Q: Please help me out. IndyCar offers 25 charters among 10 teams and limits three per team as a max. The Leaders Circle pays one million per participant in the top 22 spots in the final standings. I will use Chip Ganassi racing as an example. In 2024 he ran five cars within his team. All five earned the 1 million Leaders Circle money by finishing in the top 22. Ganassi can only receive three charters total per the charter agreement. So my question is, apparently the Leaders Circle has zero bearing on the awarding of the 25 charters, just the one million dollars for each car. Is this correct?
Susan Bournoville
MP: Ganassi received Leaders Circle contracts for the Nos. 8, 9, and 10 in 2024. The Nos. 4 and 11 were ineligible. The Leaders Circle program has limited teams to a maximum of three cars — the top three cars in any stable — for eligibility. The only exception, through 2023, was Andretti Global, which had a grandfathered fourth car written into Leaders Circle eligibility — which angered most of their rivals.
When the team cut the No. 29 car driven by Devlin DeFrancesco after the 2023 season and reduced to three cars, it lost that grandfathering clause, leaving Ganassi as the only team with more than three entries, and making it the only team with a pair of cars that were effectively invisible in the Leaders Circle contest.
Under the new charter program, only the 25 charter entries can vie for the 22 Leaders Circle contracts, leaving PREMA Racing as the sole team to be ineligible to receive $1 million contracts. PREMA could place first and second in the entrants’ standings, and both would be ignored at $1 million contract time.
Q: Are you aware of any planned series test on the oval at IMS this fall? If so, do you know how many cars there will be, and if it is for one or two days?
Don Weidig, Canton, OH
MP: There’s a two-day test from Oct. 10-11 at IMS, the first for teams in race-spec hybrid configuration. I believe one entry per team will be invited, and Firestone will likely work on 2025 race compound and construction options.
Q: Considering how long it may take to spec-out, design, test, and build 40+ new chassis for IndyCar, it seems we are one administrative delay away from having a 20-year-old chassis design racing around Indy. (I concede modifications have been made over time, but that’s a distinction, not a difference)
The drivers may be younger than the car they are driving one day.
Richard M. Warner, Robins, GA
MP: IndyCar is definitely on the clock. Using the DW12 as a guide, the first tub design was completed in December of 2010. The first complete chassis tested in August of 2011, and the first batch of customer cars were delivered on Dec. 15, 2011. First race was March of 2012. If the series is going to bring the DW27 to market and go racing in March of 2027, it has a little over a year to get the design in gear.
Q: You may have covered this in previous Mailbags, but I just finished “The Lionheart” documentary and it is a must-watch for any IndyCar fan and/or for anyone who’s tragically lost someone. (Put me in both categories).
Kudos to all involved, including the producers, crew, drivers, team owners and especially the Wheldon family. You’ve made such a beautiful and loving tribute to your friend, colleague, son, husband and father. Not a dry eye in my house by the end, but a very full heart!
John, VA
MP: Glad you liked it, John.
Q: Last week you answered a question about Pato O’Ward not using the hybrid system on ovals because he didn’t think it added enough. Herta in his interview said he was able to put the power down coming out of the turns to make passes and was able to catch and overtake Pato very quickly at the end. I know he had fresher tires but could it be that Pato should be using the hybrid coming out of the corners. Looking forward to our great 2025 season with FOX, and all of the good things in IndyCar.
CAM in LA
MP: I have no doubt Pato was using it, but maybe not as frequently as some others, and his early reticence did stand out.
Q: I’m sure when Roger bought IndyCar and the Speedway he must have come up with a five-, 10- and 15-year plan. Has he met his expectations?
Steve Coe, Vancouver, WA
PS: Still waiting for my Sonny Hays and Jimmy Bly hats.
MP: I recently received a few more Bly hats as the ones I had made years ago were worn out. Penske rarely lacks confidence or the belief that he’s winning at all times, so I’d assume he’s more than satisfied with his accomplishments since buying everything. In fact, he rarely feels he receives enough credit for all he’s done.
Q: After Dario Franchitti retired, it took Ganassi years to find another driver that could challenge Dixon on a weekly basis. You had guy like Rosenqvist who did earn podiums from time to time, including a win, but nothing like what we’ve seen from Palou during his time at Ganassi.
Many fans are of the opinion that Ganassi is a top-tier team but to me it seems you need the right driver that fits into what I call the “Ganassi system” as well. Neither Dixon nor Palou are blazing quick in qualifying (at least compared to guys like Herta and Power) but are good at saving fuel and tires. Mix this saving with great pit stops and you have a couple of drivers that can make up spots in a way that very few on the grid can.
Is Palou’s success more about his own personal skill or is it because he’s in a system that favors his own style of driving? Maybe both? Would he be just as successful if he was at McLaren, Penske, or Andretti?
Hitokiri Battousi
MP: Having witnessed far too many races where Dixon or Palou simply run away and hide from the rest of the field, let’s not paint them as good fuel and tire savers who use those skills to overcome a lack of speed. I wouldn’t accuse them of being the best qualifiers, as noted, and that’s the one area of Dixon’s game that has slowly tapered off with time, but Palou had three poles in 2024 — four if you include the non-points Thermal event — which placed him second to Scott McLaughlin.
Chemistry is the key at any team, so if it could be found at an Andretti, McLaren, or Penske, yes, we’d see similar output from Palou. There’s a reason McLaren went after him; in a car there, or at Andretti, the organizations would become more competitive. At Penske, he’d be an instant title contender, just as he is with Ganassi, if the right race engineer and race strategist and crew chief combination was orchestrated. He’s that good.