Q: In a situation like the one with Josef Newgarden at St. Petersburg or Shank at the Rolex, what is the process for making sure the correct people end up with their trophies after the result has changed?
Mike D, San Clemente, CA
MP: There is no process. It’s usually done on the honor system.
Q: After reading both of your informative articles on the Penske P2P infraction, I’m of a mixed opinion of the matter — at least based on the information that is available to me. I‘d like your comments.
First off, I’m not comfortable with the Penske team principal’s explanation that this was just a mistake, an oversight on the part of the team. Especially when the team is Team Penske. I do get that mistakes happen, but that this one supposedly started in Sebring and lasted until Long Beach is a bridge too far for me.
After St. Pete, Newgarden for one knew the P2P was available on restarts as he used it more than once. He also knew in the past it did not, since it is accepted that he had previously used the P2P button on starts and restarts and it did not work. So, he knew what had happened. Something does not ring true. Adding fuel to the fire is what Newgarden said at Barber — that he, and he infers his entire team — thought that there had been a rule change that allowed use of P2P. This is pure B.S. in my opinion.
The various electronic engine and car controls need to be examined for software issues such as this. How many other things in the software can the teams adjust and manipulate in an effort to gain an advantage? If I were IndyCar I’d be the only one that could change parameters in the various electronic control modules in the car. And I’d develop a quick-check scan tool that would be used during pre-race and post-race tech inspection to verify all the electronic control modules are as they should be.
It appears we have large amounts of data that is being collected and not being looked at. This looks like a place when a good AI application could go through the data, look for anomalies and flag them for human review.
IndyCar is known as a spec series and I can understand trying to gain any and all advantages a team can. Now that Team Penske has been caught cheating, what else has Team Penske and maybe some of the other teams done to give themselves a unfair advantage?
Warbird Willie
MP: The ability to change the code to tell the CLU/MyLaps transponder to tell the ECU to provide anytime P2P has been a known area that could be exploited. I’m not aware of other areas where the CLU — the chassis data logger used by teams — can instruct the ECU to change its parameters.
Q: Not since that whacked-out priest appeared on the Silverstone track during the British GP years ago have I seen something as strange as a falling mannequin! In your many trips to racing venues, can you share any strange sightings with us?
Also, I believe all Penske drivers across the board should have been DQ’d from St. Pete. Power knew about it and is as guilty as the other two! Ten points is a joke!
Yanie Porlier
MP: Barber is the place where strange things happen. Remember when Hinch was sidelined, sat parked in his car forever waiting for a tow, waited so long his bladder complained, and climbed out to hit the port-a-potty?
Only trackside issue that struck me as weirder than Georgina falling from the sky was about a decade ago at Sonoma where an IndyCar test day was delayed while track worked tried to clear a problem at the scary-fast Turn 10. To save money on landscaping and, more importantly, to cut down on using gas-powered mowers across the sprawling hillside road course, Sonoma Raceway would hire a local guy who owned a ton of sheep, and he’d bring the sheep to the track and they’d eat all the excess grass and shrubbery and keep the place looking sharp.
Well, the sheep must have been stuffed because as they were crossing Turn 10, it was bombs away and they strafed the track with poo.
It took an hour, if I remember correctly, to de-doodoo the circuit.
Q: Enough of these tortoise versus hare strategy races. For road and street courses, can we change to them to be timed/distance races? Whoever complete the most laps/covers the most distance wins. Green flag, clock starts, everyone goes as hard as they can. I would bet the drivers will be fine with this.
John M. Lee
MP: Sure.
Q: When something like the Penske P2P situation happens, do you open your Mailbag questions with glee or apprehension?
DJ Odom, Anderson, IN
MP: Sorrow. I love stupid things like mannequins falling and silliness like that, and hardcore racing. Cheating, lying, and all of that stuff just makes me sad. I’d rather just focus on the racing and things that matter and make us happy.
Q: I loved and was impressed by the McLaren team’s dubbing newbie Theo Pourchaire “Teddy Porkchops.” Can you relate other clever nicknames for drivers among the current or recent fields? Do you have one?
Anthony “Bone” Jenkins, Ontario, Canada
MP: We’re in a dead zone when it comes to great IndyCar driver nicknames, except for the new “Teddy Porkchops” given to Theo Pourchaire. I’ve responded to “Hey idiot” and “Hey a**hole” for most of my life. If it’s an Aussie or Kiwi driver or member of the community I know, we’ll greet each other with “Speaking of…” and leave off the last word in the sentence if there are people around because it’s really not meant for public consumption. I refer to that unspoken word as an “Aussie hello.”
Q: An old boss of mine used to say, “Good or bad, at least they’re talking about you.”
To those who think the Penske P2P debacle is going to be a permanent black mark on IndyCar, the heat has drawn more headlines and eyeballs than the series has gotten in a long time. Controversy creates interest too, and with the bar set so low by the Long Beach TV numbers, the only way to go is up. And if people tuned in to watch Barber because of all that heat, what a show IndyCar stepped up to deliver!
I think the penalty was appropriate. They raced with illegal cars, the cars and drivers were disqualified from the race where they were used, the Evil Empire is again crucified in the court of public opinion. Is it the greatest scandal in IndyCar history? Not by a long shot, and I don’t remember any DQs for Toyota’s magic pop-off valve spacer in ’01 – just one example…
Pete, Rochester, NY
MP: Thanks, Pete.