Q: I read with interest your article about IndyCar going down to Argentina to check out the track there for a potential race. I know Juncos is pushing this idea hard, but how serious is the interest on both sides for holding an international race in Argentina?
On an unrelated note, I was happy to see that Linus Lundquist got an IndyCar test with RLL. Hopefully it leads to someone giving this deserving kid an IndyCar ride.
Chris Howe, Upper Sandusky, OH
MP: There’s interest, provided there’s a significant payday on offer for the series and its entrants. As a professional sports property, it takes money to get IndyCar to turn up and put on a show, so if all the travel costs are covered and it enriches the series and the paddock, a trip to (insert international venue here) will be considered.
Lundqvist is a scrappy kid. I’d love to see him reach IndyCar and have a long career. He has a built-in chip on his shoulder after getting jerked around with a useless advancement prize by Penske Entertainment, so if I’m writing the script for his career, he gets signed by RLL or another top team, gives Team Penske fits for the next few years, and comes full circle after being hired by Roger to win for him…
Q: With the fallout from Mike Shank cheating to win Daytona, is it safe to assume Acura/HPD will end its association with the team? Has this hurt his relationship with Michael Andretti, as this action denied he along with WTR a win? Or this will blow over and Mike will have no repercussions beside the minor slap of wrist from IMSA?
Bill Hicks, Arizona Bay
MP: I’m concerned, for sure. Receiving a factory contract from a proud manufacturer like Acura/Honda is like winning the financial and reputational lottery. Same goes for having a lucrative factory contract and losing it.
Big teams make runs on each other’s sponsors, drivers, crew, engineers, and factory deals all the time. Heck, some with factory deals do all they can to take the deal away from a stablemate…trying to get the manufacturer to spend all their money on a single team. All of that’s normal.
But when you add in something like MSR’s Rolex 24 cheating situation, it hands their rivals the wrong kind of ammunition to try and pry Acura/Honda from their factory grips.
What’s done is done here, and taking everything away from MSR won’t make the Rolex 24 scenario go away. If the team keeps winning for Acura and keeps the company in title contention, it might be hard to part ways. If the rest of the season is a disappointment, looking elsewhere — or to one of the other suitors who’ve been calling and emailing non-stop since the penalties were announced — might not be as hard. Anxious months are ahead…
Q: I am as big on the history and tradition of the 500 as anyone and it pains me to write this, but I am thinking we’ve long reached a point where the market and business model has evolved and IndyCar and the 500 would be better served to follow a charter-type setup and guarantee all 33 spots for the 500.
For the latter, we already largely know the 33 car and drivers combos of the race for this year despite the race being “open” to all, and engine leases mean we are never going to see 40+ cars. All these things have been more or less true for 20+ years now. Qualifying is already structured in a way to acknowledge that fact. Does bumping one car really bring any value to sport in the here and now? It’s not like the masses show up for bumping, and bumping plays second fiddle to the Fast 9 on day two of qualifying anyway. I cannot think of any value besides the historical connection. And bumping one car is not the same as bumping a dozen, or even five, in my opinion.
For the former, there are many ways charters could be done. IndyCar could take an F1-type approach and have 11 teams run two cars per race and a third car for the 500. Or maybe create 24-28 franchises/charters to accommodate the current field and then teams or IMS puts out “bids” or “requests” — maybe do what Le Mans does? — for the remaining spots annually for the 500.
Either way, I think the guaranteed 500 spot would result in additional sponsorship for teams and make those dollars easier to acquire. Plus, it would create additional value on a team’s balance sheet besides equipment and their building. I know it’s not an apples to apples comparison, but just look at the value of a Cup charter.
I wish the economics were such we could have four days of qualifying and 45 cars trying for 33 spots, but it hasn’t happened in 20+ years. The more I think about it, the more I keep thinking IndyCar is holding itself back because it doesn’t want to acknowledge that fact.
Mark Schneider, Columbus, IN
MP: Last year, I interviewed most IndyCar team owners, and Roger Penske, for an in-depth evergreen piece on franchises, and I need to get that feature ready and filed. The annual Indy 500 grid situation is a symptom of a bigger problem, and that’s value.
Want to buy a major league football or basketball team? You know what those are worth, and I’ve yet to see any of those recent purchases lose value for the new owners. How about an IndyCar team? What’s that worth? No clue. It’s not a commodity to covet or think of as an investment because there’s no established market value that can be traded upon.
Other than a newly-reduced Leaders Circle contract valued at $910,000 for the top 22 entries on offer from the series, there’s no business link between IndyCar and the small business owners who put on the show. We’re accustomed to wealthy industrialists who love the series starting teams, and former drivers becoming owners, but we’re still waiting for someone to start a team because it was a smart business move. We see that happening in other series, just not in IndyCar.