Q: I know it’s still early, but I have a few silly season questions. 1) Have you heard any rumblings on who could be in line to step into the No. 10 Ganassi car after Palou leaves for McLaren? Armstrong seems to be doing everything right in his part-time role, and his buddy Ilott seems to already have one foot out the door at Juncos. 2) Speaking of McLaren, any more news on them potentially running a fourth full-time car for Rosenqvist, or will he need to look elsewhere? Are there even enough engines for another full-time entry? 3) Could you see Blomqvist getting the nod to take over the No. 06 from Castroneves?
J Silly
MP: Callum’s my early pick for the 10 car, but what if Ganassi decides to slide Ericsson over to the car and backfills the No. 8 with a paying driver? The team really likes Armstrong, but he’d need to double his budget to go full-time. The fourth McLaren scenario will be a function of funding and driver; they’re out of room to take on more sponsors with the three cars they have, so if they land more big partners, another car would be needed to house them. Felix could be retained in that scenario, but with a solid body of free agents and underemployed recent F1 talent to choose from, I’d assume Zak Brown would want a higher-profile driver in the car. I’ll be shocked if Blomqvist isn’t in one of the MSR IndyCars next year.
Q: Have you participated as a part of a team at the 500? If so, when and what were your takeaways from the experience?
Pete, Ohio
MP: Yes, five straight times from 1997-2001 with TKM/Genoa Racing, Nienhouse Motorsports, TeamXtreme, and Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Greg Ray twice, Eliseo Salazar once, and twice with Davey Hamilton.
Takeaways: being part of an Indy 500 team was my dream since high school, and achieving that dream with a local team, Genoa Racing, I worked for in Formula Atlantic and Indy Lights and loved, made it particularly special. Same band of friends and idiots taking on the sport’s biggest race, and we did well. Couldn’t believe we got to go into Gasoline Alley every day and work where legends worked, and walking out to pit lane never stopped being surreal those first two years. This was the IRL’s 25/8 era where there were only eight starting spots available to newcomers and non-full-timers like us, and we were up to the task — which felt great, considering how small we were and how poor we were.
Third time, with the still-injured Salazar, was a humbling affair. He didn’t want to be there, but that’s how he made his money from the sponsors, and it was a struggle the entire time. Did well in qualifying to earn 18th, but he went straight to the back at the start and was first out — crashed on his own in the T1-T2 short chute — on lap 18 and nobody on the crew was upset about it. Salazar was OK and it brought an early end to a forgettable month.
Fourth was with TeamXtreme, which was the worst team — with the worst team name — I worked for. That’s a story for another time. And the last, which I had a feeling would be my last because I wanted to try living a normal life, was with Sam in his first season as a team owner. I loved most of the five; 1999 was a waste in terms of competitiveness, but the crew were awesome and some remain friends today. Can’t say the same about most of 2000; terrible decision on my part, but I got to work with a few quality people like Jeremy Milless, Mark Weida, Tim Neff, Dan Rushing, Terry Wilbert and so on, but there are plenty of other stories like being deposed in a lawsuit between the team and an electronics vendor to put in a book one day.
And 2001 was cool in so many ways. Driving in each morning was no less special than the first time, but it was also starting to feel like a bit of a routine, and didn’t want Indy to become normalized — just a part of the season. I’ve done it many times now as a member of the media, and it still feels special, and for that, I’m thankful. The day it stops feeling that way is when I’ll retire.