Q: Not a question, but a suggestion for Doug Boles or someone at IMS: It has become a tradition to tour past IndyCars from the IMS Museum collection prior to the Indy 500. With the addition of IMSA to the IMS calendar, would it be possible for the museum to prepare and tour some of their sports cars prior to the IMSA event? Many of us would like to see and hear the Ferrari 250LM, Mercedes W196 and Ford GT40. There may be others in the vault that we don’t know about.
Richard, Memphis, TN
MP: Duly noted.
Q: I just read your article about Honda and Chevy and the possibility of a new engine for 2027, and them being worried about increased cost due to the amount of engines they have to supply. I know most companies say the cost is all in R&D and testing prior to the final product being ready for production. Normally once you can mass-produce the more you can sell or in this case lease the cheaper each engine becomes, which should increase revenue. Is it just because they have to employ too many people to handle that many teams?
CAM in LA
MP: The up-front cost to create a pool of 45-60 engines is big, and if you’re employing the staff and doing it all yourself, compared to outsourcing it to a company that makes/services/supplies large quantities of engines to various manufacturers or series, it can also be prohibitively expensive. Once that pool is made, you have the ongoing R&D costs you mention, the replacement of parts with new, and so on, separate from the staff and whatnot.
And with a formula that’s been around for a long time, the money and technology required to keep finding small advantages becomes problematic. In the early days, new ideas and meaningful gains were easier to manifest. After 12 years, tons of money is spent to find that proverbial needle in a haystack to beat each other. Things have not become cheaper.
Who knows what the actual numbers are, but I hear it’s still over $50 million per year to make IndyCar engines happen for each manufacturer, and if that could be brought down to half or less, the conversations about staying for 2027 are much easier to have.
Q: What a depressing letter from David Felstein in the last edition of the Mailbag. This year will be my 48th consecutive Indy 500. It is still my Christmas Day. Every year I can’t wait to make the walk into the track and take my seat in the stands to watch another 500 go into the history books.
Could things be better with IndyCar? Yep. Would I like to see more ovals back on the schedule like the old days when they ran in places like Phoenix and Michigan? Yep. Am I kind of disappointed in the Penske leadership? Yep. But it is what it is. I accept it. I love following the drivers, and my weekends when IndyCar races revolve around watching practice and qualifying on Peacock and then the race on Sunday.
Nope, IndyCar isn’t perfect, and I’ve accepted that things change, and certain things are not going back to how they were in the past. And I’m always hopeful for the future! If Mr. Felstein has this many bitches and complaints about IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then maybe he should just stay home on race day and watch a movie.
Rick Owens, Fort Wayne, IN
MP: Or maybe he should go to the race, as he said he would, and as a free American who is welcome to say what he thinks, try to enjoy it while being vastly disappointed in the things he mentioned?
Q: In last week’s RACER Mailbag, Stephen Terrell talked about drivers winning both the Indy 500 and Le Mans; and this brought memories of both the old Triple Crown of the Indy, Ontario, and Pocono 500s.
But there are other interesting combinations of wins as well, such as Juan Pablo Montoya winning two of the three Memorial Day races (Indy in 2000 and Monaco in 2003) and Mario (1967) and A.J. (1969) winning Daytona as well as their Indy 500s
But as for generating buzz, nothing in racing that I’ve seen since 1967 has topped Bill Elliott winning the Winston Million in 1985. I was living in Atlanta at the time, and I remember seeing on the local news that hundred fans along the roads from Darlington, all the way through North Georgia to Dawsonville were cheering as his hauler passed by.
My first Indy 500 shooting the race was for the late Forrest Bond and that’s where I met Brian Barnhart and Fred Nation. Having gone to the first Indy GP and all the Brickyard 400s, I suggested to Fred (and later to Tony George in Nashville) that since The Speedway is now the first track to host all three of the top series — IRL, NASCAR and F1 — to generate the kind of buzz that (years later followed Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and now Kyle Larson), that they should put up the Brickyard Bonus of $1 million to any driver who wins any two of the three major events, in not just one, but any year, thinking that either a 500 winner would win before (JPM) or after his F1 career, or that someone from NASCAR such as Jeff Gordon (remember, this was 2001, and he also had won the Winston Million in 1997) would try to “Run the Double” at the 500.
Could you imagine the worldwide buzz that a repeat winner at the Racing Capital of The World winning not one, but two diverse, premier races at the Speedway?
Speaking of Kyle Larson, did Zak Brown make the same offer to test one of his F1 cars if he won the race, as he made to Pato O’Ward if he won a race (he won two) in 2021?
Dan Schwartz, Atlanta, GA
MP: I doubt it, Dan. Pato wants to race in F1. Kyle has never expressed his burning desire to be in F1, so it would be a strange offer to make.
Q: Sato returning to the Indy 500 is great news. The safety improvements to both the Indy track and the cars are proof of proper planning. It is the greatest spectacle in racing and it should vigorously fight to enforce that. I’ve been to all types of racing over many years, but the Indy 500 has the legacy and the excitement and full experience.
When I returned to the 500 after COVID caused empty stands, I was amazed at every happy fan, track worker, parking attendant, and police person directing traffic. That’s why Indy 500 matters. It’s quintessential American sport, just like the Kentucky Derby.
We complain, but it’s multi-generational. We remember Tom Carnegie and Donald Davidson. Who else has a track historian? After WWII it was part of healing to resume the race. God speed to this year’s race. Any kid who saw the race never forgets their first one.
Craig B, Leland, NC
MP: Amen, Craig. I feel the same way whenever I pull into the Speedway for the first time each year. Donald retired from that role not so long ago, but they have a great kid, Jason Vansickle, who is really sharp and is loaded with knowledge.