Q: I’m trying to reconcile your love of F1 since the late 1970s (1960s for me) with your description of it as “some of the worst racing on the planet.” Decades of worldwide viewership seems to dispute this — viewers must be seeing something they like. I know I am. Did you notice the stands at COTA last weekend? That’s not a new sight. As far as on-track action, this year’s USGP evolved into the media’s protagonist (Lewis) getting within close striking distance of the media’s antagonist (Max) who just never seems to run out of talent, even with a hobbled car.
Jack Woodruff
MP: My apologies, Jack. I often think I’ve said enough to explain my position on what I consider to be obvious, but sometimes I guess I need to say more. Most racing series that I love have gone through fallow periods where the product it put on track was garbage, but I haven’t abandoned those series.
Today’s F1 racing is some of the worst I’ve seen, as was last year’s. The rabid popularity for the sport of grand prix racing is amazing; every other series is jealous of its success. But we’ve also reached a point where the core product, the on-track action, is mostly terrible.
If we’re having to prop up Hamilton getting close to Verstappen at a race in Texas as a sign that F1 racing is great, we’ve lost the plot. I’m not looking at one event; I’m looking at the year(s) as a whole.
I liken it to the NBA decades ago when it went from massive popularity to dwindling attendance and ratings after some rule changes slashed scoring, and in turn, the fun plummeted as high-flying scores of 122-117 were replaced by snoozefests of 71-65. F1 has yet to see its popularity bubble burst, but it will happen if its newer fans — the Drive To Survive audience — grow bored of the one-sided dominance. For the rest of us who’ve been here for a long time, we’ll keep hoping for things to improve.
Q: The Thermal Club deal has got me wondering… I hope it works, but what did happen to championship racing in California? In the post-war era California was the hotbed of American motor racing, from Frank Kurtis and AJ Watson to Mickey Thompson and Dan Gurney. But now, Long Beach apart, tracks like Hanford, Ontario, Riverside and Ascot Park are now just long-lost names in history books while Fontana is due to be bulldozed into whatever.
Sonoma just didn’t work no matter what they tried, and just how sparse was the crowd at Laguna this year? When was the last time either MotoGP or World SuperBike raced there? Will the Thermal Club event feel like one of those old IRL races held in near-empty venues or like one held during the recent pandemic?
Does IndyCar throw a Hail Mary and take a page from the old American IndyCar Series playbook and host a race around the sweeps of Willow Springs? There would be a bigger crowd there than the one being allowed into that country club. The Bob Bondurant Memorial Grand Prix or the Ken Miles International Trophy, anyone? As an aside, with its 50th birthday looming large, if it doesn’t already then surely its long overdue that the Long Beach Grand Prix winner’s trophy was named after Daniel Sexton Gurney!
Peter Kerr, Hamilton, Scotland
MP: I wish your love for IndyCar’s history and desire to infuse the modern series’ activities with it was shared by its owners. Renaming the LBGP winner’s trophy after the Big Eagle would warm my heart. Seeing Dan’s wife Evi at the race in April was awesome; hearing about her need to ask and explain who she was before being allowed to enter Long Beach’s Dan Gurney Media Center was less than impressive.
Q: It’s time for you to confess that you hired the Thermal Club to put on their race and then sell tickets just so the Mailbag would be full all winter.
Robert
MP: You’ve caught me, Robert! The only part of my master plan that failed is I tried to make the $1 Million Challenge all-star race available exclusively on Peacock so we could double the volume of bitching and moaning.
Q: Not to continue the pile-on, but for anyone who hasn’t seen the Thermal Club promotional video here is the link. This may be the most cringeworthy five-minute video in existence that doesn’t involve nudity. I’d pitch in to come up with $2,000 to have the guys at Mystery Science Theater overlay their commentary on this gem — lunch included.
More seriously, I have had trouble finding it, but after reading assurances that with the hybrid IndyCar engine package cars would have the ability to restart and/or limp out of harms way following a spin using the electric motor, I think I read here recently that this may not be the case? I really hope I’m wrong. Unduly extended yellows are good for nobody, and it would seem like a huge whiff if the opportunity to lessen the amount of time lost to stalled cars wasn’t addressed. Any info on this?
George, Albuquerque, NM
MP: When I was at the August hybrid test at Sebring, the cars were fired with external starters. At a more recent test, self-starting took place. I’ll have more details on this when I do my next deep dive.
Q: Have you heard more rumblings of DHL to Ganassi after their exit from Andretti?
Joey
MP: Yes, I believe RACER was the first to mention it a few months ago.