Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER’s writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.
Q: The end of the season was certainly exciting and unpredictable. The bizarre situations with Palou and Power over the last two races were something that not even a Hollywood script would come up with. How did the atmosphere go over with the fans with the transfer from downtown to the speedway? What were the attendance figures for the race? It looked like there were a lot of empty seats in the grandstand. Was Big Machine Music City satisfied with the presentation?
I was embarrassed for the series during the invocation. It came across as almost like a satire that you would see on SNL. The chaplins that were used during the year were respectful but this was an over-the-top, NASCAR-type presentation. I saw some strange expressions on participants when it was being presented.
Dave
MARSHALL PRUETT: It wasn’t official, but I was told over 22,000 tickets were sold for Sunday. On the grid, most people around me chuckled after the invocation.
Q: So, the No. 8 car suddenly is open. Is it possible that either Valtteri Bottas or Logan Sargeant is in the running? Or, am I just dreaming?
Jim Doyle, Hoboken, NJ
MP: Jim, the seat was never open. As we’ve written a few times in recent months, Kyffin Simpson will be moving to the third car. It remains unconfirmed by Ganassi but is a known thing within the paddock.
Logan was at Nashville and taking meetings with teams. I spoke with his friend Kyle Kirkwood and we both agreed there were slim pickings for him to explore. Logan wants to be paid, and that leaves the 45 at RLL, the 21 at ECR, and the 77 at JHR, and those three teams have plenty of options with more experienced IndyCar drivers. The timing could be off for 2025, but if he’s patient it looks like 2026 could be more realistic.
Q: Santino Ferrucci can rebuild the bridges from the dirt to Indy. Change my mind?
Mike, West Coast, USA
MP: Sure, if Santino starts running a bunch of midget/sprint races. But since he doesn’t, that bridge is going to take forever to assemble.
Q: Have there been any rumors on whether any of NBC’s on-air talent will make the switch to FOX next year? It would be a shame to lose Hinch in particular.
Joe
MP: Everybody who isn’t a full-timer for NBC has spoken to FOX. No clue if any will be hired.
Q: As another IndyCar season has come to an end, can I suggest an advancement that IndyCar could introduce to the series in 2025? Could they find someone to invent a better “marble” remover than the same street sweeper that slowly cleans the gutters in front of my house?
A faster and more efficient machine could result in better and more frequent cleaning of the entire racing circuit and dramatically improve the racing experience. While this may not be the most pressing issue facing IndyCar today, it would be a nice improvement as laps under yellow would decrease and it would open up more racing lines. Do you know if this has ever been discussed before by the series? Who knows, they might even find a sponsor for it like Dyson or Roomba. As all of us racing fans have experienced, the long track cleanups can certainly make your mind wander.
Brad Ellinger, LaPorte, IN
MP: Great idea, Brad.
Q: How has Zak Brown’s “State of IndyCar” letter been received by IndyCar and other team owners? Hopefully they hear and act on some of his points, including marketing and exhibition races. Do you think Roger Penske would be willing to sell IndyCar and keep IMS only as it was in days with CART and the Hulman family? And would IndyCar without the Speedway be attractive to a buyer such as Liberty Media? Could it be self-sustaining?
Lastly, I met Simon Pagenaud at the WEC race at COTA — a very kind man. He spent more than 15 minutes talking with me about the track, IndyCar, F1, and his head injury He got a phone call, asked me to wait and then we continued our conversation. It was a special time, and he never made me feel he did not have time for me.
Rick, Miami
MP: Roger is not selling the series or the track as a whole or individually. I didn’t hear much from owners about Zak’s State of IndyCar letter, but of those who did mention it, they were largely in agreement with what was written. I wish more IndyCar team owners would do the same. Far too much with Penske Entertainment involves hush-hush talks and an unwillingness to take those private opinions public.
Q: I know that IndyCar still has much to do to restore itself to its former glory as truly one of the world’s pre-eminent racing series, and although most initiatives involve spending some substantial cash, there are a few little things the series could do to help themselves build better fan awareness and interest.
The points system and championship fight generally is unknown to almost anyone except in the paddock and among the cadre of diehard fans. Why not stir things up with an intriguing new system different from any other motor racing series? Think of a system where first place gets one point, second gets two, 10th gets 10 and so forth. The lowest average score wins the championship. Winning would be twice as good as coming in second, five times better than coming in fifth, etc. A driver’s score would be their average number, similar to a baseball pitcher’s ERA, and that score would be well advertised as part of the weekly series news.
Get back to a solid title sponsor like PPG, adding another element to the marketing of the championship. They used to give an A. J. Foyt Award to the best oval racing driver and a Mario Andretti Award to the season’s top road/street racer. Whatever happened to that? Surely the cost of a couple trophies couldn’t be that much.
My last brilliant 99 cent idea is for IndyCar to hold a second late-season event at the IMS and make it a special hybrid race, i.e., run two heats, one on the road course and one on the oval, perhaps a 250-miler. If Daytona can run two successful races a year, why can IndyCar not do it? I would schedule it on Labor Day weekend, thus a week before the NFL starts.
James Herbert Harrison, Overland Park, KS
MP: Thanks for writing in, James.