Q: I figured you could use a break from Penskegate 2024. Here’s my simple question that I’ve seen conflicting answers to: Do drivers get to keep the trophies they win, or do they go to the team?
Gary Vail, Sherman Oaks, CA
MP: Thank you for the break. All depends on what the negotiate for in their contracts. Stars tend to receive their trophies, but some teams demand to have them, and then it’s on both sides to figure out a solution. Paying for a second trophy is not uncommon. A driver told me about an offer he got to do a big sports car race earlier this year, and while the pay was decent, the contract stipulated that the team would own any of the spoils — trophy included — that might come from a podium result. That driver told me they declined the offer due to the trophy stipulation.
Q: I was surprised to see yet another driver get behind the wheel for Dale Coyne, which prompted me to look for a list for this year’s drivers. What I found instead was a list of all Coyne drivers since the team’s start in 1991. If Wikipedia’s list is to be believed, the team has had a staggering 96 drivers since 1991.
In comparison, Penske seems to have had just 37 drivers since Penske’s USAC days in 1968.
A lot of Coyne drovers also boomerang. Even Justin Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais — who together earned four of the team’s six all-time wins — drove for the team in non-consecutive time periods.
What’s behind all that turnover?
William Tyree
MP: Pretty straightforward answer: Dale’s team is the oldest in the series to consistently take paying drivers for one or both cars. Nobody even comes close in that regard. If you’ve been a paying IndyCar driver dating back to the 1990s, there’s a strong chance you’ve driven for Dale, and thankfully, he’s one of the few remaining team owners who opens the door to young talent to hire their services and allow them to learn and hopefully attract the interest of a bigger team, just as David Malukas did.
Alex Palou would not be a two-time champion if it weren’t for Coyne co-entering a car with Palou’s Japanese Super Formula entrant in 2020.
Dale has also paid drivers, or brought on co-entrants to help cover the bills, which is what brought Bourdais to the team. Before that, Dale put the money up to run Justin. Coyne’s team is a short-term destination for most drivers because of their limited budgets, bigger desires to move upwards, or Dale’s willingness to fund part or all of an entry. The revolving door in the 51 car this year is not by choice, but in the absence of a consistent paying driver, he’s taken what he can from some and paid for the car to compete when he had to.
Q: I see F1 is talking about abandoning hybrid power in 2030 — presuming fully synthetic fuel is a success — in favor of engines with better sound and drivability and less complexity. Bravo! I just wish Chevy and Honda would get their heads out of their backside and admit hybrids are a trend that is on its way out and stop spending any more time or money implementing them in IndyCar, where no one will see a difference or even care.
Pato was spot-on with his comments about people wanting to see new things, and I believe that’s why IMSA is gaining popularity. I’m hoping IndyCar will wake up and appeal to people’s senses — design a new sleek IndyCar, put a turbo V8 in the back with 900hp and let ’em loose, then sit back and watch F1 try and catch up instead of it being the other way around.
And Part 2 of the future plan should be to get every race on network TV. Messing around with multiple channels and now streaming — there is no continuity and they are only catering to the most die-hard fan that is willing to put in the work to find any broadcast. F1 races in the states are always on ESPN — simple.
Quit doing just enough to get by and playing second fiddle to F1. Get a great car/engine package and put it where everyone can easily watch. Only then will the series and drivers get the respect (and dollars) they deserve.
BA
MP: It all sounds great, but hybrid sales are a big deal for both brands — especially Honda — so if you recall the main premise for manufacturers in racing who want some sort of road relevance in what they do (NASCAR aside) at the track, racing with hybrids makes total sense.
When road cars were all about big and brutish engines, we had big and brutish engines. When smaller displacement, high-power turbos were the rage in road cars, we got small racing motors with big turbos. We even had some big motors with turbos. It’s how the sport works. And whenever hybrids pass as a road technology of importance, I’m sure we’ll see that reflected in what we race.
Q: Why aren’t the straights at Indy incorporating the SAFER barriers? Crashes can be so unpredictable that one would think they would be installed around the whole track. Same goes for the inner walls (thinking of a Greg Moore scenario at Fontana in 1999).
Pongo in SoCal
MP: Because they’re expensive and the frequency of hard crashes into walls on the straights is so low that it hasn’t been proven as a need.
Q: I am 75 years old and have been an IndyCar and Formula 1 fanatic since I was nine. Please don’t do the math!
I have attended over 150 races in person, but the greatest bargain of all were the Watkins Glen doubleheaders in July. I think younger fans would welcome a look at these unique weekends when all of the major manufactures who competed at Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona would run a six hour endurance race on Saturday at the Glen. On Sunday, the Canadian American Cup Series — the most open, free formula series ever — would run its race. The long defunct series had two rules: the wheels had to be covered by fenders, and the cockpit had to have room for two people. The roar of engines that eventually grew to over 500 cubic inches was thundering and visceral.
Those of us who were lucky enough to attend those weekends saw two world class races with every manufacturer and every world-class driver of note were treated to something that was never seen before or since.
Bob Isabella, Mentor, OH
MP: I was too young to catch the Can-Am era (the real era, not the single-seaters with fenders), but lose my mind at historic racing events where the proper Can-Am cars run. I’m jealous, Bob!