Q: Sorry to be the 1000th person to complain about Peacock coverage, but the app is impossible! I paused the Laguna Seca race to eat dinner with my family and the app timed out. “No problem,” I think, but then after dinner I can’t find the race at all! It’s not on Peacock until hours later! To make matters worse, I can see highlight videos where the title tells me who won the race. But I can’t see the race. Why? A big raspberry to Peacock’s editors. Boooooo!
Gene Scanlon
MP: Thanks for writing in, Gene.
Q: I watched the IndyCar race (after the sleight of hand moving it to CNBC with two minutes warning). As a 35+ year member of SCCA, flag marshal, and flag chief in several regions as well as at several LBGP events, I was amazed that there were zero calls for exceeding track limits entering the Corkscrew.
To be specific , as you approach the turn there is a series of what we called Dragons Teeth on driver left with a piece of artificial turf (?) to the left of that. Almost every TV shot of that area showed cars with all for wheels driving to the left of the Dragons Teeth. This was especially evident on the final restarts.
So, is putting all four wheels outside of a device intended to keep you on track now not worth a call to race control? Seems more like shortcutting the course, which should be a penalty.
Peter, Phoenix, AZ
MP: I’d say the usable track surface is what’s decreed by the sanctioning body, not the person who installed the curbs.
Q: I’d have to think MSR has to be happy with Malukas last weekend, making the Fast 12, then running well on pace during the race, and bringing the car home in 16th. Shank said they were tempering their expectations, but it looks like a solid first race with the team.
Siegel struggled in practice and qualifying, but even with some issues, managed a 12th-place finish. That has to make everyone happy.
I was wasn’t able to watch the IMSA Watkins Glen race, but it sounds like the weather got pretty bad. What was the weather like from your view and what were the drivers saying afterwards?
John Balestrieri, Milwaukee, WI
MP: We had doctor appointments Monday morning so I flew out about 15 minutes after the start in order to get home Sunday night. We had insane weather Thursday-Saturday with high heat, high humidity, and huge rainfall and lightning. From what I saw on the broadcast, Sunday was all of those things in a six-hour span.
Q: Last weekend I was home on a non-race weekend for myself and my race team. What do I do all day? Lucky enough it was raining so the yardwork I should have been doing got put on hold, and so it was up and watch F1, then the Indy NXT I recorded from the day before, then watch the Formula F race from Road America and the June Sprints. A bit of lunch and then watch IMSA from the Glen, where I have a healthy list of my team’s alumni competing. My day was going to be wrapped up with IndyCar at Laguna. Nope, not available…
It cost me zero other than my basic subscription to watch pretty much every type of racing on the planet, but not IndyCar. Not surprising really, as early in the week my wife and I sat down after dinner and I was excited to watch the just-released “100 Days to Indy” on Netflix. Hmm, cannot find it… oh, not available in Canada. IndyCar makes it very tough to remain a fan of what arguably is some of the best racing in the world.
So my question is simple. Does IndyCar hate Canadians?
Brian
MP: Yes.
Q: Thank the heavens we will no longer be subject to NBC’s coverage of IndyCar. Laguna Seca was a disaster, from getting shifted to Peacock and no side by side during commercials, to cutting away for a commercial just as a cloud of dust appears on the screen and watching the endless loop of Rashida Jones. I just hope we can keep Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe next year.
Dino, New Hanover, PA
MP: Sunday’s broadcast efforts went over about as well as a fart in church.
Q: When the 2.2L engines were designed, the horsepower numbers that we were told was about 550 for superspeedway, 625 for short oval, and 700 for road course with about 50 for P2P. Since this engine has been upgraded for over 10 years, are those power figures about the same, or have they improved? What’s the best guess for what they’re putting out now?
Also, has IndyCar released how P2P is going to change with the hybrid system coming at Mid-Ohio?
Dan H., Kansas City, MO
MP: I don’t expect P2P to change. The estimates for high boost were optimistic back then. I’m told they are safely over 700hp now.
Q: Over the last two decades, I have put up with a lot as an IndyCar fan. But yesterday was it. I arranged my weekend to be free watch the race, and all I got was a NASCAR rain delay. I already bought the channel IndyCar was on, I’m not going to buy another just because IndyCar gets no respect. The fact is that Miles and company have devolved IndyCar so low that at one point during the IndyCar race’s slot, I was watching last year’s NASCAR car Iowa race
I have been following IndyCar avidly for over 50 years and stood with it through all the lean years since the Split, but now I am through. I am now a Formula 1 fan. Their races aren’t pre-empted. The Sky Sports production of the F1 races make the IndyCar race production of look like a pile of puke, much like the F1 cars make the old heavy IndyCars look like that same pile. We older fan demographics are the only thing that keep the series going with ticket sales and TV ratings, but we get slapped in the face time and time again. I am done! Go Max!
Irving Frank, Merrillville, IN
MP: Sunday’s broadcast efforts went over about as well as…
Q: Thanks to the videos RACER have done, I have learned a lot about the hybrid units. You guys did a great job explaining things that a novice like myself can grasp the concepts. I am excited to see how it plays out during the upcoming races. Is my excitement shared with the teams? And is there any buzz within the industry? I’m hoping the end result with the hybrid is good racing, but also attracting and keeping OEMs. On a scale of 0-10, how much do you think this helps IndyCar keep Honda and gain another engine manufacturer? And what engine manufacturers do you think would be most interested?
Brian, Joliet, IL
MP: I want to tell you that teams and drivers are super excited about going hybrid. But we aren’t there yet. Better TV ratings will help Honda to renew and to attract more manufacturers. IndyCar announced it was going hybrid in May of 2019, and nobody has joined. The fact that IndyCar is finally going hybrid can’t hurt in enticing manufacturers to consider getting in, but I’ll come back to the often-overlooked fact that going hybrid wasn’t enough of a move to bring new brands in. Hard to say which would be most interested since none have said yes. Of the ones I continue to hear are on the radar, Stellantis, Hyundai, and Toyota are tops.