Q: Motorsports is a high-risk, high-reward endeavor. In the last 20-30 years, the risks have been reduced substantially. So based on your collective knowledge of driver compensation, have the rewards been reduced as well? In a just world, Herk coulda/woulda/shoulda made waaaay more moolah than Lewis Hamilton.
B, West Wyoming, PA
MP: IndyCar driver pay was rather unimpressive throughout the 2010s, with the top drivers said to be taking home somewhere between $2.5-3.5 million per year, and that was a select few. I know of some past IndyCar champions who were making half of that during that decade. The salaries have certainly increased in the last year or two, and most team owners blame Michael Andretti, who is said to be paying Colton Herta north of $6 million a year. That’s led to a wider group of drivers to demand more money, and unlike the team owners, the drivers all thank Herta for getting them bigger deals.
Q: If you could let George from Albuquerque in last week’s Mailbag know, I think he was looking at the Fairgrounds Speedway, which Google shows as about a 13-minute drive from downtown Nashville.
Chris, San Francisco, CA
MP: Wrong track, George.
Q: I’m looking at the IMS website and see they have a new program to sponsor a row on the Indy 500 grid, but it looks like they may be doing away with the Lap Prize Sponsor program?
Is this correct? If so it’s sad to see the Lap Prize Sponsor tradition go away after almost 100 years…
Lou
MP: I forwarded your question to IMS and they did not respond. My apologies on their behalf.
Q: I’m writing this on March 1, and the previous 24 hours have been befuddling to me as an IndyCar fan. We received a small news dump on February 29, and IndyCar fan responses that I’ve seen leave me scratching my head.
Discussions about a charter system are starting up again. This time around, guaranteed Indy 500 entries are not part of the discussion. Good news, right? It wasn’t that long ago people were up in arms that guaranteed spots were on the table. So this news was met with a sigh of relief, right? Wrong. The number of responses or comments I saw along the lines of, “This will ruin the sport!”… Jaw, meet floor.
Next, right here on RACER, an article is published on the topic of IndyCar pushing for urban and metro expansion by introducing new downtown street course events. “But just a couple years ago y’all said a focus on ovals was needed!” Yup, they did. And we got two races at Milwaukee, and although not by initial design, got Nashville Superspeedway back for the foreseeable future.
Also, are you trying to argue that the series can’t re-evaluate the racing landscape and pivot to a new growth plan? Haven’t you long complained that the series leadership isn’t nimble enough in its ability to change course? Hate to tell it to y’all, but in order to achieve new growth, we need to bring the races to the people. Us diehards don’t mind making the trip to the middle of nowhere to see cars zoom around a Mid-Ohio, but the newbies and casuals won’t — yet. If we meet them in a convenient location where they are — their nearby urban centers — perhaps we will entice some of them to trek off the beaten path to some of the gems we in our small inner circle know and love.
Fellow IndyCar fans, y’all confuse me. Gripe about one thing, get some of those changes, and that’s still not good enough.
Matt Philpott
MP: Thanks for writing in, Matt. I’m hiring you as our new VP of Common Sense, BTW.
I’m so thankful I stopped reading article comments about a decade ago. I just assume it’s filled with crime scene tape after daily digital murders take place.
Q: Tony Hawk has Pro Skater, Madden has Football, Tiger Woods had the PGA Tour Series. I don’t know the status of the IndyCar game but here is my recommendation for a title that should bring some name recognition: Michael Andretti’s Indycar Challenge 2024 (Or whatever the release year is).
This was one of the very first racing games I played in the ’90s. I feel that linking Andretti’s name to the title would reach out to both the old and young fan base. What are your thoughts?
Not that Stefan Johansson
MP: Thanks to all of the nonsense with F1 blocking his efforts to join that series, I’d bet Michael has more name recognition than any other person in the IndyCar paddock. This is a brilliant idea. Either that or use Pato.
Q: Good to see Denver on the shortlist for a revisit after having raced downtown from 2002 to 2006. It drew big crowds and will fill a big void in the IndyCar venue map. I’m all in when it happens. Denver is a big city with every other spectator sport represented, and the race can offer a confrontation now and then like the other sports. Case in point: Bourdais in Tracy’s face, 2006.
Jeff, Colorado
MP: I’m right there with you, Jeff. Colorado’s a gorgeous state and some headline-making moments came out of the Champ Car events on the streets of Denver. Last time I was there, it was for Justin Wilson’s wake and I’d love to go back under happier circumstances if a street race comes together.
Q: How many Truck, Cup and Xfinity Series cars were crashed/destroyed in the recent Daytona shuntfest? Does anyone tally up the true cost? Who pays?
When there are rain delays, how do the teams/TV media, etc., cope with logistics — changing hotel rooms, airline tickets, truck movements…?
Finally, who writes Will Buxton’s DTS scripts? He turns his head, raises eyebrows and says “Team/team principal/Driver X is really in trouble now…”
Inquiring minds need to know….
David, Schwenksville, PA
CHRIS MEDLAND: I can only really answer this from my little experience working with the Box to Box Films crew on the first season and a half, but it was increasingly apparent that the producers had a clear narrative in mind for each episode and essentially needed to knit it together with the talking heads.
That’s not necessarily a criticism as the show has worked well in boosting interest in F1, but I found the role essentially became, “Say something along these lines,” rather than being asked a question to give an honest answer. That’s part of trying to balance between entertainment and fact to make it a compelling watch.
KELLY CRANDALL: If you go by the NASCAR caution reports, 27 drivers were involved in incidents at Daytona in the Truck Series race and 28 drivers in the Cup Series race. The teams likely know the exact cost, or close to it, after they evaluate their inventory when race weekend is over. So, they keep a tally and they have to pay to replace or rebuild the pieces needed.
Superspeedway racing is expensive — well, all of racing is expensive because there can be just as much carnage at other tracks — but the likelihood is much higher at superspeedways. Kyle Busch wore a shirt on pit road that said “most expensive day every year” before the truck race at Daytona a few years ago.
As for the travel, it’s no different than it would be for anyone. The teams have someone who handles the logistics and will begin booking more rooms or doing whatever is needed when there is a rain delay or postponement. On the media side, people start calling airlines or changing flights and extending hotels.