Q: I wanted to share with you the fun fact (and photo) that the Santucci Justice Center is a real place in Roseville, Calif. While it is apparently the site of the Placer County Superior Court, I have not confirmed whether they also deliver justice for (or against) Santino Ferrucci.
SK
MP: I haven’t been to Roseville in about a decade, but on my next drive through, I know where I’m going first.
Q: Is Arrow McLaren still moving into Andretti’s old shop?
Bob
MP: McLaren purchased the building from Andretti and will move in at the end of 2025.
Q: We hear a lot about tire degradation making good racing. We also hear a lot about tire marbles dirtying tracks so that there’s fewer lines to try to pass on-track. It seems to me that the desire for optimal tire degradation might be a fool’s errand. Am I missing something here? With current technology, can Firestone or Goodyear manufacture a tire that degrades but doesn’t dirty up the track? Or do series have to prioritize either tire degradation or clean tracks?
Matt, Sacramento, CA
MP: Racing slicks roll over the track surfaces on whatever ovals and when lateral loads are applied — in the corners — the rubber carcass is treated like cheese being grated by the circuit. That’s why we get the rolling effect of the rubber, in tiny bits, moving to the inside of the carcass and coming off as “marbles.”
The only way to stop that is by making the carcass so tough that it doesn’t shed rubber in the grating/rolling effect, and if they do that, the tires will be rock solid and offer no grip. So no, there’s no way anybody knows of to create degradation by going to a softer carcass while making the carcass act like it’s rock by eliminating marbles.
Only solution is to send out the sweepers once or twice.
Q: Where is the Vanderbilt Cup that was used for the U.S. 500 Champ Car trophy? Let’s locate it, dust it off and use it as the award for a late-season 500-mile race to compliment Indy.
Indy is like the Masters or the Kentucky Derby, so treat the second 500 mile signature race like the U.S. Open or the Breeders’ Cup and rotate the venue. One year have it at Michigan, the next year it’s at Texas, the next year at Homestead-Miami, etc.
We may not be able to call it the U.S. 500 again — too many hurt feelings, perhaps — so call it the [sponsor name here] All-American 500? Sounds like a name the FOX could embrace.
This could give the Indy-only teams a second race to enter each year. It doesn’t have to reward an Indy-size purse, but pay more than $40k for the winner.
Sometimes to make something a big deal, you merely have to act like it’s a big deal.
Nick
MP: We might need to pull off a Nicholas Cage-style caper from “National Treasure” and lift the Vanderbilt Cup from The Smithsonian. Also, how creepy is the “Breeders’ Cup?”
[ED: According to the Vanderbilt Cup Races website, the original, early 20th century Vanderbilt Cup has been in the possession of The Smithsonian since the 1930s, and is currently in a storage facility in Maryland. The Champ Car-era trophy is reportedly on display at the Penske Racing Museum in Arizona]
Q: To bring about some fun, here is a little challenge. The challenge is purely hypothetical but should be a track in the 2024 calendar.
If you could choose one IndyCar track for F1 to race on, what would it be?
If you could choose one F1 track for IndyCar to race on, what would it be?
And because I’m a Brit, if you could choose one British track (excluding Silverstone or Brands Hatch) for IndyCar to race on, what would it be?
My answers would be F1 at Road America, IndyCar at Spa and IndyCar at Snetterton (because it’s my local track).
Dan Mayhew, Cambridgeshire, UK
MP: Easy: Welcome to Road America and cheese curds, F1, and welcome to Knockhill, IndyCar. I want to see Dallara DW12’s fire over the hill and get more air than they did over the train tracks in San Jose.
CHRIS MEDLAND: This is tougher than I thought, Dan, but mainly for selfish reasons of me wanting to visit certain places in the U.S. through an F1 race. I’d nearly go to Nashville for that very reason! But to take it more seriously, I definitely would go with Road America as well. Honorable mentions go to Long Beach, Laguna Seca and Barber, but that would surely be a great track to throw an F1 car around.
I don’t want to just copy your list so I can pick others from here on. I’d love to see IndyCar race at Suzuka, although I think they’d also be awesome to watch on a number of the European circuits, too.
And for the British track, I’m going to go with Oulton Park. Sadly not local for me (that would be Thruxton now as you’ve ruled out Silverstone) but I actually covered my first single-seater event there with my university’s Formula Ford project, and it’s a great track.
Q: How does the Andretti/FBI situation affect the team’s contract with Honda? They cannot be happy that Michael went after another Honda team, especially given the relationship his team has now with GM.
Also curious if anyone knows the reaction in F1 to this news? Obviously this can’t help his cause.
David Tucker
MP: If I could figure out how Andretti allegedly involving the FBI over alleged IP theft by a rival would have any bearing on a valid engine supply contract for the following year, I’d happily share it. If what’s alleged is true, why would Honda be mad about a client exercising its rights to protect its property? Wouldn’t the anger, if all of this is true, be better aimed at the team that received the stolen goods and failed to report it? Seems like everything’s presented backwards here.
CM: From an F1 perspective, it has been all quiet on the Andretti front for some time. Liberty Media has been in contact with the DOJ about its investigation into the decision not to grant Andretti a place on the grid, and while that is ongoing — and as I understand it, likely to involve clear explanations of the process — it feels very much like any plans for Andretti to try and join as a new team are on hold.
I don’t think the FBI situation would have an impact, to be honest, especially without many of the details being public. Michael stepping back from ownership of Andrew Global could have a bigger impact, though, if Daniel Towriss has a different vision of how to try and get onto the grid.
It will be interesting to see if there is a change in approach on the F1 side now, given the investment already made into a facility at Silverstone.