Q: It’s been long said in racing that if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t trying. Maybe that’s the culture of racing, so maybe I should not be too upset about the findings that Team Penske was illegally using the P2P system, but this seems to run much deeper. For starters, this isn’t just a team cheating. This is a team whose owner also owns the series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That position requires Roger Penske to be completely fair and even-handed in the operation of his team. Roger Penske’s position and status allow him to exert both direct influence and indirect influence as employees may feel compelled to go along for fear of being blackballed.
Team Penske’s feeble explanation has made them not only look worse, but appear to be outright liars doubling down in attempt to save face. Now there are suggestions that Team Penske may have been manipulating the P2P system possibly as far back as 2022. They may have won a championship by utilizing this unfair tactic. It also gives legs to conspiracy theories that the 2023 Indianapolis 500 may have not finished under yellow as many thought it should, in the mere possibility of giving Josef Newgarden one more shot at the win. While the P2P clearly was not used at Indy, Penske’s power can certainly be seen as influencing decisions about competition on the track.
If the manipulation of the P2P system goes back a couple of years, it clearly was no mistake. In any other sport, this kind of rampant and blatant cheating might easily result in a lifetime suspension. It may not be the Black Sox scandal of MLB in 1919, but the Houston Astros cheating scandal could be an apt comparison. Those involved received long suspensions. So why should Roger Penske get special treatment just because he owns the series?
Imagine this series without Team Penske. It could be a death knell for a sport already facing a questionable future. It probably will not result in the loss of sponsors, but it could. Roger Penske has inflicted more than a black eye to the series, in my humble opinion. He has put the future of the series in danger by tarnishing the integrity of the on-track competition. Hyperbole? Maybe. But is it worth the risk?
So, tell me, why should sports fans tune in to a sport where the series owner will blatantly cheat to give himself the self-proclaimed unfair advantage and then lie about it?
Scott R., Portland, OR
MP: Because it wouldn’t be fair to kill the nine other teams that weren’t caught cheating. And if we tuned out from or turned off all of the things in life where people blatantly lie and take advantage of situations, we’d be left living in the wilderness with the animals. And because of optimism that the series will do better and learn from this in meaningful ways.
Q: A semi-question combined with a rant. So Penske cheats in IndyCar, and Penske cheats in NASCAR with Logano. What else have they been doing? This is not a coincidence anymore. There goes the polished image.
Shameful.
Luc, NL
MP: I’d forgotten about Penske’s DQ from last year’s Watkins Glen 6 Hours IMSA race when its race-winning Porsche 963 was found to be out of technical specification in post-race tech. BMW was awarded its first hybrid GTP win.
Q: This cheating scandal would be a lot more fun if Tim Cindric were banging on trash cans every time Newgarden drove by.
Bill Williams
MP: That’s an Astro-nomical observation, Bill.
Q: This may go down as one of the biggest scandals that I’ve seen in the last decade. Do you think Penske was punished more severely because of the team’s last name, or do you see the punishment as fair?
Also, the Firehawk is amazing. We need more of him, not less.
Jason, Terre Haute, IN
MP: I don’t think the punishment was within 100 miles of being severe. This was a slap on the wrist.
Q: Long Beach was a great race because the yellow split the strategies. It could have been better if the alternate tire would degrade more quickly. IndyCar tells us that the harder tires this year are because the weight of the car will be higher after they finally employ their gimmicky hybrid.
I have a suggestion: IndyCar could develop a bolt-in piece that would sit where the capacitors will mount to the engine to replicate their weight, or just admit that Firestone has produced tires that don’t have a big performance or durability difference between the two compounds.
P.S. Glad to see that Will Power, unlike his teammates, choose not to cheat.
Matt
MP: They could, but we’re just over two months out from going hybrid and adding a heavy hunk of metal to the cars just to make the tires happier isn’t my first choice. That would also require a decent amount of testing by every team, which costs money and takes time that they don’t have with Indy 500 practice arriving in two weeks.
Q: What are the chances we see some of the newly announced or rumored teams — i.e. PREMA, Pratt & Miller, Abel etc. — absorb/buy some of the current teams on the struggle bus? I’m looking at you ECR, Foyt, and Coyne. It would make sense for PREMA to take over ECR, Pratt & Miller to take over Foyt (FPM Enterprises sounds cool) and Abel with Coyne (let the man finally retire!). This makes the most sense instead of increasing grid size and would result in a net gain of quality teams with budget and competence.
Additionally, with the horrific Long Beach TV rating, is RP’s throne as the leader of IndyCar getting hotter? Clearly the man does a great job with Team Penske and the 500, but it appears the series is totally out to lunch on the marketing/commercial side. Would love to see Liberty step up and buy half (or whole) or someone else like a consortium of Towriss, Andretti and Zak Brown assume ownership. Penske Entertainment has got to go.
JAH from the Dirty South
MP: I was told by the first team owner about PREMA’s efforts to buy charters on Friday morning, and had more confirm they’d received the same call from the team. None of the teams are looking to sell, to my knowledge. I can’t picture the day where Roger sells or willingly cedes control.