Q: What do IndyCar teams do immediately after the season is over? Are teams downsized until the upcoming preseason?
Grant, Alabama
MP: They were, years ago, but with the lack of skilled crew members on the open market, today’s full-time teams employ their people on a year-round basis. Teams do complete overhauls of their cars, equipment, transporters, and so on. Sometimes new things among those three areas are purchased or fabricated, and they need building or polishing.
Growth has been a steady thing of late, so expanding buildings, moving into new shops, and similar things like that are common. And then there’s the rest part for the teams. There’s a ton of work to do during the offseason, but by late November, you can start to shorten the shop days and let folks enjoy a bit of freedom.
But — and this isn’t fun for weary crews — there’s a lot of hybrid testing taking place right now and there’s a lot of changes to each chassis that will be required, so this will be an uncommonly busy stretch from now until early 2024.
Q: I realize teams try to keep secrets about this, but being that it’s one of the few areas open for teams to do their own R&D and also a major factor in lap times, could you share what you know about the past and present damper programs of each of the IndyCar teams?
Steve, MN
MP: That’s a lot of teams, a ton of research, and a long period of time to cover, which makes this something that’s better presented in a feature story instead of a rapid-fire weekly mailbag. I’ll add this to my list of offseason stories to consider.
Q: I want to make a correction to Dan’s letter last week that speaks of Indy, Long Beach and Road America always being a total sellout. Road America is never a total sellout — yes, numerically they draw large crowds each year, but there are always more general admission tickets available. Because of the size of the facility, there is plenty of room for the large crowds and the general admission tickets allow you to go just about anywhere including the paddock/pits. I wanted to clear this up so nobody ever misses out on this great experience.
Craig, Slinger, WI
MP: Thanks, Craig.
Q: Now that the dust is settling on the IndyCar season and the silly season is about to wrap up, we can move on to things that might enhance next year’s race fan viewing? Specifically, can the broadcast introduce closed captioning when there is a radio conversation that NBC is listening in on, or when the booth dials up a driver on the pace lap for a few comments?
I’m an old man with hearing aids and the sound quality is not the best when listening in on driver/pit/booth conversations. It would be nice to read it, and no doubt a word may have to be bleeped here and there tempers flare. So, is it doable?
Jeff, Colorado
MP: No clue, but now the idea has been presented here for IndyCar and NBC to consider, Jeff.
Q: I can’t help but notice there are no SAFER barriers at Thermal Club. Will this be rectified before the “race”?
Vincent Martinez, South Pasadena, CA
MP: IndyCar went to Thermal for its preseason testing because the track received FIA Grade 2 certification, which is the minimum standard it sets for itself, so on the surface, there’s no requirement for SAFER barriers in order to race there. But I’m sure it is something the series will be thinking about and seeking input from drivers on where added cushioning would be beneficial.
Q: Just wanted to write in and thank Mark G for his article on Thermal Club and the fan reaction. I’m just an idiot trying to make his way through this world while dealing with an addiction to motorsports, so my opinion probably isn’t worth much. But I believe the Thermal event or whatever it’s being called is a good thing. It’s more laps for the teams and drivers with the new hybrid units. More importantly, it’s laps and time with the new hybrid units during race conditions with money on the line, but not points. That new hybrid unit will have a learning curve for drivers and teams. This aspect alone is a big positive to me.
Mark brought up the money aspect in regards to possible investors and such. It’s a very valid point as Thermal is a private club so it’s people with money who love cars and racing. The potential implications for the future of IndyCar should be clear.
Last, I know people have talked about a race at Thermal and the issues with infrastructure it lacks to host significant crowds. Well, this is also a great opportunity to see how receptive the members would be to hosting a race at Thermal before significant sums of money are spent on infrastructure improvements. I honestly don’t see it going this way. But continuing to have a one off, non-points race prior to the season that also adds the opportunity to inject some cash to the teams since they are already there for testing is a good idea. Plus, we, the fans, get another televised event at a point in the year when a significant portion of the country is at high risk for snow and ice.
John
MP: Thanks for finding the positives in the positives, John. We know others have the “finding the negatives in the positives” handled.