The RACER Mailbag, November 15

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We can’t guarantee that every letter will be published, but we’ll answer as many as we can. Published questions may be edited for length and …

Q: I am a long-time IndyCar and IMS fan. One of the facts I have been looking for is the number of workers who worked on the laying of the 3.2 million bricks. I know the quantity, time when it happened (late in 1909) and 63 days, but have never been able to find anything about the large number amount of people it must have taken to complete the job in such a short time. I have asked several very knowledgeable persons associated with the track and have come up with nothing. Do you know?

The truth is out there.

Stuart, Pittsboro, IN

MP: I most certainly do not, Stuart. Consider this a public plea for information that only Mailbag readers can solve.

Q: If an F1 driver/team could be fairly sure that they wouldn’t finish in the points (e.g. post-first lap damage Oscar Piastri at Interlagos), what benefit do they get from sending the car back out to finish the race as a doomed backmarker? Is it about gathering data? Giving the driver more track time?

Zach

CHRIS MEDLAND: In the Piastri case, it was because the team only needed a safety car in the race (don’t forget how early the red flag was — so there was basically the whole race still to go) for Oscar to be able to unlap himself. Even with damage, the car was quick enough to threaten the points, so if he’d got back on the lead lap he’d have been in the mix. Had there also been another red flag then there would be a further chance to make repairs, so you never quite know if the circumstances will give you a shot of finishing in the top 10.

But McLaren did make the point that Piastri had never driven anything at Interlagos, and it is a slightly unusual track, so it was good training just for him to get to know it for his own experience. Track knowledge and fighting a damaged car will help him in future, and given we’re near the end of the season with the team clearly comfortable with its wear life of parts, all it cost was the fuel and tires it will have already paid for!

Interlagos effectively turned into a test session for Piastri. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images

Q: My mind was wandering while reading all the news on the F1 cars exceeding track limits. Why not move more of the foam signage boards to better define the track limits?

It would provide more advertising space for sponsors, and provide a more real and visible penalty for drivers who exceed it! With the halo and windscreen, I’m guessing the driver would be pretty safe from the shattered foam, although some of the myriad of winglets on the cars might not.

And if F1 or IndyCar really wanted to put some added teeth in the penalty, they could add a time penalty to the driver in question equal to the length of the yellow flag required to replace the sign(s). I’m guessing that would get everyone’s attention!

Bill Vincent IV

CM: I was about to question what would happen once one of the boards was destroyed but you’d clearly thought of it already, Bill! But I fear that at a track where track limits are a problem, the whole race would be under yellow flags and you’d pretty quickly get bored of watching people replace the boards.

But I do agree that in as many cases as possible there needs to be a physical deterrent, one that means there is no argument if someone was on the track or not, and that means they will be highly likely to lose time so you don’t have to punish them retrospectively. The more of those you have, then the more you can invest in policing the places that it’s not possible to have gravel/grass/big curbs/foam signage, and the more closely you can monitor and quickly deal with infringements.

I know the Haas petition decision annoyed some people, but it was good to see the stewards basically tell the FIA the current track limits situation is not good enough for a global championship, and I’m hearing there will be plenty of discussions to try and find better solutions for 2024.

THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, November 11, 2015

Q: When answering a question about 1960s Indy drivers Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory, you mentioned talking to Eamon “Chalkie” Fullalove. I recall he and his pal “Rabbit” (don’t remember his real name) compiled quite a resume of cars they either built or wrenched for some top IndyCar teams of the ’60s and ’70s, an era of huge innovation.

Do you have more info on their accomplishments? It would be fun to learn about other famous designers and builders from those times. Builder names such as Watson, Kurtis, Chapman, Kuzma, Meskowski, Epperly, Edmunds, Salih, Stapp and Finley; and designers such as Terry, Southgate, Slobodynskyj, Riley, Timbs, Barnard and Philippe. Have you thought about future articles to educate us on any of these legends?

Bruce Selby, Magnolia, TX

ROBIN MILLER: Graeme “Rabbit” Bartils and Eamon “Chalkie” Fullalove first worked together at Brabham in 1968, where Bartils built the Repco-Brabham engines that Jack Brabham and Jochen Rindt raced at Indy, and Fullalove was a mechanic about to turn fabricator. Rabbit got his nickname because when he took out his false front teeth he looked like Bugs Bunny, while Chalkie got his moniker for cheating at darts. They were working together at McLaren in 1971 when Gene White hired them away to build Indy cars that became known as the “Atlanta cars.” Then they went to work for A.J. Foyt in 1972 and on to Eldon Rasmussen before the Rabbit headed south for NASCAR and Chalkie began building wings at Jackie Howerton’s shop.

Today, Bartils still works in Dawsonville, Ga., while Fullalove resides in Old Windsor and is one of the last great aluminum men — still making wings for vintage F1 cars and creating daily hell on Facebook. Chalkie managed to avoid any long-term jail sentences despite driving a rental car into the Holiday Inn swimming pool, making acetylene bombs, and verbally abusing all of IndyCar racing. He and some of the original Lotus team are coming back for the 100th Indianapolis 500 — provided they clear customs and I can get them pit passes.