Q: I read Michael’s thoughts about Penske and his ownership of IndyCar, and pretty much agreed. I figured nothing much would come of it. I’ve been around a while (first Indy 500 in 1967) and there is always owner discontent, etc. However, today I am 100% on Michael’s side and he needs to keep up the pressure. I was listening to NPR in the car today and there was an in-depth story on F1 in the U.S.! How great it is, how popular, how it is the pinnacle of drama – they even conceded the racing was boring. There were also a few derogatory and inaccurate comments about IndyCar.
So just WTF is Penske doing? He is a bona fide billionaire; he can afford to spend the money to promote IndyCar. Yes, I know I am “spending other people’s money” but he has it and it is blindingly obvious he needs to get IndyCar off the dime. Maybe having the next race for a dozen of his friendly millionaires is his idea of promoting IndyCar, but I call BS. He just wants access to their money.
Mark Hamilton
MP: I’m just realizing I really should have cracked open a beer by now.
Q: Is it just me or is IndyCar about to embrace electric hybrid technology at about the exact same moment that Americans are seeing electrical powered transportation as a dying fad? Great timing. Those that like the idea of an electric or hybrid car already have one, and seeing a hybrid race car isn’t going to get anybody to march down to their dealership.
I’ve been a fan since Ontario Motor Speedway and got to see Mario and some of the greats when I was 10 years old in 1970. I also worry they’re getting themselves into a situation with this tech that’s avoidable. Can’t we just go back to the V8s and 950 real HP and let them race without all the kilowatt BS? Please Marshall…please…
Steve, NW Florida
MP: Can’t avoid the fact that IndyCar announced its new engine formula in May of 2018, which wasn’t hybrid, then took a lot of flak for that, and at the 2019 Indy 500, added the hybrid component to the plans, and then COVID hit in 2020 and it’s been a cascading tale of issues, vendors failing, supply constraints, and all manner of road blocks.
From when hybridization was announced a half-decade will have passed before the technology went live, and yes, I read the same stories of hybrid/EV doom-and-gloom, but it’s a big area of importance for a lot of manufacturers so it’s here to stay until it isn’t.
Other than the CART IndyCars you reference, the other cars that are the most impressive I’ve seen were the insane LMP1-Hybrids which shot like rockets off the corners with over 1000 combined horsepower. Since living in the past is never the answer, I dream of having big combustion engine power and big electric power and marveling at the ferocious speeds in an open-wheel car.
Q: For Marshall and Kelly: What are the chances that NASCAR’s new penchant for increased tire wear leads to increased use of PJ1 at places like Iowa, Gateway and Nashville, where IndyCar runs later in the season?
If that happens, how are Firestone and IndyCar going to deal with it so that it does not turn those tracks into skating rinks? Especially Nashville?
If this is the pattern going forward with IndyCar running on NASCAR ovals, is Firestone going to have to develop a tire that likes PJ1?
Ed Joras
MP: Lots of hypotheticals here. Firestone’s tires don’t have an inherent issue with traction goo. It’s when the goo is only applied on one lane and drivers try to straddle two lanes and have massive differences in grip across the goo lane and non-goo lane.
The goo ruined Texas for IndyCar for a few years, so let’s just hope it doesn’t get applied to the other ovals.
KELLY CRANDALL: NASCAR has been using resin versus PJ1 at many racetracks in recent years, so honestly, I’m not all that concerned about it. It’s not a concern we’ve heard about in a while from drivers, and the resin seems to be more popular than the PJ1, which would get lathered onto a racetrack and make things too slick.
Q: Why was there so much tire wear at Bristol? Was Goodyear responsible for all this?
Kurt Perleberg
KC: Goodyear was responsible for bringing a tire with more wear, which NASCAR and the drivers asked for and tested last year. It’s the same right-side tire used in the fall 2023 race. The left-side tire has been run at Bristol since 2022. As to why there was so much tire fall-off, that’s a mystery that the industry doesn’t have an answer to.
Q: Please explain the F1 race day process for spotting rules infringements and imposing penalties and the concept behind it. As I understand it the race director — who I believe is now a permanent F1 position — determines if an incident is worthy of being forwarded to the stewards who, in turn, determine whether or not to impose a penalty and of what magnitude it ought to be.
This seems illogical to me. If the race director decides an infringement did not occur or is not worthy of a penalty, the permanent stewards and the driver representative will never be able to consider it. Yet, if a matter is sent to them they retain the power to say it is unworthy of a penalty. I suppose one theory could be that the race director has too many other responsibilities to handle, but that seems thin to me, especially given that many incidents would be most fairly resolved if a decision is made quickly.
Jack Smith
CHRIS MEDLAND: Close, and you’d be right about the illogical bit if it was a one-way street, but the bit you’ve just missed is that the stewards are able to investigate incidents that they see themselves, without the need for the race director to have sent it directly to them. If the stewards feel something is worthy of attention they can look into it immediately. Quite often they do this without a full investigation taking place, as they check what happened and have a second look and then deem it a racing incident or nothing of note.
They also get support from the FIA’s Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Geneva, where even more incidents can be monitored and analyzed, and then sent to Race Control if needed, so it’s not all on the race director to spot things. Just to add as well, the race director never makes a call on whether something is worthy of a penalty or not, they just often flag things to the stewards to look at and leave that decision-making up to them.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, March 19, 2014
Q: I’m so sorry to hear of Gary B’s passing. Every fan of open-wheel racing carries the name of Bettenhausen in their heart and I know this cuts deep for you. Favorite story?
John Fulton
ROBIN MILLER: When I bought Merle’s midget from Gary in 1974 I became “family” because they made Tony Jr. be my crew chief at the first race. In my USAC debut at Kokomo, Merle kept an eye on me and I managed to transfer into the feature. It was only my second time on dirt and after the race Gary came down to congratulate me. “You might be able to do this,” was his ringing endorsement. Five nights later, after I’d missed the show at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Gary storms over and yells: “Take our name off that car, you’re embarrassing the family.” That’s why we loved The Schmuck.