Q: Thanks for all the reporting this past season. I particularly enjoy the human interest stories, especially the Barry Wanser piece. Two questions. I couldn’t tell what you and Dixie were drinking? And is there any chance Dixie will be giving fuel saving tips to the pace car driver going forward?
Can’t wait for the Romain Grosjean story!
Kurt
MP: That was Double Mind Haze IPA [from central Californian brewery Firestone Walker, for any craft beer enthusiasts out there – ED]. I’m not an IPA guy, but the local 7-Eleven didn’t have any Belgian beers, and that was the most interesting thing I could find in Salinas on Main Street at 6:30am on the drive to the circuit. I think Oriol was lighting the afterburners during the eight cautions, so yes, Dixie might pick up some consulting money here.
Q: I know that on ovals, IndyCar drivers can pass once the green is displayed but I thought on road/street courses it was single file until drivers were on the start/finish straight? After the mess on almost every restart, that should be the requirement. Those restarts at Laguna were amateur hour, and that may be an insult to amateurs. On a related subject, 14 rows of two running nose to tail looks pretty, but maybe a strung-out start should be the allowed unless you enjoy big crashes. Very poor showing by the “best drivers.”
Mark, San Diego
MP: The series has tried some different things like going green right out of the final turn at Portland instead of waiting for them to get closer to the start/finish line, which was smart and avoided big kerblammos into the Turn 1 chicane,. Having the race restart in Monterey with folks charging into the final corner and barking hard was, in hindsight, not something to do again.
Q: What are the future plans for Force Indy and the Race for Equality & Change now that Ernie Francis Jr. isn’t returning? Are they looking for more prospects to support, or is getting Myles Rowe to IndyCar the only goal?
Lewis, Houston, TX
MP: They are supporting Myles in his move from winning the USF Pro 2000 championship to racing in Indy NXT. That’s the only public support they’ve announced, but I do know Penske’s helping another driver in USF2000 without stating it as being part of the RFE&C program.
Q: So, let me get this right: Honda wins 12 races to Chevy’s five, and Honda snags 11 poles to Chevy’s six. I understand reliability counts towards the final tally, but come on, that was a total beatdown by HPD and second-best lifts the trophy. Ridiculous.
Rob, London, Ontario, Canada
MP: I choose to look at it the other way: The rules clearly state that only the four engines included in an annual lease are capable of earning points towards the manufacturers’ championship, and in this clearly defined structure, Chevy got more out of fewer engines than Honda. If Chevy had to plug fresh motors in on a more frequent basis instead of stretching more to their mileage limit, I’d bet their win total would be higher.
Q: The “don’t be surprised if…” moment I’m hoping for is CGR announcing that Alex Palou will be piloting a Cadillac GTP at Petit Le Mans.
Jonathan and Cleide Morris Ventura, CA
MP: Word on the street is no. But if you’re a fan of his now-former teammate Marcus Ericsson, “don’t be surprised” if he’s lapping Daytona in January from behind the wheel of an Acura ARX-06 GTP machine fielded by Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti.
Q: Considering how well-spoken and composed James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell are on TV broadcasts, do they have university degrees? Quite polished, and they team together well with Leigh Diffey.
Tom Fitzgerald, CPA-retired
MP: Our guy Towny Bell is pursuing a degree, and I don’t believe Hinch found time to cover off a complete stint at university, but he did try. The quality of IndyCar broadcasts with these three in the booth is something NBC should be proud of, no doubt.
Q: Is IndyCar race control under any pressure from the teams and drivers to be slightly more involved? Consistency is what you want out of officiating and race control has been consistent in its non-calls, but I have to imagine many of the drivers/teams would like to see a few of these non-calls get punished. Nobody wants to watch a “ref show” but at a certain point you can’t let egregious driving go unpunished.
Joey Selmants
MP: That would be a yes. And on other topics as well.
Consistency race control. Consistency. One weekend leave pits open, the next you don’t. Consistency.
— Graham Rahal (@GrahamRahal) September 10, 2023
Q: Forgive me if this was previously reported, but was a specific explanation given for what failed on Pagenaud’s car at Mid-Ohio?
Joe
MP: There was not. MSR was direct in assigning blame on the series’ official brake vendor, PFC, but did not go into details because even if they’re at fault, the team still needs to work with them, so there’s no need to completely destroy the relationship.
UPDATE: Since this went to print, PFC has stated that its componentry was not at fault for the failure, with the issue being caused by another vendor’s product. Specifics on the item in question were not provided.
Q: Is there anything interesting behind why there are both 06 and 6 entries currently? With the double-qvist MSR lineup next year taking 06 and 60, might 6 now become unavailable?
Peter, Merida, Spain
MP: Not with David Malukas signed by Arrow McLaren to drive the No. 6 Chevy formerly driven by new MSR signing Felix Rosenqvist who is taking over the No. 60 Honda.
Q: During Mid-Ohio and Portland (maybe others, don’t remember), NBC ran a graphic comparing Alex Palou’s results over his first X number of starts to other IndyCar greats such as AJ and Mario.
The first thing I thought was, where’s Alex Zanardi? Who had a more impressive first three IndyCar seasons than Zanardi with Ganassi? Did you see this? What’s your thoughts, and do you have insights on why Zanardi is missing?
I believe Zanardi had 15 wins in his first 51 starts, putting him second on the list – way ahead of Palou. If they left him out just because he came in with F1 experience, they should have pointed that out.
Paul
MP: You aren’t the only one with a WTF response, and as my friend Russ Thompson explained, the comparison is of Palou against the drivers in the top five on the all-time win list. This nugget wasn’t included in the graphic, which led to the confusion and, with that top five filter, strips out Bourdais, Zanardi, and others, who are outside the top five.
Pretty simple. Palou is compared to the five drivers with the most wins on the all-time win list. There is no anti-CART bias. Four of the five have wins in CART / ChampCar.
— Russ Thompson (@Calhoun98) September 5, 2023