Q: Last week Mike on the West Coast mentioned the idea of Santino Ferrucci rebuilding the bridge between dirt and IndyCar, and you rightly mentioned the flaw in the notion.
However the problem with rebuilding that bridge goes deeper than that. The simple fact of the matter is that there are precious few talents that can make the jump from modern dirt cars to IndyCar, and most of the ones that can will need a few years to adjust before they can be expected to be competitive. So without a ladder championship that can help them bridge that gap during their formative years, that bridge will never truly be rebuilt.
The problem is that no existing class is capable of making this happen. If we want to rebuild the bridge between short track racing and IndyCar, we need a Silver Crown-type series that runs rear-engined cars to get those drivers experience with the differences in how they handle.
Its’ worth noting that someone is actually in a perfect position to make such a thing happen: Dan Andersen. Running all of the sub-NXT ladder championships (and even NXT itself for a while), he has a very clear understanding of the needs of a ladder championship, and with his series being USAC-sanctioned he has a connection to get things rolling on the short track scene.
Unfortunately, however, I get the distinct feeling he won’t be interested in such a project.
FormulaFox
MP: Between his construction business and running a large open-wheel ladder system, I’d agree that Andersen — who’s one of North American racing’s most giving figures — is more than busy with what he already has on his plate.
Q: Obviously IndyCar shocks are back in the news. Assuming Penske and Ganassi have a significant upper hand in tuning and development, have there ever been any comments from drivers that have gone “down” to mid-level teams regarding any significant stunted setup activity by not having those resources any longer?
Brian in Ohio
MP: In public, not really. There’s a reason a top team is better than a midfield team, so there are expected shortcomings that go with taking a step or two down in quality — be it budget, personnel, or R&D — and competitiveness. Said another way, if you’ve been accustomed to driving a Ferrari but need to trade it in for a Dodge, you don’t really need to vocalize the difference between the rides because everyone knows the difference.
Q: Just curious to know if you ever had one of those “uh-oh” moments from your crewing days like the story from last week’s Mailbag about the Williams pit crew leaving the cooling fan attached to the car?
Peter Carey, San Bruno, CA
MP: Just one? No. Many? Yes. My first big race team opportunity was with Pfeiffer Ridge Racing in 1989 when I was 18. First few weeks there, new guy, youngest guy, and the veteran mechanics wanted to go out on a Friday night of a race weekend — I think it was the IMSA event at Sonoma Raceway — and party. I thought I knew what partying was, but they quickly blew up that notion. I showed up at the shop at 7am Saturday morning with the worst hangover of my life at that point, and was damn near falling asleep after crashing at 4 or 5am.
We had a shop volunteer who’d come in for races, “Mr. Rick,” and I think he was a recently retired police officer — a no-nonsense guy. We needed to bleed the brakes on a Pro Mazda car (think of a USF Pro 2000 car of that era), so I helmed the master cylinders at the front of the car and pumped the pedal as Mr. Rick went around to each corner to bleed the little air bubbles that were in the brake lines and calipers that take away the feeling of a firm pedal.
You keep depressing and releasing the pedal, pouring in fresh brake fluid to replenish what’s being bled into the bottle… it’s a really simple job, and the new bottles of AP brake fluid weren’t cheap — $20 or more. My hangover started to win and I went full lizard brain; I’d half passed out but kept yanking on the brake pedal. Next thing I remember is Mr. Rick, in a full-throated voice of consternation, yelling, “Hey, jackass, wake the hell up” (or something to that effect).
It was early enough and quiet enough to where the sound of brake master cylinder reservoir had run dry and I was sucking air into the lines with each pull, which he could hear and the other mechanics could hear…
Getting barked at and being rightfully embarrassed was enough to wake me up. Then I went and grabbed two new bottles of brake fluid and we re-bled the entire system. I was also — rightfully — made to pay for the $40 in fluid; I was making $150 a week, I believe, so it was a big hit to my pocket. And in my many years at Pfeiffer Ridge, our crew chief Riccardo Pineiro, one of the architects and instigators of my hangover, never let me forget that low point in my career, as hardened veterans often do.
Some other time, I’ll share the one about performing a gear ratio change and sending the car out to race with no gear oil…
Q: I’ve just finished reading the excellent autobiography of Derek Warwick called “Never look back.” In it he recounts his experience of testing for Jim Hall at Mid-Ohio in 1992. He recalls that he went quicker than John Andretti, didn’t particularly like the car, but did like the circuit despite it being “bloody dangerous.” Warwick ended up going back to F1 for one final year in 1993, which is a shame as I think he would have excelled in IndyCar, as Nigel Mansell did that year.
Is there anyone that you look back on and think he or she would have been perfect for IndyCar but never had the chance or showed the interest?
Gareth Holt, London, UK
MP: Derek also took another look in at the Phoenix IndyCar race in 1994; I was there crewing with an Indy Lights team and snapped this shot of an unamused Warwick on pit lane:
Toyota Atlantic and Indy Lights champion David Empringham was the great missed IndyCar talent from my era. He was an English Canadian at a time when the Player’s ladder already had an amazing English Canadian in Greg Moore, so he lost out on the chance to graduate to CART with Player’s in favor of French Canadian talent. Having seen Emp beat the Atlantic and Lights teams I worked for, I had no doubt he was capable of winning in CART. Just never got the chance due to being born too far west.