s suffered back issues from crashes say the same thing; Power’s message, delivered in a full rage, was not as artful as it might have been, but the underlying point of needing the harsher areas just off track to be smoothed was spot-on.
Q: Happy for Ryan Hunter-Reay to be back, and hopefully he can turn the ship around at ECR with some setup expertise. But I honestly thought the stars were pointing at Linus Lundqvist getting the seat with his test and all. I heard rumblings of him being in Ed Carpenter’s oval car for road and street courses, though. Is there any truth to this, or will we see his talents in 2024?
Handsome Jo
MP: I sure hope so. Where Linus will face issues is with any team that has an opportunity to offer but wants a turnkey solution. The kid could be pure magic, but with zero IndyCar races of experience to offer, teams who want a proven commodity to make them better in every area could be wary of bringing in a rookie and waiting on them to develop. Nonetheless, I keep hearing Linus could be on the grid for one or two races later in the season, and there’s a few teams expressing interest in him.
Q: I was reading about the concept hydrogen prototype Toyota unveiled at Le Mans recently, and it piqued my interest about how that sort of philosophy could potentially fit into IndyCar racing. My understanding was the power plant was an ICE which burns liquid hydrogen and allows an ICE to still operate with noise, refueling, etc. but without emissions.
Seeing as IndyCar has been trying to keep up in the power supply curve and is objectively behind in “cleaner” and more innovative power for the cars, is this something that IndyCar should (or is?) looking at? An electric motor has its drawbacks for the series, such as the difficulty in regenerating energy at places like Indianapolis, is it worth Roger Penske and company taking a look at hydrogen combustion power for practicality, drawing new manufacturer interest, reviving the innovative spirit of IndyCar racing, as well as potentially leapfrogging some other series in terms of technology?
Ian
MP: Definitely worth looking at. Other than the aeroscreen, though, doing things that lead the industry hasn’t been part of the series’ approach for a good while. I’d guess the series would keep an eye on what happens with hydrogen-ICE developments and poll its manufacturers to see if it’s something they want in IndyCar. The ACO/WEC have a bunch of big manufacturers plugged into their Hypercar formula, and with that in mind, there’s less risk in announcing a big technology change; they might lose one or two brands, but would still have three or four that stay and add a few more. When you have two manufacturers like we do in IndyCar, there’s no room to make bold changes without getting complete buy-in up front.
Q: Thanks to RACER for providing updates on Le Mans, both before the race and as it progressed. The information was welcome, considering the dreadful TV coverage on MotorTrend network. Hate to complain, but unlike previous years where whatever network was covering it had people on the ground, hourly updates and highlights and covered the American teams competing, it seemed that the announcers had no insights into what was happening, they were commenting on what they saw on TV like the rest of us. No idea who the announcers were, we never saw their faces. For all we knew, they were in a bunker somewhere in Idaho.
I really wanted to see how the Garage 56 car was doing, but my only resource for that was Facebook, where my Facebook friend JC France was posting. Seemed like the entire coverage was devoted to the Hypercars and the rest of the field was ignored. They seldom even streamed the race standings, other than class leaders.
Jim Wilson
MP: I’ve heard similar things about the absence of G56 coverage which is weird, considering the project was done in partnership between IMSA, NASCAR, and the ACO — the people who run the race and do the TV deals. Otherwise, I was on the ground for the race so I saw zero minutes of MotorTrend’s offerings.
Q: Lots of people questioning what can Ryan Hunter-Reay bring to ECR. Well, first off he needs to get the motor out of grandad’s truck, put in a three-quarter cam and an aluminum flywheel — that solves the power issues. Then put a jack under the rear-end with a socket on it. Jack it up and whichever tire comes off the ground first tells you how much to arch and de-arch the rear springs. Then get some springs from a railroad car for the front. The stiffer the better. Now that the power and handling issues are solved, get some old lawn chair webbing for seatbelts — much lighter, and you don’t need those big heavy belts, real men don’t even use seatbelts, they race in t-shirts and wing tips. With those changes he’ll break all the track records… or at least, that’s the advice my dad gave me when I started racing modifieds years ago. He built many stock cars in the ’60s and never moved forward. I think Ryan will bring a lot to the team and Ed was smart to hire him.
Ben, California
MP: Your dad is amazing and, if he’s interested, I can think of four IndyCar teams who will pay him $250,000 to engineer one of their cars tomorrow.
Q: I just read DJ’s question/response in this week’s Mailbag about the stress/frustration with Indy 500 traffic. I found a service called Rally. They book tour buses at various locations in the region and dropped us off in the Indycar HQ parking lot — super-convenient and stress-free. Plus, the buses were air-conditioned and had a working bathroom. I was able to get picked up in Columbus, Indiana (about an hour south), and stayed in a hotel overnight there. The hotel was much cheaper than in Indy.
Jeremy Jadczak, New Albany, IN
MP: Thanks for the intel, Jeremy.