Q: With your wide experience in the IndyCar paddock, is Newgarden now the lowest on the “liked” list? If not, about where does he rank?
Red
MP: How’s this: If Grosjean, Ferrucci, and Newgarden threw a party just for IndyCar drivers, it would be those three, and maybe two or three others who turned up. Josef’s made an effort in recent months to smooth over a few dents, so that’s been cool to see. And Romain and Santino aren’t bothered by dents and scrapes.
Q: The NASCAR Cup Series has the Busch Clash and the All-Star race. Will we see something similar to the NASCAR Busch Clash and the All-Star race in IndyCar?
Chris Fiegler, Latham, NY
MP: Not that I know of, but as I and others have championed, there needs to be something special and celebratory that happens each year. The old race for hardcore cash with the Marlboro Challenge is the perfect concept to re-establish.
Q: While watching current LMH/GTP class regulations successfully attracting as many manufacturers as GT3 managed to reach at its peak (bringing Hyundai to it is a huge deal) and seeing F1 aero test limits and the budget cap making the grid closer, made me think: What if someone (IndyCar, for example) could get an F1 rule book, and add cost reduction measures inspired by sports cars? How expensive would that be, and what budget cap you think would be needed?
For example, you take 2026 F1 rules and keep all aero sizes (but in IndyCar’s case with refueling, I think the car could be even smaller), but you add drag to the formula as LMH has? Increase minimum weight by 50kg or something.
LMDh has four base suppliers. So everyone buys the safety cell and maybe underbody from Dallara. If they need to be different to accommodate different suspension designs, they can offer different models. But teams won’t need to spend time developing something that is a lot more about safety, and they don’t need to spend money crash-testing it.
As with LMH/GTP you add fuel flow, max energy per stint and torque sensors. The first two can be part of a “success ballast” system as WEC did with LMP1H EoT. Sure it won’t fit big V8s, this is still a small open-wheel car. But should fit enough six- and four-cylinder engines.
A hybrid system with maximum speed for deployment, only focusing on corner exit, can be used as a push to pass as well.
Take the cars to some track before pre-season testing begins, with two or three drivers hired by the series (not full-season drivers, maybe retired guys like Kanaan) and balance them over single lap performance by limiting wing angles and ride height, for example. Avoiding weight increase in this part would be good. That way, good cars (those that are easier to drive and deal with tires better) will still be rewarded. If they are within 0.15s to 0.2s range, it’s good enough. A success ballast system (with weight penalty as well) during the season takes care of the rest.
The regulations could last six years, with teams only allowed to introduce new aero every two years.
If this was IndyCar the superspeedway aero homologation could happen during the Month of May (yes, 1995 needs to happen more times). And that would be more fair as Indy-only entries wouldn’t see what others are doing if they were homologated earlier.
Of course, I don’t think IndyCar can go with this. But just wondering what budget cap you’d need to cover this compared to F1. Any idea? I didn’t think about how you’d deal with smaller teams as well. Would they be customers and be able to buy suspension layout/parts and maybe aero design from bigger teams? How to limit aero testing if they don’t have their own wind tunnels, etc?
Just playing with “what if” scenarios based on what different series are doing.
William Mazeo
MP: I love the spirit of this, William. I also have no freaking idea what a budget cap should be. The difference to consider is in F1 and IMSA GTP, it’s a manufacturer-first construct. I realize there are exceptions with customer GTP cars being sold and teams like Williams (and similar) leasing engines, but it’s the manufacturers (GTP) and chassis constructors (F1) driving the rules and tech.
That’s just not the case in IndyCar where it’s a team-based structure where everybody buys or leases a product made by a vendor. Culturally, most IndyCar teams just want to buy a great product and figure out ways to use that same product better than their rivals. An Acura or BMW wants to do their own GTP suspension, engine, etc., and race it as a factory effort. Same with F1 constructors/manufacturers.
So, while I’d love to see more of that creative freedom adopted by IndyCar, it’s not the manufacturers/constructors paying for it all. It’s the Carpenters and Shanks and Ganassis, and I don’t know how they’d cover those costs unless IndyCar allows manufacturers to invest in or subsidize the running costs of the teams who’d be fortunate to get factory deals. Not so long ago, that’s what happened — in a less public manner — but that era is gone.
Q: I used to be a fan of Roger Penske, and now, not so much. I have two stories to tell. The first story is about the most recent time we as a family attended the 500 in 2021. I went ahead and purchased Hulman Terrace suite passes for $9000. Go big or go home.
Penske Entertainment said it would be an awesome experience and that the deal included tickets, breakfast, lunch and drinks all day. We arrived at 9:30am and headed to the line for breakfast only to find out there was nothing left. Almost the same for lunch, if you like hot dogs that you had to prepare for yourself and nachos with cheese sauce. We saw other people walking around with burgers and fries, steak and broccoli. In my disappointment I wrote three letters to the Penske people to tell them what we experienced. I wrote to Mr. Denker, Mr. Boles and Mr. Penske, with no reply from anyone from the Penske camp.
The next story is about the Penske organization owning the IndyCar Series. It is a direct conflict of interest. Going into this year’s Indy 500 qualifying, Penske cars go out and qualify, one and done for each car. while the rest of the cars with Chevrolet engines have some sort of issue. Do you think that’s just a coincidence? The engines come from Ilmor. Penske has ties with Ilmor. It goes the same for every aspect of the series. The people that are in timing and scoring — would they call speeding either entering or exiting pit road? No, they work for Penske. Can you be certain of the inspection process? For example, the Penske cars have a 5/8 inch fuel line and everyone else has a 1/2 inch? Would anyone say something? No, they work for Penske.
How about the last two Indy 500s? The mysterious red lights at the end? Can you be certain that Penske told his driver to go before the green flag was out? No, they all work for Penske.
Please respond with any of your thoughts.
Paul
MP: Just to be sure I understand, Penske rigs everything to his benefit since he bought the series leading into 2020, and in that time, while tech inspectors are turning blind eyes and Ilmor techs are pouring in a few more ponies into Penske’s Chevys, and while race control is fixed, Penske’s gotten his ass handed to him by Ganassi and Scott Dixon in 2020, who led the championship from start to finish. And again in 2021 by a kid whose name nobody could pronounce as Alex Palou delivered another championship for Ganassi. And then in 2022, Penske’s Will Power, driving like a champ, won the championship while Ganassi won the Indy 500.
And in 2023, yeah, Penske did win the Indy 500 with Josef Newgarden, and it was contentious, but effing Palou and Ganassi spanked Penske yet again — three times out of four years under Roger’s ownership — by sealing the title with one race remaining.
And here we are in 2024, where Penske made a smart play halfway through the prior season by doing a technical alignment with the Foyt team, and through that alliance, Penske learned all of things they weren’t doing at Indy that Ganassi was using to beat them up in qualifying and the race and applied those improvements to win qualifying and win the race with Newgarden. And it wasn’t contentious. And yes, they cheated earlier in the year. No argument there. But, again, Ganassi and Palou have taken the championship.
So with all of those rigged and fixed things in his favor, Penske must be the most incompetent person in the history of racing because two Indy 500s and one championship from five opportunities reads like a giant failure on his part.
Finally, on the topic of IndyCar’s tech inspection team being crooked, one quick friend who may or may not be part of that team asked me to deliver a message to anyone who questions their integrity: “You can tell them to go **** themselves.”
Penske is/has done many things to piss off his fellow team owners, and the undercurrent of frustration, as told to me by multiple (but not all) owners over the last month, is very real. But it’s impossible to have constructive conversations when everything is painted as a conspiracy.