Q: It’s time to move on and get off Newgarden’s back. Josef Newgarden is a class act. He has handled this in an adult manner with class and told the truth as he understood it. The P2P debacle was clearly a team oversight or error. S… happens occasionally and people are human. The call to “say it isn’t so Joe” needs to stop.
Joe Weiss, Spooner, WI
MP: Thanks for writing in, Joe.
Q: Thank you for your hard work in bringing us dedicated IndyCar fans insights on the series. None of us are perfect and I’m just writing to bring your attention to something you were obviously not aware of at the time the May 1 edition of the Mailbag went live.
You responded to a question from Anthony Jenkins in which he asked whether there was any reaction from Roger Penske to the Team Penske penalty. You responded “Nope…”
Actually, on April 24, 2024, Roger Penske was asked to comment by the Associated Press. He replied via text message: “Very disappointing. I am embarrassed.”
Can you please post this in the next edition of the Mailbag to let readers know that R.P. did provide a statement when AP reached out and expressed embarrassment?
Gary S., Glendora, CA
MP: Thanks for sharing, Gary. You are correct. Those five words do qualify as a reaction. But I don’t know if I’d classify that as a statement.
Q: But do you know the fate of Georgina after she fell from the Barber bridge and had her hand amputated? I saw the photo of her with Scotty afterwards. But is she going back up on the bridge? Is she going into a museum? Is she being replaced on the bridge? These are the important IndyCar questions we need answers to.
Also, Barber was one hell of an entertaining race.
John
MP: It was. I heard she was being replaced by her sister Sabrina on top of the bridge.
Q: I just read an article where Dale Coyne was quoted as saying he’s ready for a new IndyCar chassis. If a team as small and resource limited as DCR is openly willing and able to pony up for a chassis switch, what is the series waiting for? Having a chassis designed to accommodate the hybrid system and aero screen from day one seems like a no-brainer for me, especially if teams are actively saying they want it and can afford it.
Bob
MP: It would take a vocal majority for a new car to be commissioned, and we don’t have that right now. We also have half the teams struggling to pay for what it takes to do a full season with the cars they already have.
Q: My question concerns P2P, but not PenskeGate. With deference to The Great Tony Stewart (TGTS); fans, and probably racers like passing. I don’t hear much cheering at Indy when they continuously run nose to tail, but the stands go nuts when a great pass is made. Great passes become the thing of legends.
To that end, I’d like your thoughts on the acceleration offered by each of the different methods to achieve an increase in performance and aid passing. We can argue if that is real racing some other time, I am interested in the technical side of things.. For example, when I jump on the accelerator of my turbocharged MINI Cooper, there is a definite lag before acceleration begins. Whereas my somewhat wimpy Chevy Volt does accelerate immediately when in all electric mode and the “gas” pedal is pushed all the way down. Does something similar happen in an IndyCar? Will the acceleration curve be different between the current IndyCar P2P mechanical boost and the boost from the hybrid electrical system? How do each of these compare to the acceleration offered by a change in aerodynamics, as in F1?
Since the amount of time that a passing aid is available is typically limited, it seems to me that the method that provides the most rapid acceleration would provide the most interesting racing.
Ed R., Hickory Hills, IL
MP: The upcoming addition of the energy recovery system and its instant electric torque will be a cool tool to play with. It’s believed the series will give teams a lot of latitude in how it can be used — manual or automated or both — and it’s here where I expect the ERS to be deployed for a lot of torque-fill moments off slower corners where, like in your MINI, turbo lag would otherwise cause a slight delay in acceleration.
If the supercapacitor energy storage system has a charge, it could be used to improve overall lap times by helping on low-end acceleration and, with a charge, give drivers a second push-to-pass option to go with the turbo P2P. The series is also likely to allow both turbo and ERS P2P to be used at the same time, which would make for real fun.
Q: For Marshall: Do you think the increased popularity of F1 is the U.S. has trickled down into more fans of U.S. open-wheel racing? If not, why?
For Chris: How did Liberty Media manage to make F1 popular in the USA within only a few years when Bernie Ecclestone couldn’t do it in decades?
Sanford S., New Yorker in London
MP: I’ll give you a solid maybe! We’ve had some welcome increases in trackside attendance this year, so that could be an indicator of F1 piquing the curiosity of new fans who might want to check out our domestic open-wheel series. But IndyCar’s TV audience size has not matched the trackside growth, so there’s nothing linear for me to draw from.
CHRIS MEDLAND: A big part of it was simply the focus. Bernie really did not prioritizing North America at all as he was able to attract bigger race-hosting fees elsewhere. That was Bernie’s main model — significant revenues solely from race hosting fees (where he’d be restrictive) and television deals.
While it was a market he didn’t understand as well as others, it must be said he did help the sport get a permanent home at Circuit of The Americas, and as the media landscape changed, so too did the ownership to one that knew how to capitalize on that.
Liberty saw the huge potential and knew it would need to invest in the sport’s future in the U.S., rather than simply go looking for a big race-hosting fee. It opened up access by allowing the teams to do more in areas like social media and activations, and by working out different deal structures for Miami and investing in Vegas.
Add in the fact that the Drive To Survive TV show was generally targeted at a U.S. audience, and it clicked pretty quickly.