Q: I’ve read some chatter about a new overseas round on the IndyCar schedule next year in Argentina, Brazil, or Mexico. A lot of this talk seems to suggest that the proposed event(s) would be an exhibition race and be non-points paying. What is the rationale behind this? My thinking is, if you’re going through the effort of bringing the entire circus halfway across the globe, why not make the race count? Is it to gauge interest before committing to a full-blown event? Am I just missing something?
Joey S
MP: As I’ve been told by series’ officials, the non-championship angle stems from a likely calendar spot that would fall after the season has concluded. And with the strong desire to end the season on home turf, the idea of crowning a champion outside the U.S. isn’t likely.
On a related note, I’ve heard Argentina’s interest in holding a race is centered on it being a full counts-towards-the-championship round, not an exhibition run, so that could complicate things.
Q: Sprint car racing on dirt tracks is great. Many of the better NASCAR racers still sprint car race. It should have better TV coverage. Why doesn’t it?
Pete Pfankuch, Wisconsin
MP: It’s the same question we ask about IndyCar, Pete. Great product, crazy talent, but it’s lucky to draw a third of the TV audience NASCAR puts up each weekend. I’d have to guess it’s the same deal with sprint car racing; its fans are more passionate than most, but there aren’t enough of those fans to make a major network treat it as a high priority. IndyCar is more fortunate, thanks to NBC placing more than half of its races on the big network, but it lives in the shadow of more popular sports signed to NBC.
I’d bet, though, if NBC gave American short oval racing a try, it would draw strong ratings.
Q: While I generally like the look of the current Dallara DW12 chassis, I still don’t like the teeny rear wings the cars run at Indianapolis. I know these small wings help limit the top speed of the cars for safety’s sake, but I was wondering how fast the current Indy cars would go at Indianapolis if they had the benefit of the full rear wing used at road courses?
Brad, Powder Springs
MP: If we’re talking about the full road racing rear wing, not very fast, thanks to the multiple elements. We’d then need the full road racing front wing arrays to balance the rear wing assembly, and we’d probably struggle to break 200mph.
Q: I read your dismissive response to Big Possum, Michigan about an alternative engine that IndyCar fans would welcome. Agree, “The Beast” is a no. However, you clearly don’t give sprint car racing and its fans one minute of your valuable time. Sprint fans are Indy fans and the dirt wing and non-wing racing is booming. The stands are full and the car count is amazing because fans love big V8 power. So since you always get the last word, feel free to belittle me on an idea. Indy cars with 410 sprint motors converted to run gasoline to improve mileage using the dozens of engine builders that already exist nationwide instead of praying for some European or Asian savior to bring more battery-powered flawed technology. Mock away, almighty genius.
Crabkiller
MP: I loved the sprint-inspired stock blocks that still ran in the CART IndyCar series on occasion into the mid-1980s. My hero Dan Gurney stuck sprint car engines in the back of his 1980/1981 Eagle Indy cars and they were rockets. And as I’ve said for years, I’d also love to see IndyCar open its rules to allow a wide variety of engines that don’t conform to the same capacity limit, induction style, V-angle, and cylinder count.
The only problem with welcoming new motors into the series is the longstanding financial structure where those suppliers are required to be associated with auto manufacturers, which kills the idea of independent engine builders like I used to work with in the IRL days such as NAC, Brayton, and Comptech, who sold and tuned naturally-aspirated Oldsmobile V8s.
Unrelated, when I was a kid, my dad worked with a local sprint car racer to develop some engine components that he was quite proud of; he spoke about that project and the lap-time gains for the rest of his life.
Q: What is Jon Beekhuis up to these days? NBC needs to bring him back. He was one of the best pit reporters out there. His knowledge and expertise was second to none.
Paul, Lake In The Hills, IL
MP: Saw him at Laguna Seca last year and he looked great, said he was retired, but seemed open to lending his talents to whatever broadcasts if the offer was made. I’ve always liked Jon; good guy and good at what he does.
Q: After your time being on the ground at Le Mans, did you hear any rumors about whether any of the WEC Hypercars may be coming over to the States to take part in any of the IMSA enduros? Also, any word on whether IMSA would allow Glickenhaus to race in any of their events? I remember reading that to compete in IMSA you need to sell so many vehicles in America, but with them being such a small company they wouldn’t be able to reach that number. Seeing that awesome car battling with all the GTP cars at Road America or Road Atlanta would be fantastic!
P.S. I read John Oreovicz’s book “Indy Split.” Fantastic read for anyone who wants to know the history and reasoning behind the split.
Cory Quenzer, Pennsylvania
MP: Oreo’s book is indeed awesome. IMSA needs any eligible Hypercar to go through its benchmarking process — engine dyno, wind tunnel, etc. — before participating in the GTP class, and so far, I’ve yet to hear of a Hypercar manufacturer signing up to do so. Glickenhaus has been at odds with IMSA/IMSA has been at odds with Glickenhaus for a while now and I don’t see a resolution on the horizon.
Q: What happened to the dedicated bus service to Indy? Does it still exist? My father and I used to hop on a designated bus line at the airport and they would drop us off at 16th and Georgetown. It took 20 minutes to get to the track. After the race, the busses were waiting, we hopped on, and got back to the airport parking lot in less than 30 minutes. Does this service still exist, and if not, someone needs to get into Roger’s ear.
Joe
MP: This just in from IMS:
We did offer shuttles this year. One from the airport and one from downtown.
Tickets were sold through the IMS Ticket Office.
We also plan on offering them again for the 2024 Indy 500.