Q: Bob from Topeka, KS should be ashamed of his comment in last week’s Mailbag. Just because there is a prayer, it does not mean to exclude anyone. This is about praying for safety to God, and a God of one’s choice, be they Hindu, Muslim or whatever. It is inclusive, and if it were discriminatory they would have another narrative prior to the start of the race.
The comments regarding Liberty Media are spot on. Penske is in a time warp and perhaps there will be some light shed when Zak has real input. I suspect Roger rules with the proverbial iron fist.
There is no reason IndyCar should be a niche sport. At times people I think certain powers that be are still yearning for the Offenhauser days…
Emmett, Dallas, TX
MP: Having lived in, worked in, and loved the days when IndyCar wasn’t niche, all I want is for it to get out of its self-created shadow.
Q: Among many questions I have about Team Penske’s cheating (let’s call it what it is), do you, and others you’ve spoken to under cover, think the penalty fits the violations?
I’m especially concerned that this was pointed out last year as something possibly done. This is a huge red flag. We’ve not seen details about what if anything was investigated in 2023, but this makes Team Penske look even worse and brings into play a much larger potential breach. Do you have any further insight on this back to 2023?
Finally, is the presumed Penske Entertainment prohibition against talking negatively about this by other teams ramped up now?
Mike DeQuardo, Milwaukee and Elkhart Lake, WI
MP: Covered a lot of this in previous questions, so I’ll just add that I’ve heard nothing from the other teams about being asked to stay quiet.
Q: In response to Kurt Perleberg’s comments about Liberty Media buying IndyCar, I hope to whatever deities may or may not exist that his outline of what would happen doesn’t come to pass even if Liberty does somehow end up acquiring IndyCar.
NXT merging with F2: Terrible idea. F2 cars are much more expensive than NXT, and much faster. NXT is on a similar performance tier to FIA F3, while IndyCar is closer to F2. It’d be a needless jump.
Bringing in all those manufacturers would only happen if IndyCar’s tech rules changed to be similar to those of F1. I don’t think I need to explain how that would ruin IndyCar by way of both increased costs and ruining the good racing — never mind the fact that F1 cars aren’t built to oval safety standards (and fixing that would only make the cost issues worse). Most of those manufacturers aren’t going to build just engines for the series, particularly Aston Martin which doesn’t even build its own F1 engines.
F1 drivers would not likely be participating in IndyCar races with the regularity he implies, but that, and the notion of IndyCar/F1 doubleheaders, are the only positives he outlines.
I feel like Kurt may not fully understand what makes IndyCar unique. If it becomes just another F1 series it’s not going to help it at all — people who like F1 already have F1.
With all that said, Kurt did make me think of a good idea: Contract Red Bull to design the next IndyCar. Let Dallara build it, but get Red Bull, and most importantly Adrian Newey, in on the design. And if anyone is skeptical of the idea, remind them that Newey’s first championship-winning designs were for CART, and those designs won everywhere — ovals, road courses, street circuits, and the Indy 500. Give him a clean sheet of paper with the only restrictions being “close racing, multiple engines” and let him go at it.
FormulaFox
MP: According to the internet, Adrian’s taking Italian lessons at the moment and won’t be free to pen a new IndyCar.
Q: After reading the latest Mailbag submissions it’s clear that a lot of RACER readers are impressed with Scott Dixon’s fuel-saving abilities. However, I’m sick and tired of the whole idea of fuel-saving strategies and boring racing. I don’t find anything exciting about watching Scott coast into every corner with no challengers. Reminds me of a Freightliner taking a slow corner off I-95.
Why doesn’t IndyCar go to full points-paying heat races? Not the Thermal kind, but short, flat-out heat races. So, complete normal qualifying, Heat 1: Every odd qualifier (e.g., 1, 3, 5, etc.). Heat 2: Even qualifiers; Final: Top 16 to 20 finishers equally from each heat race. Quarter standard race points for each heat race, and half points for the final. Details could be worked out.
This approach would work best on short, confined-space tracks — St. Pete, Detroit, Toronto — and would solve other problems with those tracks.
Scott, Miami
MP: There’s no fuel saving in F1, and most of their races suck. We have fuel savers and fuel burners at Long Beach, and spend most of the race on edge to see which strategy will work, but since the fuel saver guy won instead of a fuel burner, it was boring? OK.
A thought: With IndyCar going hybrid here in a few months, I’m not sure the “we burn every drop of fuel we can find” approach fits where the series is trying to go. Granted, in every race, we have those who are flat-out and those who are conserving, so it already happens, but a complete change to eliminate fuel strategy options? Because fewer ways to win makes for better racing? I’m confused.
Q: The wife and I took a Caribbean cruise recently and I milled around online for a good book to read on that big boat. I recalled a few advertisements and tidbits on RACER about this Race Girl novel, and bought it. It was maybe the most entertaining story about racing I ever read, and now the wife is into it. Now she even wants to do Indy with me this year, which is a first. While not a documentary, I think this may be the best book about the IndyCar series ever written and this author, James Herbert Harrison, seemed quite familiar with the festive atmosphere of Long Beach and the drama and stress of the month of May at Indy.
I have two questions from it. Do race teams have agents that court sponsors, and does RACER really host a big party at Long Beach? If so, how do I get an invite?
John Masters, St. Peters, MO
MP: Teams have business development teams, sponsor hunters, agencies, etc. RACER’s last Long Beach party was before the pandemic.
Q: Will we see an IndyCar and NASCAR doubleheader on the same track and the same weekend again like we did when NASCAR was on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course?
Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY
MP: Maybe in iRacing, but that’s about it, Chris.