Q: Has Sage Karam found a drive for the 500 yet? His neighbor Marco Andretti has a car in his garage; will Andretti be using it this year? How much would it cost to put Sage in it, if Marco is too busy defending his SRX championship in May?
Shawn, MD
MP: He has not. Sage texted me last week inquiring about what’s out there and I pointed him in one direction that’s remote, but would be the best for him if it comes together.
Q: Rolex should make some tire pressure gauges in the image of their watches, and engrave them for the MSR team…and they surely should return the watches. They should have to HAND THEM to the second-place team.
Bill Bailey
MP: Auction them off and do something to help others with the proceeds. It would take big balls for anyone to wear those in public.
This guy who made his own MSR shirt was all kinds of awesome at Sebring.
Some amazing things to be found in the #Sebring12 paddock… pic.twitter.com/AiOGqTztX8
— Marshall Pruett (@marshallpruett) March 17, 2023
Q: I noticed that the green light was still on as cars continued to crash in the first wreck at St. Petersburg. Any reason the yellow light wasn’t used to alert the cars before they got into the wreck around the blind corner?
AFR, Texas
MP: Our friend Kyle Novak, IndyCar’s race director, provided a deep dive on what took place for us: “What AFR saw is the trailing green at marshal Station 3A, meaning the preceding station (3) has a local yellow condition. In the EM system, anytime a local yellow (waving or standing) is activated by the marshals, the EM system automatically illuminates the next panel as green for 5 seconds to allow all cars that have seen the local yellow to see a green condition at the next station meaning the track is clear. Of course, if there is an incident at the next station, the marshal can override the trailing green with another flag condition.
“At the opening lap incident at St. Petersburg, when the marshal at station 3 activated the waving yellow condition for the incident, the EM system automatically produces a green at 3A, and a standing yellow at Station 2. It’s a great feature of the system.”
Taking the situation further, when Race Control activated the FCY condition, the FCY overrides the green condition on the trailing panel, while the area of the incident still carries the local waving yellow on its panel to still forewarn of the incident ahead until the track is again clear.”
Q: I agree with Bernie of West Milford, N.J. When IndyCar broadcasts are only presented on Peacock, (like the qualifying, practices, etc.) the sound mix is terrible. (This is not a problem when watching the race via NBC.) The sound of the people speaking is almost completely overshadowed by the sounds of the cars on the racetrack! This is a recurring problem from last year also, not just at one track, and is very frustrating in trying to hear what is being said. The sound mix, or work of sound technicians, is poorly addressed. Is this only a problem on ATT/Apple technology? I hope this problem will be addressed and solved.
PJ, Indiana
MP: Copy, 10-4, and Roger.